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Qatar Airways / QR: Redeem AA Miles for Award (master thd)

Old Nov 19, 2013, 3:20 pm
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: Prospero
Covid-19 Update:
  • Sapphire+ status pax are temporarily allowed to use the Al Mourjan Business Lounge
  • Only tickets issued on QR 157 stock are eligible for the Extending Our Commitment (EOC) rebooking policy
link to QR Travel Alerts)

For further information on AA awards see:

HELP DESK: MileSAAver / SAAver Award Availability - Help, Assistance & Discussion

and

AA oneworld and Other Airline Partner Award information, rules (2015 on)

N.B. Upgrades on QR book into fares not granted EQD/EQM by AA. If you're upgraded on QR, be prepared for pushback from some AA agents. You may have to submit a formal request with accompanying documentation reflecting you purchased an eligible fare class.

NOTE:AA has removed most EY and QR award access from aa.com due to a glitch booking these:

From One Mile at a Time (link)

Bottom Line

For the time being youll have to call American if you want to ticket AAdvantage awards on Etihad & Qatar that arent for travel to & from the US or Canada. It makes sense that American took these awards offline, and now it also makes sense why so many passengers have been having issues with checked bags on awards.
If you experience difficulties with the AA reservations system, you may be able to book by calling AA Australia (+61 2-9101-1948 ) then press 4 - or the New Zealand number (+64 09-308-4014) as an alternative - although the call center is actually in Suva, Fiji (South African agency Mindpearl) - as they can often see the inventory more reliably, and you can book.

NOTE: USA Canada travel on QR will earn EQ miles etc. in accordance with the fare class purchased.

Links:

Link to AA.com Qatar miles earning etc.

AA miles earning on QR changed 1 May 2016 (Link):

Minimum miles guarantee applies.

Checking QR award availability:

You can check QR availability on AA's site, BA's site, QF's site, www.awardnexus.com (which pulls from BA and/or QF), or the KVS tool. (A certain number of searches are free to FlyerTalk members at AwardNexus; click the "more signup options" link under the green Purchase button to sign up as a FlyerTalk member.)

When checking QR award availability, you have to check each segment individually. Both BA and QF can generate very misleading information if you try to check QR award availability all the way through [xxx-(DOH)-yyy] in one step. Be aware AA can only book 330 days out, even if you see availability farther out.

Awards on QR may not be visible to AA agents if a multi-segment itinerary is requested; broken into individual segments will generally reveal availability, however.

As well, AA Australia or New Zealand (actually MindPearl in Fiji) can often see and book AA awards on QR US-based ones might not be able to.

From danger: For AA awards, Economy is X, Business is U, First is Z. NOTE: Those with Z (First) awards may see "Z (Business Class)" shown on the QR website; this is a known glitch.

As well, QR sells intra gulf two class service as First and Economy, as AA does domestically. This can cause some issues with a Business flight including a Gulf "First" flight potentially incurring an F award redemption.

From hotelmotel: "Got my QR PNR from AA. Popped over to QR and selected seats." (AAdvantage award.)

Days of the week: To/from the USA, especially in business class, Qatar often only offers awards seats for Mon..Thu departures, not Fri..Sun departures. So makes sure you check different parts of the week, and not just always weekends (if you're not finding anything on weekends).

NOTE: At DOH / Hamad International Airport, lounges as follows:

Qatar Airways Al Safwa First Lounge (not a oneworld lounge): only accessible to those flying First Class on Qatar or oneworld airlines and QRPC Platniums flying in ticketed Business (not oneworld Emeralds flying other lower classes of service)

Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Business Lounge (not a oneworld lounge): only accessible to those flying Business Class on Qatar or oneworld (not oneworld Sapphire flying lower classes of service)

Oryx Lounge: Third party lounge.

Qatar Airways HIA First Class Lounge (oneworld lounge): First Class ticketed customers, Emerald members, as well as their accompanying guests, travelling on Qatar Airways and other oneworld member flights.

Qatar Airways HIA Business Class Lounge (oneworld lounge): First and Business Class ticketed customers, Emerald and Sapphire members, as well as their accompanying guests, travelling on Qatar Airways and other oneworld member flights.

Arrivals Lounges (not oneworld lounges): only accessible to those arriving in First or Business Class on Qatar Airways (not oneworld Sapphire flying other oneworld airlines or other classes of service)

See FT: QR Lounges at HIA

Selecting Qatar Airways Seats
If you want to assign a seat after booking an award, you should first try the Qatar website or app. If you experience issues, please try a partner site like Royal Jordanian, Malaysia Airlines, or Sri-Lankan. You can also reach out to the QR Twitter team to fix your record in order to be able to select seats on their own site.
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Qatar Airways / QR: Redeem AA Miles for Award (master thd)

Old Sep 30, 2020, 4:21 pm
  #1351  
 
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: KCGX
Posts: 144
Dec 2020 J award ORD-ATL-DOH-MLE-DOH-PHL-ORD was just cancelled by QR, but they have not offered any sort of rebooking. The AA rep was completely puzzled and couldn't find any availability when searching alternate dates and US gateways. Hoping to escalate to the OneWorld Liaison. I received an email from QR about the cancellation as well as a web form to specify an alternate airport, but received nothing in the promised 48-hour turnaround time and a call to QR directed me to call AA as I would expect for any changes.

