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)
#2236
Join Date: Aug 2004
Programs: AA (EP), Hilton (Diamond), Marriott Bonvoy (Titanium)
Posts: 8,937
The irony thing is, after all these endeavors, a better routing popped up the next day after this ticket was issued, albeit leaving 2 days later. I want the DOH-AMM leg in F hence take the 2 days later option. As the F ensure access to sleep room at QR DOH AS lounge. Previous dates only have X inventory in the DOH-AMM leg.
#2237
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,763
Impossible to know for sure, of course, but there are a few possibilities. If you were only going by what the AA web site/app showed, it might have been hard to tell that 'T' was there. EF is usually the best way to see for sure what AA has available. If you're an AA EP/CK, there might have been expanded availability. It's possible you lucked onto a CK agent who did you a favor, perhaps using the old RM tool that would sometimes open SAAver inventory to complete an itinerary/party, or possibly even overbooked you into 'T' despite there not being justification (if so, a brave move on the agent's part).
We used the sleep room in the past, IIRC before the 6 hours limitation put in effect. I am not sure whether we should go to reserve the sleep room as soon as we get to the lounge and pay the extra 6 hours. Our arrival is 5:35pm. It probably takes at least 30 min to clear the transit security then head to AS. My plan is to get a leisurely dinner first…. Our departure is 8:35 next morning. I remember at AM there is a family corner at one end of the lounge. After that family area (equipped with kids’ play area), there are a few “rooms” without doors but have long sofas and TVs, plus quite dark. That can be an option too. It has been so long ago since we last passed through DOH. I need to brush up at the relevant threads in QR forum. LOL
#2238
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2015
Location: BOS, YVR, ZRH
Programs: *G
Posts: 17,405
Yes I checked on their site as well and it still said I need to call. I think maybe it was because the leg that was added didn't have the taxes and fees recalculated correctly, but I honestly don't know and it wasn't that big of a deal to call.
Maybe next time I'll be lucky and will be able to ticket online.
I couldn't book the middle seats the day after ticketing. But I waited a few days and tried again and then I was able to select 2 middle seats on QR site.
Maybe next time I'll be lucky and will be able to ticket online.
I couldn't book the middle seats the day after ticketing. But I waited a few days and tried again and then I was able to select 2 middle seats on QR site.
#2239
Join Date: Oct 2002
Posts: 1,702
web specials book into J on AA
Thanks for the clarification- This is really what I expected. What confused me is seeing a mileage ticket showing up as being coded with "J." I expected something other, since the AA "earnings" descriptions show J tickets are business-fare, and mileage eligible:
https://www.aa.com/i18n/aadvantage-p...cial-fares.jsp
https://www.aa.com/i18n/aadvantage-p...cial-fares.jsp
#2241
Join Date: Aug 2004
Programs: AA (EP), Hilton (Diamond), Marriott Bonvoy (Titanium)
Posts: 8,937
#2242
I used to mix QR and EY on a single award quite often up until the embargo eliminated direct DOH-AUH flights. AA slapped a four-segment maximum on international awards about the same time, which made it extremely difficult, as I'd need two of the four just to get between DOH and AUH.
I haven't done it since the embargo was lifted.
I haven't done it since the embargo was lifted.
AA says they can not do anything about it.
#2243
Join Date: Aug 2004
Programs: AA (EP), Hilton (Diamond), Marriott Bonvoy (Titanium)
Posts: 8,937
That seems very strange, considering that there are direct flights between AUH and DOH. I wonder if someone at the review desk was still applying the old embargo-era rule? Sorry you lost your QR flight to India.
#2246
Join Date: Jan 2016
Posts: 613
Curious if this ever got resolved? Possible similar situation with flight appearing to be axed. No availability on QR showing but haven’t been rebooked yet.
#2248
Join Date: May 2009
Location: BOS
Programs: DL GM, AA Gold, MB Platinum, Hyatt Explorist
Posts: 63
Woke up this morning to find my DFW-DOH flight tomorrow was downgraded from the QSuite to 2-2-2 business. Has anyone had any luck changing to another flight with QSuites when flying on AA miles? If so, how? There is an earlier departure tomorrow out of DFW.
#2249
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,619
Is there award availability on the earlier flight? If so, then should be easy to change. If not, then I think that you will have to enjoy the product in use.
#2250
Join Date: May 2009
Location: BOS
Programs: DL GM, AA Gold, MB Platinum, Hyatt Explorist
Posts: 63
But hey, the plane coming over hasn't left Doha yet...