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

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 youll have to call American if you want to ticket AAdvantage awards on Etihad & Qatar that arent 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)

Old Apr 25, 2022, 2:13 pm
  #2281  
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Programs: AA (EP), Hilton (Diamond), Marriott Bonvoy (Titanium)
Posts: 8,927
Originally Posted by golfer20
Am seeing great QR U availability in March 2023. If I book the flight, then QR (a) reschedules or (b) cancels, am I in trouble unless there is another flight with U availability?

I feel like it's a catch 22, you need to book early to get the award space before other people, but QR could also make life difficult.
It's pretty much guaranteed that whenever you book extremely early, there will be multiple schedule changes. It's not usually a problem. For example, let's say you have an award itinerary with two domestic AA flights connecting to two QR flights. If QR changes the schedule of the flight that connects to an AA flight that makes the connection inconvenient, as long as the change is more than an hour, AA will move you to different flights even if there is no award availability (as long as there's space in your ticketed cabin). This also applies if the change is an hour or less but creates a misconnect (connection time violates minimum connection time [MCT] or is 24 hours or more).

Where it can be a problem is if the connecting flights are on another carrier and there's no award availability on alternate flights and AA doesn't have flights that can be substituted. In this situation, AA will ask QR to move you to a flight with a valid connection. If QR isn't willing, then there is a problem.
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Old Apr 26, 2022, 1:21 pm
  #2282  
 
Join Date: Apr 2022
Posts: 9
QR 723/724

Booked on QR 724 in August. I noticed it's no longer on the schedule June through October, but my flight still shows confirmed. I can't get any answers from QR or AA. Should I be concerned?
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Old Apr 26, 2022, 1:28 pm
  #2283  
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Minnesota
Programs: AA EXP; United 1K, Delta, IHG Plat Amb, PE, Marriott/Hilton Gold
Posts: 744
Originally Posted by amberale7
Booked on QR 724 in August. I noticed it's no longer on the schedule June through October, but my flight still shows confirmed. I can't get any answers from QR or AA. Should I be concerned?
we have confirmed reservation on the same flight in August (though likely not the same day). Waiting for the official cancellation/reschedule to come through. I already have alternatives ready if I don’t like where they put us. The last reschedule they sent us was for two days later. Easily fixed back to a same day arrival with one phone call but I’ve not been thrilled with their first attempts at reschedules lately.
As of now, it looks like we may one of the last to have reserved seats on the flight on our day.

We had a DOH>ORD flight come through as cancelled just last week so I expect these August flights to come through as cancelled soon. Keep check your reservation

Last edited by aj411; Apr 26, 2022 at 2:41 pm
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Old Apr 26, 2022, 4:49 pm
  #2284  
 
Join Date: Apr 2022
Posts: 9
Originally Posted by aj411
we have confirmed reservation on the same flight in August (though likely not the same day). Waiting for the official cancellation/reschedule to come through. I already have alternatives ready if I dont like where they put us. The last reschedule they sent us was for two days later. Easily fixed back to a same day arrival with one phone call but Ive not been thrilled with their first attempts at reschedules lately.
As of now, it looks like we may one of the last to have reserved seats on the flight on our day.

We had a DOH>ORD flight come through as cancelled just last week so I expect these August flights to come through as cancelled soon. Keep check your reservation
Thank you for the information. I'm relieved to hear that they rebooked you without issue. My concern is that we might end up with nothing. I hope they cancel it soon - I hate the unknown!!
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Old Apr 26, 2022, 5:00 pm
  #2285  
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Minnesota
Programs: AA EXP; United 1K, Delta, IHG Plat Amb, PE, Marriott/Hilton Gold
Posts: 744
Originally Posted by amberale7
Thank you for the information. I'm relieved to hear that they rebooked you without issue. My concern is that we might end up with nothing. I hope they cancel it soon - I hate the unknown!!
do you have expert flyer? I use that to check alternative flights and get an idea how full the flight is. Right now most of the other alternatives for us are pretty empty. There is an earlier evening flight to Doha
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Old Apr 26, 2022, 5:04 pm
  #2286  
 