Is my understanding incorrect or is the airline responsible for an alternative routing when changing/cancelling a flight?
ElCaminoReal is offline  
Old Sep 30, 2020, 6:52 pm
  #1352  
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Programs: AA CONCIERGE KEY & 1MM, HILTON DIAMOND
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Originally Posted by ElCaminoReal

Is my understanding incorrect or is the airline responsible for an alternative routing when changing/cancelling a flight?
Somewhat true but when the airline that issued your ticket doesn't fly to your destination, the only thing they can really do is to have the one world representative talk to QR and see if they can offer inventory on alternative dates.
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fly747first is offline  
Old Sep 30, 2020, 7:47 pm
  #1353  
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 1,510
Originally Posted by ElCaminoReal
Dec 2020 J award ORD-ATL-DOH-MLE-DOH-PHL-ORD was just cancelled by QR, but they have not offered any sort of rebooking. The AA rep was completely puzzled and couldn't find any availability when searching alternate dates and US gateways. Hoping to escalate to the OneWorld Liaison. I received an email from QR about the cancellation as well as a web form to specify an alternate airport, but received nothing in the promised 48-hour turnaround time and a call to QR directed me to call AA as I would expect for any changes.

Is my understanding incorrect or is the airline responsible for an alternative routing when changing/cancelling a flight?
In the QR forum there's a thread about the ATL-DOH being cancelled, although they re-routed the person through ORD so I'd think they could do that, but may need the OneWorld Liaison to assist
hurnik is offline  
Old Sep 30, 2020, 7:55 pm
  #1354  
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Originally Posted by hurnik
In the QR forum there's a thread about the ATL-DOH being cancelled, although they re-routed the person through ORD so I'd think they could do that, but may need the OneWorld Liaison to assist
In my experience, QR is fairly reasonable, a lot more than JL
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fly747first is offline  
Old Oct 1, 2020, 4:36 am
  #1355  
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Originally Posted by hurnik
In the QR forum there's a thread about the ATL-DOH being cancelled, although they re-routed the person through ORD so I'd think they could do that, but may need the OneWorld Liaison to assist
How would I get in touch with the One World Liaison? I have a flight which involves a change in a country which is closed to visitors! AA reservations simply telling me to cancel as no other flights available.
onlysuites is offline  
Old Oct 1, 2020, 4:53 am
  #1356  
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Posts: 44,424
Originally Posted by onlysuites
How would I get in touch with the One World Liaison? I have a flight which involves a change in a country which is closed to visitors! AA reservations simply telling me to cancel as no other flights available.
Has there been any change to the flights that would entitle a change? If it is just a voluntary change due to not being able to travel there, then you will just need to find flights with availability or cancel

The OW Liaison will assist when there is an airline issue that needs addressing
Dave Noble is offline  
Old Oct 1, 2020, 4:56 am
  #1357  
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Originally Posted by Dave Noble
Has there been any change to the flights that would entitle a change? If it is just a voluntary change due to not being able to travel there, then you will just need to find flights with availability or cancel

The OW Liaison will assist when there is an airline issue that needs addressing
QR cancelled a flight and put me on the next one resulting in a 11:50 min stay at the airport. Before I had a 2hr transit.
onlysuites is offline  
Old Oct 1, 2020, 9:28 am
  #1358  
Ambassador: Alaska Airlines
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: BWI
Posts: 7,390
Now QR cancelled our ATL-DOH flight. I am trying to get this fixed but AA keeps telling me Qatar cancelled all flights until the end of November (nonsense) when QR only cancelled ATL/MIA-DOH. Now AA is saying they can only rebook us on whatever award space is available and they are not willing to contact QR to work an alternate arrangement where we can fly from another US departure point in the same class of service. Every time I try to mention Oneworld liaison its almost a foreign concept to AA. I tried calling AAdvantage customer service directly then they just transfer me over to reservations.

I don't know what to do.... I tried calling QR directly but the call keeps going on long holds then disconnects after 1.5 hours.

Last edited by golfingboy; Oct 1, 2020 at 9:46 am
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Old Oct 1, 2020, 9:45 am
  #1359  
 
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 149
Originally Posted by golfingboy
Now QR cancelled our ATL-DOH flight. I am trying to get this fixed but AA keeps telling me Qatar cancelled all flights until the end of November (nonsense) when QR only cancelled ATL/MIA-DOH. Now AA is saying they can only rebook us on whatever award space is available and they are not willing to contact QR to work an alternate arrangement where we can fly from another US departure point in the same class of service.

