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

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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 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.
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)

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Old Dec 16, 2021, 2:23 pm
  #1891  
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: SAN
Programs: Lots of faux metal
Posts: 6,425
Originally Posted by dwhelan5
So I was able to reserve my seats yesterday using the Malaysia trick, and confirmed those seats carried over to AA, however, they are not on Qatar yet. Is this common?
You should see a green check mark on QR.com once it sticks. I think it says it could take 24 hours.
skunker is offline  
Old Dec 16, 2021, 10:04 pm
  #1892  
 
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: SFO
Programs: Marriott LT Plat; WoH Exp; AS Gold; AA Plat
Posts: 369
Originally Posted by dwhelan5
So I was able to reserve my seats yesterday using the Malaysia trick, and confirmed those seats carried over to AA, however, they are not on Qatar yet. Is this common?
Congrats! Middle seats don't show as available for me on MH. What's the trick?
arfaczar is offline  
Old Dec 17, 2021, 4:01 am
  #1893  
 
Join Date: Mar 2021
Posts: 161
Originally Posted by arfaczar
Congrats! Middle seats don't show as available for me on MH. What's the trick?
They didn’t for me at first, but then I confirmed my details (Email, Country, Phone Number) on the Malaysia website and then they did. You also need to be traveling with someone else on the Record Locator for the middle seats to be available
dwhelan5 is offline  
Old Dec 17, 2021, 3:28 pm
  #1894  
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: LAX_AMS_MNL
Programs: AS MVP, AA EXP - 1MM, BAEC BRZ, BVY GLD, Hilton DIA, Hyatt GLB
Posts: 749
I don't see any available awards from North America to DOHA in any class after November 13 2022? Looking through BA and EF.

Has anyone seen this before?
KL808 is offline  
Old Dec 17, 2021, 4:25 pm
  #1895  
 
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Movieville
Programs: PSA, Air Cal, Tarom Glam Miles (pre-devaluation)
Posts: 228
Have not been released yet, to my knowledge. I’ve been tracking November as well.
KL808 likes this.
renila is offline  
Old Dec 17, 2021, 4:34 pm
  #1896  
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Programs: AA (EP), Hilton (Diamond), Marriott Bonvoy (Titanium)
Posts: 8,937
Originally Posted by KL808
I don't see any available awards from North America to DOHA in any class after November 13 2022? Looking through BA and EF.

Has anyone seen this before?
I'm not sure if QR loads flights further out, and likely releases award inventory a few days after flights are first loaded. Even though the GDSs allow flights to be loaded and booked 365 days out, I think BA and EF have shorter limits.
anabolism is offline  
Old Dec 17, 2021, 4:35 pm
  #1897  
 
Join Date: Oct 2019
Location: Vienna, Austria
Posts: 710
Originally Posted by KL808
I don't see any available awards from North America to DOHA in any class after November 13 2022? Looking through BA and EF.

Has anyone seen this before?
too early to book award tickets for then, around 11 months in advance is standard for what’s available…in Jan-Feb they should be released
NickRivas is offline  
Old Dec 17, 2021, 5:34 pm
  #1898  
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Join Date: May 2015
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Posts: 17,408
Originally Posted by NickRivas
too early to book award tickets for then, around 11 months in advance is standard for what’s available…in Jan-Feb they should be released
We've gone over this just a few pages ago, QR actually officially releases at 365 days out. Why they haven't released for November/December 2022 is anyone's guess at this point - but it's not an award release issue. Maybe they think by then COVID will be resolved and all the pent-up demand will release and they can sell all the seats.

I was tracking August/September flights on BA and those were released on-schedule.
Smiley90 is offline  
Old Dec 17, 2021, 6:01 pm
  #1899  
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: LAX_AMS_MNL
Programs: AS MVP, AA EXP - 1MM, BAEC BRZ, BVY GLD, Hilton DIA, Hyatt GLB
Posts: 749
Originally Posted by NickRivas
too early to book award tickets for then, around 11 months in advance is standard for what’s available…in Jan-Feb they should be released
LOL if you wait till then and not check it daily your gonna get SOL. Already snagged my LAX-MLE I'm just waiting to snag the return.
KL808 is offline  
Old Dec 17, 2021, 6:09 pm
  #1900  
Hyatt 10+ BadgeFour Seasons 5+ Badge
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: SYD
Programs: QF WP (OWE), VA PLAT, EY GLD, SPG PLAT, Hyatt DIA, Hilton DIA, Hertz PC
Posts: 8,527
I changed my routing on QR using AA miles amd received new ticket numbers from AA.

