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AA miles awards: using / redeeming AA miles on Qantas (QF) & related (consolidated)

Old Jan 14, 2015, 5:58 pm
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Last edit by: Prospero
AA miles awards: using / redeeming AA miles on Qantas (QF)

The basics:
QF releases their awards from 353 days out to QF FF's and some ffp's (Amadeus CRS). So at the 331 days (~Sabre CRS) AA for award release there are scant seats left. They tend to add more much closer to the day of flight, if there are seats available.

2017.07.08 edit by FlyerTalkUserName: For US flights it has been my recent, but limited experience that QF releases award availability around 10-11 months from departure. Consider searching for one seat in F and one in J as well.

Consider alternate cities. E.g. Flights to BNE might be easier to book with AA miles than SYD or MEL, so adding a segment from BNE might give you a trip denied by connecting in SYD. You might have to remind AA reservationists, because they might not consider BNE.

Consider alternate airlines, such as HA from HNL, TN via PPT, FJ via NAN, etc.

N.B. Travel via Honolulu, or Asia (e.g. HKG or NRT), will require two awards.

aa.com occasionally may report "phantom availability" of premium awards on Qantas.

2017.07.08 edit by FlyerTalkUserName: Conversely, aa.com occasionally may not show available Qantas awards. Use BA's search tool, QF's search tool, or service like ExpertFlyer to see availability. Call in to ticket.

Originally Posted by Dave Noble
BA only shows 3 cabins in output. When searching for award seats, make sure to select 1st class as cabin and it will show premium economy, business and 1st rather than economy, premium economy and business

It only displays flights where there is a seat in at least one cabin. If there is no availability on the flight in any cabin, then the flight will not be displayed.
The aa.com oneworld and Other Airline Award Chart may be seen here, for required miles and restrictions on connections.

Note: Reservation speculating, or tying up award space to "flip" in (or out of) Coupon Connection will not be tolerated. If you have an "extra" reservation, simply cancel or refund it. This will not be allowed in this forum either.

Qantas Routes
To be updated
SYD to LAX, DFW, HNL and YVR. SYD SFO restart delayed
BNE to LAX
MEL to LAX and DFW
SYD AKL JFK from 14 June 2023

Notes
Routes can change, so please check the schedule.
During low seasons some routes may not have flights every day.
Not all flights/routes have first class. Only the QF A380 aircraft have has first class.
QF have retired all B747's and sent them to the Mojave desert (July 2020)

+++++++++++++++++
/Moderator

Older posts have been archived to ARCHIVE: AA miles awards: using / redeeming AA miles on Qantas (QF)

Note: Older posts have been archived off to this thread

Updates & edits
20 May 2016 - JDiver
23 Sept 2019 - Mwenenzi QF routes added
11 Mar 2020 - Mwenenzi QF route changes
31 Jul 2020 - Mwenenzi QF B747 retired. More Covid-19 announcements from QF
07 Aug 2020 - Mwenenzi QF B787 to storage
12 Nov 2021 - Mwenenzi QF announcements 3 off
05 Mar 2022 - Mwenenzi QF announcements
12 Jun 2022 - Mwenenzi QF announcements removed (except 2) as AU fully open & QF flying AU<--->USA
24 Dec 2022 - Mwenenzi QF post CV19 announcements removed. MELDFW route added

THIS WIKI IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION. PLEASE FEEL FREE TO ADD VALUE.
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AA miles awards: using / redeeming AA miles on Qantas (QF) & related (consolidated)

Old Mar 4, 2019, 5:45 am
  #871  
 
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: New York City
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Originally Posted by Dave Noble
If you have access to expert flyer - check on there and see whether it shows the flight as availablke
I'm experiencing the same as the original post - QF, BA and ExpertFlyer all show an F award (P class) available on LAX-SYD, but AA shows nothing and the AUS call center agents can't see the space either. Frustrating
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Old Mar 4, 2019, 6:27 am
  #872  
 
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Intra-Australia award travel - stopover allowed?

Are stopovers allowed when using AA miles on QF for flights within Australia (example - KTA - SYD - BNE or KTA - SYD - DRW)? In my case, the stopover would be in SYD.

Also, what defines a stopover? Greater than 24 hours between flights?

Thanks.
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Old Mar 4, 2019, 6:48 am
  #873  
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Originally Posted by State fan
Are stopovers allowed when using AA miles on QF for flights within Australia (example - KTA - SYD - BNE or KTA - SYD - DRW)? In my case, the stopover would be in SYD.

Also, what defines a stopover? Greater than 24 hours between flights?

Thanks.
Stopovers are not allowed on any awards using AA miles.

For international itineraries, yes, you have up to 24 hrs to connect at every point along the route (i.e. anything over 24 hrs. is considered a stopover). For wholly domestic itineraries though, it is typically up to 18 hrs for some depending on what aa.com sees as available. Looking at aa.com I see lots of 12+ hr. connections offered on intra-Australia awards, however typically nothing over 18 hrs.
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Old Mar 4, 2019, 1:51 pm
  #874  
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Originally Posted by State fan
Are stopovers allowed when using AA miles on QF for flights within Australia (example - KTA - SYD - BNE or KTA - SYD - DRW)? In my case, the stopover would be in SYD.

