Hello all. I was able to book some flights to and from HKT/Phuket thru the AA website on Qatar. I am not even sure how I was able to do this, because the AA website states that I must call to search for award travel with Qatar (As I side note, I had called AA twice, and was told there was nothing available from several Northeast US cities).

Anyway, I booked PHL-DOH for my outbound (ultimate destination was HKT/Phuket) and a return from HKT-DUB - all on Qatar. My return to PHL was booked separately. The missing piece of the puzzle (DOH to HKT) was found and booked about 10 days later, again on the AA website.

After booking the PHL-DOH and HKT-DUB segments (which are all on the same booking number) I called Qatar for seat assignments, because that is what the AA website states I must do. I was assigned seats and received confirmation emails from Qatar. I had expected to pay for seat assignments, but I was not asked to pay anything.

After I found award availability for DOH-HKT with Qatar on the AA website I booked it. Then I called Qatar to attempt to get a seat assignment, as I had done before. This time I was told that I will not be able to select a seat. (I called Qatar twice and AA twice). I was told by the Qatar agents that "all seats are chargeable, we have no way to charge you, since this is an AA award seat. The booking was done thru AA. You must call AA to get assigned seats". I told the agent I would gladly pay for the seat assignment. I was told they could not do that because there was no way in their system to charge me for a seat that was booked with an AA award (the Qatar agents had no answer to my question of why I had already been able to choose seats for my other flights booked with Qatar, also utilizing AA miles).

I called AA. The agent spent quite a bit of time with me, checking with an award flight specialist, etc. When all was said and done, he apologized profusely but told me that AA also could not secure a seat with me, because it was an award ticket! I was told I would have to wait until on-line check in the day before, or until I got to DOH airport to receive a seat assignment! No matter that I will be onboard a flight during the on-line check in period, making it very likely I will not be able to check in!

Because I know the proficiency and skill of agents at all airlines varies, I called each airline back twice. Same story each time.

Does anyone know why I was able to choose seat assignments for PHL-DOH and HKT-DUB, but when I attempted to do so with the DOH-HKT segment that I secured at a later date I was told no?
Did the agent @ Qatar who did assign me seats on the first award booking simply screw up?

I am anxious about not having a seat assignment! I am a senior traveler, traveling solo, thousands of miles away on an airline I am not familiar with, into an airport that I am not familiar with. I am so afraid I will not get a seat, let alone a window seat which I prefer for this overnight flight. My connection time in DOH is 4 hours if everything goes as planned with no delays on departure.

Has anyone else been unable to book a seat selection for a flight booked with award mileage? Has anyone had an experience similar to mine?

Thank you all for your anticipated responses.