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)
Feb 21, 2022, 10:00 pm
#2056
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
It’s been like this for months.
Feb 22, 2022, 6:55 am
#2058
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2015
Location: BOS, YVR, ZRH
Programs: *G
Posts: 17,399
Feb 22, 2022, 12:43 pm
#2059
Join Date: Jan 2000
Programs: Free agent
Posts: 1,296
I was finally able to cobble together an itinerary, but it involved a paid plus two separate award tickets. Right now I have JFK-DOH in J, DOH-MLE in F (leased Cathay 777) and a paid Y ticket from DFW-JFK on hold. I tried to ticket the JFK-DOH-MLE and got all the way to the final checkout showing the correct 110k miles per person (70+40) but it crapped out when I tried to confirm. It seemed to lock up the awards for a few hours as I couldn't find it again until just now. Now that I've found it I was able to get it on hold by doing them as separate awards. I seem to remember AA being able to merge the two awards into a single award in the past, can/will they will do that? Will they join the AA domestic paid ticket in the record locator to allow for through checked bags? We have 2.5 hours in JFK so that should be enough time to claim and recheck, but would be nice if they could. I still have a couple of hours until my "Your wait will be longer than 4 hours" callback.
Feb 22, 2022, 2:26 pm
#2060
Join Date: Nov 2007
Programs: Marriott Bonvoy Platinum, Hilton Honors Diamond, Delta Gold
Posts: 4,349
I was finally able to cobble together an itinerary, but it involved a paid plus two separate award tickets. Right now I have JFK-DOH in J, DOH-MLE in F (leased Cathay 777) and a paid Y ticket from DFW-JFK on hold. I tried to ticket the JFK-DOH-MLE and got all the way to the final checkout showing the correct 110k miles per person (70+40) but it crapped out when I tried to confirm. It seemed to lock up the awards for a few hours as I couldn't find it again until just now. Now that I've found it I was able to get it on hold by doing them as separate awards. I seem to remember AA being able to merge the two awards into a single award in the past, can/will they will do that? Will they join the AA domestic paid ticket in the record locator to allow for through checked bags? We have 2.5 hours in JFK so that should be enough time to claim and recheck, but would be nice if they could. I still have a couple of hours until my "Your wait will be longer than 4 hours" callback.
Feb 22, 2022, 2:40 pm
#2061
Join Date: Jan 2000
Programs: Free agent
Posts: 1,296
Yes, I believe a competent agent should be able to do this. But I think the correct way to do this is to have only the long haul JFK-DOH on hold and then ask the agent to add your short haul segments (both DFW-JFK and DOH-MLE). I'm not sure they can just merge what you have on hold. I guess you'll wait for your callback and see what they say.
Feb 24, 2022, 11:20 am
#2063
Used to be garyjr316
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: LAX or SBA
Programs: AAdvantage, MileagePlus, Gold Passport, Hilton HHonors, Marriott
Posts: 800
Curious if this is a "mergeable" itinerary? I currently have 2 separate awards on hold. MLE-DOH (arrives at 2:00AM on a Friday morning) and then DOH-LAX at 1:30AM Saturday Morning. Would they be able to merge that as one 70K biz class award since it is under 24 hours between arrival and departure in DOH?
Feb 24, 2022, 12:13 pm
#2064
Join Date: Apr 2020
Location: DFW
Posts: 131
On Sunday (Feb 20) I flew Qatar in F on an a380 from CDG>DOH. Business was completely sold out. I was a last-minute rebook from AA and I was the only passenger in F. I'm told that it usually flies completely empty, and they don't open award space unless the F cabin is already open with paid bookings because they'd rather allocate the staff to J than have 1 or 2 pax in F. I would absolutely LOVE to find this route bookable with miles.
Feb 24, 2022, 1:21 pm
#2065
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: SFOSJCOAK
Programs: AA-EXP & 1MM+, AS, MR-LTT, HH Gold
Posts: 7,581
On Sunday (Feb 20) I flew Qatar in F on an a380 from CDG>DOH. Business was completely sold out. I was a last-minute rebook from AA and I was the only passenger in F. I'm told that it usually flies completely empty, and they don't open award space unless the F cabin is already open with paid bookings because they'd rather allocate the staff to J than have 1 or 2 pax in F. I would absolutely LOVE to find this route bookable with miles.
Interesting data point.
Feb 24, 2022, 4:39 pm
#2066
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,600
Curious if this is a "mergeable" itinerary? I currently have 2 separate awards on hold. MLE-DOH (arrives at 2:00AM on a Friday morning) and then DOH-LAX at 1:30AM Saturday Morning. Would they be able to merge that as one 70K biz class award since it is under 24 hours between arrival and departure in DOH?
There is a risk that when cancelling the reservation , that availability does not return
Also - just that there is availability as 2 separate bookings, does not imply that there is availability as a through booking
Feb 25, 2022, 12:00 am
#2067
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: California
Programs: AAdvantage, United MileagePlus, Alaska MileagePlan, Marriott Rewards
Posts: 132
I saw that as well, and I read somewhere Qatar is leasing Cathay Pacific planes and one of the routes they have them on is to Male. So if you look at CX 777-300ER seat maps you will find a configuration that seems to match with business class starting on row 11. I suspect that's why we are seeing that when selecting seats
Feb 27, 2022, 2:08 am
#2068
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: SEA/PDX/PSC
Programs: MR PLT, HLT DIA
Posts: 396
I saw that as well, and I read somewhere Qatar is leasing Cathay Pacific planes and one of the routes they have them on is to Male. So if you look at CX 777-300ER seat maps you will find a configuration that seems to match with business class starting on row 11. I suspect that's why we are seeing that when selecting seats
Feb 27, 2022, 6:51 pm
#2069
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 62
AA Award Booking- Adding flight legs question
Hey, I've never booked award tickets on AA before. No status. If I can find availability on their website for USA-DOH but not for USA-Doh-MLE, but I do see availability on Doh-MLE using other search combinations, can I book USA-DOH then add DOH-MLE for no additional miles by calling in? I see different availability on the same day depending what origin city in the US I look from, or whether it ends in DOH or MLE.
Or you could link the post(s) that invariably explain all this, and which I didn't see while searching through 800 pages of AA forums on FlyerTalk.
Or you could link the post(s) that invariably explain all this, and which I didn't see while searching through 800 pages of AA forums on FlyerTalk.
Feb 27, 2022, 7:26 pm
#2070
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,600
Hey, I've never booked award tickets on AA before. No status. If I can find availability on their website for USA-DOH but not for USA-Doh-MLE, but I do see availability on Doh-MLE using other search combinations, can I book USA-DOH then add DOH-MLE for no additional miles by calling in? I see different availability on the same day depending what origin city in the US I look from, or whether it ends in DOH or MLE.
Or you could link the post(s) that invariably explain all this, and which I didn't see while searching through 800 pages of AA forums on FlyerTalk.
Or you could link the post(s) that invariably explain all this, and which I didn't see while searching through 800 pages of AA forums on FlyerTalk.
If this is the case, you will have to pay the extra miles and have it as 2 unmarried sectors