QR are saying two sectors don’t have coupons or tickets. AA says it’s correctly ticketed. What should I do?

Dont want to end up stuck in the Arab World because of a ticketing issue and each carrier blaming the other. My first solution was to cancel and rebook but the availability is gone.
m0hamed is offline  
Old Dec 17, 2021, 6:32 pm
  #1901  
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: LAX_AMS_MNL
Programs: AS MVP, AA EXP - 1MM, BAEC BRZ, BVY GLD, Hilton DIA, Hyatt GLB
Posts: 749
Originally Posted by m0hamed
I changed my routing on QR using AA miles amd received new ticket numbers from AA.

QR are saying two sectors don’t have coupons or tickets. AA says it’s correctly ticketed. What should I do?

Dont want to end up stuck in the Arab World because of a ticketing issue and each carrier blaming the other. My first solution was to cancel and rebook but the availability is gone.
Do the tickets pull up on other Oneworld carrier websites with the ticket numbers you have?
If they do, maybe call a different call center like the ones in the UK or Australia or Singapore. Or maybe visit the local QR office if it is convenient.
Please keep us updated
KL808 is offline  
Old Dec 17, 2021, 7:42 pm
  #1902  
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Programs: AA (EP), Hilton (Diamond), Marriott Bonvoy (Titanium)
Posts: 8,937
Originally Posted by m0hamed
I changed my routing on QR using AA miles amd received new ticket numbers from AA.

QR are saying two sectors don’t have coupons or tickets. AA says it’s correctly ticketed. What should I do?
This happens from time to time, because AA uses Sabre while Qatar uses Amadeus, and sometimes there are glitches transferring data between them. Best to call AA; I believe the agent can cause the eticket numbers to be pushed over again.
anabolism is offline  
Old Dec 17, 2021, 8:02 pm
  #1903  
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Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: SYD
Programs: QF WP (OWE), VA PLAT, EY GLD, SPG PLAT, Hyatt DIA, Hilton DIA, Hertz PC
Posts: 8,527
Originally Posted by KL808
Do the tickets pull up on other Oneworld carrier websites with the ticket numbers you have?
If they do, maybe call a different call center like the ones in the UK or Australia or Singapore. Or maybe visit the local QR office if it is convenient.
Please keep us updated
All my calls are to the Australian number and I believe I’m speaking to Singapore.
m0hamed is offline  
Old Dec 17, 2021, 8:02 pm
  #1904  
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Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: SYD
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Posts: 8,527
Originally Posted by anabolism
This happens from time to time, because AA uses Sabre while Qatar uses Amadeus, and sometimes there are glitches transferring data between them. Best to call AA; I believe the agent can cause the eticket numbers to be pushed over again.
Thanks, will try and report back.
m0hamed is offline  
Old Dec 18, 2021, 12:34 am
  #1905  
 
Join Date: Oct 2019
Location: Vienna, Austria
Posts: 710
Originally Posted by Smiley90
We've gone over this just a few pages ago, QR actually officially releases at 365 days out. Why they haven't released for November/December 2022 is anyone's guess at this point - but it's not an award release issue. Maybe they think by then COVID will be resolved and all the pent-up demand will release and they can sell all the seats.

I was tracking August/September flights on BA and those were released on-schedule.
Oh Ime when I book award tickets on AA it usually only up to 11 months

but from recent experiences it can be that QR releases tickets differently for different partners. Not 100% sure will with QR but for example Iberia tends to release more tickets to BA Avios first before making them available via AA website. It used to be that if you searched award space on BA Avios and saw some available, you could just call AA if they didn’t show up in their website and the people on the phone would book it for you…but lately when I call they say those OW award seats are blocked for AA by IB for example as of yet…
nonetheless a call to AA doesn’t hurt since I’ve also experienced that when I call to book a certain itinerary, they end up actually having better times/layovers available not displayed on their site
NickRivas is offline  


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