I think that you have missed the point here - ok, so they get reduced cost flights but his real gripe was about the fact that he has booked the time off, 'booked the flight' possibly booked accommodation at the other end and he has to sit in departures with his fingers crossed as to whether he will get bumped off the plane or not (and with his family in tow). Reduced cost flights /free flights mean nothing if you cannot actually get on them!

This is not a civilised way to treat an employee - I know of no other company in Qatar that says 'here have your 1 flight home a year,book it if you want but please don't bank on being able to actually take that actual flight, we may or may not allow you on it'