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)
Jan 12, 2022, 12:46 pm
#1966
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: San Diego, CA
Programs: UA 1K MM, AA Gold, SPG Plat, HH Gold
Posts: 991
No FC option LAX-MLE
Looking to book LAX to MLE on Qatar with miles but first class/business options never appear on AA.com - just coach. LAX-DOH (without MLE) gives both coach and biz. Is there a secret to getting biz on miles tickets all the way to MLE?
Jan 12, 2022, 12:54 pm
#1967
Join Date: May 2006
Location: SAN
Programs: Lots of faux metal
Posts: 6,425
Look for LAX-DOH as far out as possible or as close in as possible, then call AA to add the DOH-MLE leg.
As a point of reference I booked LAX-DOH-SEZ for July this year back in early October. Couldn't find any return flights so doing Etihad through AUH.
Jan 13, 2022, 12:30 pm
#1968
Join Date: Apr 2011
Posts: 217
When you search that flight at aa.com does it show 1 seat available or 2? If aa.com shows 2 seats availabe but the agent could only see 1, then HUCA. But if aa.com only shows 1, and the agent could only see 1, then there's not much you can do as it appears QR is only making 1 seat availabe to AA.
Jan 13, 2022, 5:23 pm
#1969
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2015
Location: BOS, YVR, ZRH
Programs: *G
Posts: 17,408
That depends if married segments are in play or not. If not, then it should be no problem to add it.
The problem is that many AA agents are just poorly trained and/or confused by these rules, so some wrongly insist you need availabilty on the whole routing to make a change when you really don't. So you may have to HUCA.
The problem is that many AA agents are just poorly trained and/or confused by these rules, so some wrongly insist you need availabilty on the whole routing to make a change when you really don't. So you may have to HUCA.
Now I have the luxury of having to decide between BOS-DOH-CPT and JFK-AUH-JNB-CPT, QR vs EY... 75k vs 100k miles... Wrong days vs extra flight & train ride to NYC...
Jan 13, 2022, 5:54 pm
#1970
Join Date: May 2006
Location: SAN
Programs: Lots of faux metal
Posts: 6,425
Thanks! Funny story - I forgot about this for a few days and went to check again today and not only did DOH-CPT become available, but ALSO BOS-DOH. On consecutive days! Just two days before the date I was supposed to be in Cape Town. Pretty close to perfect result, so I was able to just book BOS-DOH-CPT for 2 ppl in J, no hassle. If the same opens up a day or 2 later I can just change, if not I can probably swing the extra two vacation days
Now I have the luxury of having to decide between BOS-DOH-CPT and JFK-AUH-JNB-CPT, QR vs EY... 75k vs 100k miles... Wrong days vs extra flight & train ride to NYC...
Now I have the luxury of having to decide between BOS-DOH-CPT and JFK-AUH-JNB-CPT, QR vs EY... 75k vs 100k miles... Wrong days vs extra flight & train ride to NYC...
Jan 13, 2022, 5:58 pm
#1971
Join Date: Aug 2004
Programs: AA (EP), Hilton (Diamond), Marriott Bonvoy (Titanium)
Posts: 8,937
Why 75k vs 100k? US-48/CA to Africa is 75k in J, 120k in F. If both are in J, they should be 75k each. If EY is in F, it should be 120k.
Jan 13, 2022, 6:07 pm
#1972
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2015
Location: BOS, YVR, ZRH
Programs: *G
Posts: 17,408
Jan 14, 2022, 9:57 am
#1974
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: RDU <|> MMX
Programs: AA EXP 2MM, SK EBS
Posts: 12,495
Jan 14, 2022, 9:59 am
#1975
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: RDU
Posts: 2,264
No awkwardness. There are front and side partitions (in the front, the tv slides to open up the qsuite, but you can certainly leave it closed).
Jan 15, 2022, 11:04 am
#1976
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2015
Location: BOS, YVR, ZRH
Programs: *G
Posts: 17,408
A flight showing up on BA.com but NOT on AA.com doesn't mean calling in will get me that flight, right?
One day has two possible flights available on BA.com for booking with awards, but AA is only showing one of them... and the one it's showing doesn't work time-wise for me.
EDIT: Nvm, the second flight that shows on BA doesn't even show if I search for revenue flights, must be some sort of phantom.
One day has two possible flights available on BA.com for booking with awards, but AA is only showing one of them... and the one it's showing doesn't work time-wise for me.
EDIT: Nvm, the second flight that shows on BA doesn't even show if I search for revenue flights, must be some sort of phantom.
Last edited by Smiley90; Jan 15, 2022 at 11:21 am
Jan 16, 2022, 1:05 am
#1977
Join Date: Jul 2011
Programs: QF Plat, VA Plat, BA Gold
Posts: 528
Hi, I'm not very familiar with AA redemptions on QR. I'm trying to book CAI-DOH-KUL-ADL in J.
I think with that itinerary, it is meant to price at 80k, however as CAI-DOH is in 'F", the mileage required jacks up to 100k online.
Is this correct, or if I call AA up, can an agent can reprice to 80k? (Haven't called yet, as need some miles to top up)
Thank you everyone in advance.
I think with that itinerary, it is meant to price at 80k, however as CAI-DOH is in 'F", the mileage required jacks up to 100k online.
Is this correct, or if I call AA up, can an agent can reprice to 80k? (Haven't called yet, as need some miles to top up)
Thank you everyone in advance.
Jan 16, 2022, 5:32 am
#1978
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
Hi, I'm not very familiar with AA redemptions on QR. I'm trying to book CAI-DOH-KUL-ADL in J.
I think with that itinerary, it is meant to price at 80k, however as CAI-DOH is in 'F", the mileage required jacks up to 100k online.
Is this correct, or if I call AA up, can an agent can reprice to 80k? (Haven't called yet, as need some miles to top up)
Thank you everyone in advance.
I think with that itinerary, it is meant to price at 80k, however as CAI-DOH is in 'F", the mileage required jacks up to 100k online.
Is this correct, or if I call AA up, can an agent can reprice to 80k? (Haven't called yet, as need some miles to top up)
Thank you everyone in advance.
Jan 16, 2022, 12:48 pm
#1979
Join Date: Aug 2004
Programs: AA (EP), Hilton (Diamond), Marriott Bonvoy (Titanium)
Posts: 8,937
Mideast (CAI and DOH) to South Pacific (ADL) is permitted to transit Asia 2 (KUL). You have three flights out of the four maximum. Provided your connections are all under 24 hours, it should be one award. Given this, I'm surprised the web site prices it as a first class award; a test booking CAI-DOH in QR Z correctly prices at 30k.
Jan 18, 2022, 11:59 pm
#1980
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Seoul, KR
Programs: MAR Titanium, HH Gold
Posts: 572
Does anyone know if Asia 1 - Mideast - Indian Sub in J has gone through price increase? For instance, ICN-DOH-MLE via QR in J was 80k (for 1 pax, round-trip) as it was regarded as one award but now AA agents argue their system classifies that route now consists of two rewards so it needs 140k (80k+60k).