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 27, 2022, 7:32 pm
#2071
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 62
I wondered if there was some issue with AA not doing mixed cabin DOH-MLE if there wasn't business availability, but searching DOH-MLE on it's own shows availability almost every day of the months I'm searching.
Feb 27, 2022, 7:34 pm
#2072
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,624
But if there was availability, would you theoretically be able to add a leg in the same region at no extra cost?
I wondered if there was some issue with AA not doing mixed cabin DOH-MLE if there wasn't business availability, but searching DOH-MLE on it's own shows availability almost every day of the months I'm searching.
I wondered if there was some issue with AA not doing mixed cabin DOH-MLE if there wasn't business availability, but searching DOH-MLE on it's own shows availability almost every day of the months I'm searching.
The best thing to do to get a definitive answer for your situation is to phone up and make a booking. If the agent can find availability for US-DOH-MLE in Business +Business or Business+Economy , then you will be able to book it. If there isn't availability for a through booking the agent will not be able to
If there currently is availability for USA-DOH and availability later opens for the DOH-MLE sector for a through booking, can phone and make the change
Feb 27, 2022, 9:10 pm
#2073
Join Date: Nov 2007
Programs: Marriott Bonvoy Platinum, Hilton Honors Diamond, Delta Gold
Posts: 4,351
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.
You should put your US>DOH leg on hold online as soon as you find the availability you want. Then call to add the DOH-MLE leg and book the whole thing together. If the long haul leg is in J and the second leg is in Y which means you're paying the J award price of 70k, you can always call in to upgrade to J if you see availability open on your flight or even on another flight on that day that works for you.
Feb 28, 2022, 4:49 pm
#2076
Join Date: Aug 2004
Programs: AA (EP), Hilton (Diamond), Marriott Bonvoy (Titanium)
Posts: 8,937
EF has alerts for any award query it supports. It did support QR award searches, but now displays a message:
Presumably, QR award queries will be restored; when that happens, alerts will also again be supported.
QR award inventory is temporarily unavailable due to an issue with our data provider. They are actively working to fix the issue. Thank you for your patience.
Feb 28, 2022, 6:43 pm
#2077
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
They lost QR, EK, EY and BA award availability and it's been like this for months.
Mar 1, 2022, 5:29 am
#2078
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2003
Programs: BA Silver, EY Gold, HH Diamond, IHG Plat
Posts: 12,210
Mar 1, 2022, 6:11 am
#2079
Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: DCA/IAD & BUF
Posts: 1,406
QR and EY awards and alerts have been the primary reasons for my EF subscription. Not certain I'll renew EF next time around if the QR functionality isn't restored. EF is still useful for checking the QR seat configuration to confirm QSuites though, if still accurate.
I vaguely recall folks used to use BA for QA award availability. Is that still working?
I vaguely recall folks used to use BA for QA award availability. Is that still working?
Mar 1, 2022, 9:19 am
#2080
Used to be garyjr316
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: LAX or SBA
Programs: AAdvantage, MileagePlus, Gold Passport, Hilton HHonors, Marriott
Posts: 800
2 part question regarding QR award availability. I'm looking for some flights from MLE-DOH on certain dates. Economy is available but business is not. Historically what are the odds of QR opening up award seats on this route? What would you use as an award seat alert since Expert Flyer isn't really working for award searches?
Mar 7, 2022, 1:20 pm
#2081
Join Date: Oct 2015
Posts: 112
Help with a QR award - flight change
I have a DEL - DoH - CDG - ORD award ticket. Mixed QR and AA metal.
Currently this has a 13 hour layover in DOH. Arrive 12pm, depart 1am.
There is an earlier 3pm DOH - CDG with award space available. App shows it, agent can see it. However the EXP agent says she wasn’t able to combine the 3pm with the existing DEL - DOH segment. She didn’t have an explanation as to why, just that QR was not allowing that combination.
Ideas as to what might be causing the problem? HUCA? Took two hours for the callback.
Currently this has a 13 hour layover in DOH. Arrive 12pm, depart 1am.
There is an earlier 3pm DOH - CDG with award space available. App shows it, agent can see it. However the EXP agent says she wasn’t able to combine the 3pm with the existing DEL - DOH segment. She didn’t have an explanation as to why, just that QR was not allowing that combination.
Ideas as to what might be causing the problem? HUCA? Took two hours for the callback.
Mar 7, 2022, 1:25 pm
#2082
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,624
Sounds like it is probably married segment availability issue; DEL-DOH and DOH-CDG may be available separately but the DOH-CDG you want to change to may not be available in conjunction with the DEL-DOH booked
Mar 7, 2022, 1:30 pm
#2083
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: RDU <|> MMX
Programs: AA EXP 2MM, SK EBS
Posts: 12,494
I have a DEL - DoH - CDG - ORD award ticket. Mixed QR and AA metal.
Currently this has a 13 hour layover in DOH. Arrive 12pm, depart 1am.
There is an earlier 3pm DOH - CDG with award space available. App shows it, agent can see it. However the EXP agent says she wasn’t able to combine the 3pm with the existing DEL - DOH segment. She didn’t have an explanation as to why, just that QR was not allowing that combination.
Ideas as to what might be causing the problem? HUCA? Took two hours for the callback.
Currently this has a 13 hour layover in DOH. Arrive 12pm, depart 1am.
There is an earlier 3pm DOH - CDG with award space available. App shows it, agent can see it. However the EXP agent says she wasn’t able to combine the 3pm with the existing DEL - DOH segment. She didn’t have an explanation as to why, just that QR was not allowing that combination.
Ideas as to what might be causing the problem? HUCA? Took two hours for the callback.
Qatar Airways / QR: Redeem AA Miles for Award (master thd)
Mar 7, 2022, 7:14 pm
#2084
Join Date: Oct 2015
Posts: 112
So I tried reading that thread about married segment rules. My eyes glazed over.
Will plan on a long stay in Al mourjan lounge and wander around the airport during quieter times.
Unfortunately, india is considered a Red list Covid country for the Qatar entry. So we won’t be able to exit airport and sightsee during that stop. They require one day hotel quarantine for red list countries,
Will plan on a long stay in Al mourjan lounge and wander around the airport during quieter times.
Unfortunately, india is considered a Red list Covid country for the Qatar entry. So we won’t be able to exit airport and sightsee during that stop. They require one day hotel quarantine for red list countries,
Mar 7, 2022, 7:59 pm
#2085
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Not here; there!
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold
Posts: 29,603
So I tried reading that thread about married segment rules. My eyes glazed over.
Will plan on a long stay in Al mourjan lounge and wander around the airport during quieter times.
Unfortunately, india is considered a Red list Covid country for the Qatar entry. So we won’t be able to exit airport and sightsee during that stop. They require one day hotel quarantine for red list countries,
Will plan on a long stay in Al mourjan lounge and wander around the airport during quieter times.
Unfortunately, india is considered a Red list Covid country for the Qatar entry. So we won’t be able to exit airport and sightsee during that stop. They require one day hotel quarantine for red list countries,