Also, what defines a stopover? Greater than 24 hours between flights?

Thanks.
AA allows max 24 hours on an itinerary for it to class as a stopover , however AA also requires that award flights comply with the rules for a published fare

The only permitted routing for KTA-DRW for QF's fares is KTA-PER-DRW
The only permitted routing for KTA-BNE for QF's fares is KTA-BNE-DRW

For travel via Perth , the maximum time allowed to connect is 12 hours by Qantas's fare rules

I think it hardly likely that AA will allow a 4200 mile trip from KTA to DRW as a single award ( KTA-DRW = 1095 miles; going via Perth is 2419 miles ; via Sydney is 4246 miles

If you want to visit Sydney, you are almost certainly going to have to use 2 awards
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Old Mar 6, 2019, 2:12 am
  #875  
 
Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: PHX, ICN
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I've searched this thread for confirmation, but just to be sure: QF never opens F seats on SYD-SIN direct to AA (or any partners) right, unless it's on to LHR? It would be a long shot anyway, but I want to be sure before I complete alternate routes/options.
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Old Apr 30, 2019, 10:26 pm
  #876  
 
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Data point, and follow up to my post right above this. Based off of about 4 months of studying ex-SYD towards (eventually) ICN.

Just booked SYD-MEL-SIN, with SYD-MEL in J and MEL-SIN in F for next year. F awards for my date opened at ~275 days out, which doesn't fit any of the "X days out" patterns I have read about. What seemed to happen is first class seats were released to Date X (e.g. January 8, 2020), then no extension for several days, then released to Date Y. There's probably a pattern, but I didn't see it, as today seats were released 20 days further out than my last search 3 days ago. Also: 2+ seats (probably more) released at every date once available. And direct SYD-SIN awards were never released for any date during my search (including at least 2 times when I searched the entire calendar).

So AA getting awards at 330 may be correct for economy, but business didn't seem to match that, and first class definitely is below 295.
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Old Apr 30, 2019, 10:39 pm
  #877  
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Are you sure that it isn't that booking(s) were made between 331-355 days in advance ( i.e. before AA will allow awards to be booked ) and that a booking was cancelled at 275 days?

I can see seats available for several days 14-17 April 2020 on MEL-SIN
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Old May 1, 2019, 5:47 am
  #878  
 
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Could be. But I searched this route a lot (and I mean a *lot*) since around early January. Literally 3 days ago there were first class awards for every day up to January 11 or so. Today there were opening for every day up to Jan 30. So maybe there were a couple of dozen cancelled awards, spread by 2+ every day, and all processed this week. Or something else may be involved.

I am definitely not an expert on AA awards, much less AA awards on Qantas. So I'm just posting my particular experience after searching this route a few dozen times.
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Old May 2, 2019, 1:39 am
  #879  
 
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Never mind, answered my own question. AA will only show at 275 days, QS will have earlier availability. Does that mean we have to call in when we find it on QS/BA to book?

Last edited by SightseeMC; May 2, 2019 at 1:46 am
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Old May 19, 2019, 12:53 pm
  #880  
 
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AAdvantage ghost QF F availability?

I found some flights I wanted to redeem in QF F with AA miles (HKG-SYD), went on to buy a whole load of miles, only to find out I am stuck in a loop of selecting and reviewing flights.

I called AA and was told the QF flight is only available for redemption in Economy. But when I play around on the site, this happens on multiple days where F is apparently available but impossible to book.

Is it likely that this is a system glitch and availability is actually there (in Dec), or should I forget about flying F and instead fight to reverse the mileage purchase - pretty annoyed as I have no use for these miles otherwise. Thanks!
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Old May 19, 2019, 1:30 pm
  #881  
 
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Wouldn't it have been a good idea to put the awards on hold before buying miles?
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Old May 19, 2019, 1:42 pm
  #882  
 
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Actually, QF F is available HKG/SYD for many days in Dec. but not for Aadvantage customers. Only QF Frequent Flyers can book it. However, if you're willing to wait (and to check on a regular basis) QF may release seats for AA at some point. Or they may not. Business Class is usually available on this route with AA however. And, yes, this is an AA glitch.
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Old May 19, 2019, 1:44 pm
  #883  
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Doing a quick check on Expert Flyer and cannot see anything in December in 1st class
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Old May 19, 2019, 4:00 pm
  #884  
 
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Originally Posted by Dave Noble
Doing a quick check on Expert Flyer and cannot see anything in December in 1st class
Check the Qantas site after signing in as a member.
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Old May 20, 2019, 12:02 am
  #885  
 
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Originally Posted by dickinson
Wouldn't it have been a good idea to put the awards on hold before buying miles?
Yeah, I tried to do this but it kept looping back and I assumed it was the hold that was broken rather than the availability. I never use AA so I have no idea how the system works, and it wasn't really obvious to me...
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