I don't know what to do.... I tried calling QR directly but the call keeps going on long holds then disconnects after 1.5 hours.
I would find some other flights that work for you (probably through ORD, PHL, DFW, etc.), call AA again and see if they can reach out to the QR liason and open up space on those segments. I had to go through this process in March (to move flights to October which later got cancelled, a whole different story). It took a couple of weeks, but QR opened up the space I needed and I was then confirmed on flights that previously didn't have award space.
hensleyrob is offline  
Old Oct 1, 2020, 9:54 am
  #1360  
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Originally Posted by hensleyrob
I would find some other flights that work for you (probably through ORD, PHL, DFW, etc.), call AA again and see if they can reach out to the QR liason and open up space on those segments. I had to go through this process in March (to move flights to October which later got cancelled, a whole different story). It took a couple of weeks, but QR opened up the space I needed and I was then confirmed on flights that previously didn't have award space.
That is what I am trying to do but they keep telling me no that is not possible. We are only able to book whatever award is available is what they are telling me. I am speaking to a supervisor right now.

I can fly from any US departure point - doesn't matter to us as long as we arrive in MLE on the same flight. DOH-MLE should not be impacted because we have a confirmed seat on that flight. Its the US-DOH that is the issue.

ETA: Supervisor is saying there are no alternate recourse. QR even canceled our seats in business class on DOH-MLE because the ATL-DOH flight was cancelled.

Last edited by golfingboy; Oct 1, 2020 at 10:04 am
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Old Oct 1, 2020, 10:29 am
  #1361  
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An update.... While on the call I searched solely US-DOH business class (QR employs married segment logic) and found business class space for two on IAH-DOH, so the supervisor got us confirmed on that flight and added an AA segment for PHL-IAH in first class. My total travel time only increased by just an hour.

The only downside right now is that DOH-MLE is in coach. QR canceled our seats in business class on this exact same flight because they cancelled ATL-DOH. They put in a request with the liaison to work with QR to open two seats in business for DOH-MLE and told me to call back every couple of days for an update. Hopefully QR will open seats in business....

What a nightmare, but at least we have a plan in place that works and I am grateful to the AA team for being very patient with me.
golfingboy is offline  
Old Oct 1, 2020, 12:24 pm
  #1362  
 
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: KCGX
Posts: 144
Originally Posted by golfingboy
An update.... While on the call I searched solely US-DOH business class (QR employs married segment logic) and found business class space for two on IAH-DOH, so the supervisor got us confirmed on that flight and added an AA segment for PHL-IAH in first class. My total travel time only increased by just an hour.

The only downside right now is that DOH-MLE is in coach. QR canceled our seats in business class on this exact same flight because they cancelled ATL-DOH. They put in a request with the liaison to work with QR to open two seats in business for DOH-MLE and told me to call back every couple of days for an update. Hopefully QR will open seats in business....

What a nightmare, but at least we have a plan in place that works and I am grateful to the AA team for being very patient with me.
In a very similar boat, but the agent I spoke with did not hesitate when I mentioned the liaison. She did put me on hold before coming back and saying we could do it. QR cancelled my entire ticket, minus the AA segments, including my return which is still an operating flight.
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ElCaminoReal is offline  
Old Oct 1, 2020, 12:58 pm
  #1363  
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Originally Posted by onlysuites
QR cancelled a flight and put me on the next one resulting in a 11:50 min stay at the airport. Before I had a 2hr transit.
In this case, QR has done what it is obligated to do and I would be surprised if QR would do anything more
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Dave Noble is offline  
Old Oct 2, 2020, 8:35 am
  #1364  
pjs
 
Join Date: Mar 1999
Location: Alpharetta, GA, USA
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Originally Posted by golfingboy
An update.... While on the call I searched solely US-DOH business class (QR employs married segment logic) and found business class space for two on IAH-DOH, so the supervisor got us confirmed on that flight and added an AA segment for PHL-IAH in first class. My total travel time only increased by just an hour.

The only downside right now is that DOH-MLE is in coach. QR canceled our seats in business class on this exact same flight because they cancelled ATL-DOH. They put in a request with the liaison to work with QR to open two seats in business for DOH-MLE and told me to call back every couple of days for an update. Hopefully QR will open seats in business....

What a nightmare, but at least we have a plan in place that works and I am grateful to the AA team for being very patient with me.
How did you find space? I can't find any QR biz space now on AA (or even searching via Qantas and BA)
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Old Oct 2, 2020, 9:46 am
  #1365  
 
Join Date: Sep 2018
Location: ABQ
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Posts: 4
Like others I had ATL-DOH-MLE cancelled and after a few unproductive hours working with AA had about given up on the trip. Decided to check today and was able to find JFK-DOH-MLE J availability for my original date in January. Looks like QR opened a little space in J between DOH-MLE so might be worth rechecking.
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