Nov 19, 2013, 3:20 pm
Last edit by: Prospero
Covid-19 Update:
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:
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.
- 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
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 you’ll have to call American if you want to ticket AAdvantage awards on Etihad & Qatar that aren’t 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.
Bottom Line
For the time being you’ll have to call American if you want to ticket AAdvantage awards on Etihad & Qatar that aren’t 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.
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.
Qatar Airways / QR: Redeem AA Miles for Award (master thd)
Oct 28, 2021, 11:30 pm
#1801
Join Date: May 2006
Location: SAN
Programs: Lots of faux metal
Posts: 6,425
With that said I did some searches and noticed a few things
1) All US gateways seem to have nothing, which is crazy since the lesser used gateways (SEA, IAH, SFO, etc.) usually have something
2) YUL has some availability
3) there is A LOT of availability on RJ through AMM
It could be an AA thing, a QR thing, or just everyone booking speculative flights fearing a devaluation which didn't happen.
Oct 29, 2021, 12:05 am
#1802
Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: DCA/IAD & BUF
Posts: 1,400
QR cycled through 2022 summer release to all the North America cities 2-4 months ago. There was actually good availability from different cities at different times but it wasn't out there long. Then maybe 4-6 weeks ago, they pretty much blocked either May 15th or June 15th through September 10th-ish. At least in J.
You can still occasionally pick up a random non-stop in QR J USA-DOH during that period, most often from ORD or DFW it seems like. I just picked up an August random ORD-DOH-MLE. Checking several times most days I haven't seen anything for a return to DOH-USA to a North American city though. Except YUL a couple of times.
QR DOH-Europe in J still has awards over the summer but then it's mostly BA back to the US on a connection. I'm hoping they'll eventually release F awards on the A380 DOH-LHR route, but so far that I've seen they've only released J.
You can still occasionally pick up a random non-stop in QR J USA-DOH during that period, most often from ORD or DFW it seems like. I just picked up an August random ORD-DOH-MLE. Checking several times most days I haven't seen anything for a return to DOH-USA to a North American city though. Except YUL a couple of times.
QR DOH-Europe in J still has awards over the summer but then it's mostly BA back to the US on a connection. I'm hoping they'll eventually release F awards on the A380 DOH-LHR route, but so far that I've seen they've only released J.
Oct 29, 2021, 11:32 am
#1803
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: ORD
Programs: AA, UA, GE
Posts: 5,123
QR cycled through 2022 summer release to all the North America cities 2-4 months ago. There was actually good availability from different cities at different times but it wasn't out there long. Then maybe 4-6 weeks ago, they pretty much blocked either May 15th or June 15th through September 10th-ish. At least in J.
You can still occasionally pick up a random non-stop in QR J USA-DOH during that period, most often from ORD or DFW it seems like. I just picked up an August random ORD-DOH-MLE. Checking several times most days I haven't seen anything for a return to DOH-USA to a North American city though. Except YUL a couple of times.
QR DOH-Europe in J still has awards over the summer but then it's mostly BA back to the US on a connection. I'm hoping they'll eventually release F awards on the A380 DOH-LHR route, but so far that I've seen they've only released J.
You can still occasionally pick up a random non-stop in QR J USA-DOH during that period, most often from ORD or DFW it seems like. I just picked up an August random ORD-DOH-MLE. Checking several times most days I haven't seen anything for a return to DOH-USA to a North American city though. Except YUL a couple of times.
QR DOH-Europe in J still has awards over the summer but then it's mostly BA back to the US on a connection. I'm hoping they'll eventually release F awards on the A380 DOH-LHR route, but so far that I've seen they've only released J.
Oct 30, 2021, 1:02 pm
#1804
Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: YYZ
Programs: AY, AC, OV
Posts: 39
I'm seeing all kinds of points amounts for these tickets, including "Web Special" and just "Business" awards and guessing some of these can't be applied to my ticket. The AA agent I spoke to also insisted I need to find availability on the entire YYZ-ORD-DOH in J to upgrade the ticket, which doesn't sound correct.
As an aside, is there some reason DOH-DXB on QR is so hard to find space on (and why even cash tickets are so expensive?)
Oct 31, 2021, 8:58 pm
#1806
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2015
Location: BOS, YVR, ZRH
Programs: *G
Posts: 17,401
I definitely saw some because I needed that routing myself, but then it kind of dried up so I'm flying via Etihad (and JNB) instead. Fingers crossed Etihad extends their seasonal CPT flight into September and I can switch to that...
Nov 1, 2021, 11:21 am
#1807
Join Date: Jul 2012
Posts: 500
I had a CPT-DOH J award in September. I think I booked it about 8 months out.
Nov 1, 2021, 12:28 pm
#1809
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: ORD
Programs: AA, UA, GE
Posts: 5,123
Unfortunately awards that are either in limited supply or in high demand (or both) may require you do this. I've had to do it on several airlines award searches.
Nov 2, 2021, 5:47 pm
#1811
Join Date: Jan 2005
Programs: AA EXP, UA Silver (Thanks Marriott!), Marriott Lifetime Titanium & Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 643
I’m in the same boat as many of you. Trying to get flights in June (really any time from 20th onward) from PHL to MLE via DOH (QR) or AUH (EY). Striking out on the phone with AA and using my premium expert flyer sub.
Apparently QR has no award availability there or back at any time.
I’ll continue to hunt down flights.
Apparently QR has no award availability there or back at any time.
I’ll continue to hunt down flights.
Nov 2, 2021, 6:00 pm
#1812
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2015
Location: BOS, YVR, ZRH
Programs: *G
Posts: 17,401
I’m in the same boat as many of you. Trying to get flights in June (really any time from 20th onward) from PHL to MLE via DOH (QR) or AUH (EY). Striking out on the phone with AA and using my premium expert flyer sub.
Apparently QR has no award availability there or back at any time.
I’ll continue to hunt down flights.
Apparently QR has no award availability there or back at any time.
I’ll continue to hunt down flights.
Check BA for QR availability and AC for EY, check all the various NA gateways and be ready to book domestic flights separately if you have to, that's the best advice for either. Good luck.
Nov 2, 2021, 6:25 pm
#1813
Join Date: Jan 2005
Programs: AA EXP, UA Silver (Thanks Marriott!), Marriott Lifetime Titanium & Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 643
Actually, just got off the phone with AA. Got outbounds booked via Etihad in J (through ORD). The return requires an overnight in AUH, but it’s also on EY in J. At least we’re booked, and I can make changes at any time without penalty or fees.
Nov 3, 2021, 7:35 am
#1814
Join Date: Oct 2021
Programs: AA
Posts: 16
Had an award flight booked for roughly $80 per person in fees. A new route popped up this morning I went to book, but the fees are now almost double! It looks like AA is indicating there are 2 $60 Maldives charges...is this an error?
Nov 3, 2021, 8:57 am
#1815
Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: DCA/IAD & BUF
Posts: 1,400
Some folks were complaining about it on another travel forum but I don't recall the specifics. Think it was something like an additional $60-$100 dollars in F or J. I'd forgotten about it until this, will go back and check my Feb award ticket when I have a chance.