Join Date: Apr 2022
Posts: 9
Originally Posted by aj411
do you have expert flyer? I use that to check alternative flights and get an idea how full the flight is. Right now most of the other alternatives for us are pretty empty. There is an earlier evening flight to Doha
No, unfortunately I don't have expert flyer. I did manually search all USA-DOH routes today and found zero saver space all of August. The earlier ORD-DOH flight would be ideal if they could rebook us on that.
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Old Apr 26, 2022, 5:08 pm
  #2287  
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: TVC
Programs: AA EXP/LT PLT., Marriott LT GLD
Posts: 503
We are in the same position. CPT for about $20K worth of safari travel for our 40th anniversary. AA miles ORD-DOH 9/10 and back 9/30. Both showing 0.

I actually prefer the 1900ish from ORD, and the earlier departure from DOH might save us a forced overnight.

Will be watching this very carefully and subscribing to this thread.
planecrashlaw is offline  
Old Apr 26, 2022, 5:28 pm
  #2288  
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Minnesota
Programs: AA EXP; United 1K, Delta, IHG Plat Amb, PE, Marriott/Hilton Gold
Posts: 744
Originally Posted by amberale7
No, unfortunately I don't have expert flyer. I did manually search all USA-DOH routes today and found zero saver space all of August. The earlier ORD-DOH flight would be ideal if they could rebook us on that.
if Qatar cancels and/or changes, you dont need saver space. Downside, you have to wait it out.
I think we all may meet in the lounge in Doha at this rate. Lol.
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Old Apr 26, 2022, 5:34 pm
  #2289  
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Join Date: May 2015
Location: BOS, YVR, ZRH
Programs: *G
Posts: 17,290
Originally Posted by planecrashlaw
We are in the same position. CPT for about $20K worth of safari travel for our 40th anniversary. AA miles ORD-DOH 9/10 and back 9/30. Both showing 0.

I actually prefer the 1900ish from ORD, and the earlier departure from DOH might save us a forced overnight.

Will be watching this very carefully and subscribing to this thread.
Originally Posted by aj411
if Qatar cancels and/or changes, you dont need saver space. Downside, you have to wait it out.
I think we all may meet in the lounge in Doha at this rate. Lol.
I'm on the 9/10 BOS-DOH-CPT, so I'll see you there?
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Old Apr 26, 2022, 6:05 pm
  #2290  
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Minnesota
Programs: AA EXP; United 1K, Delta, IHG Plat Amb, PE, Marriott/Hilton Gold
Posts: 744
Originally Posted by Smiley90
I'm on the 9/10 BOS-DOH-CPT, so I'll see you there?
Just about. coming back to US that day. In DOH early evening 9/10, leave for home am 9/11. Thanks to schedule changes, in Doha longer than originally planned
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Old Apr 26, 2022, 6:12 pm
  #2291  
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Join Date: May 2015
Location: BOS, YVR, ZRH
Programs: *G
Posts: 17,290
Originally Posted by aj411
Just about. coming back to US that day. In DOH early evening 9/10, leave for home am 9/11. Thanks to schedule changes, in Doha longer than originally planned
Ah, close call then. I think I might be on the same flight to CPT as planecrash though (2am on 9/12)
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Old Apr 26, 2022, 6:16 pm
  #2292  
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: TVC
Programs: AA EXP/LT PLT., Marriott LT GLD
Posts: 503
Originally Posted by Smiley90
I'm on the 9/10 BOS-DOH-CPT, so I'll see you there?
I just did a dummy booking on the QR app and there is tons of room. In this case, their cancellation would put me in a better position all around.

Go ahead, QR make my day
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Old Apr 26, 2022, 7:32 pm
  #2293  
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Programs: AA (EP), Hilton (Diamond), Marriott Bonvoy (Titanium)
Posts: 8,927
Originally Posted by aj411
if Qatar cancels and/or changes, you dont need saver space. Downside, you have to wait it out.
AA can't overbook on partner airlines. As I explained just a few posts up, when a partner airline cancels a flight, they normally move passengers onto alternate flights. If that happens, as long as your connections are OK, just check your seats and call AA to reissue the ticket. If your connections are affected, then find alternates and call AA. AA can overbook you onto AA flights. If the flight cancels and QR didn't move you to another flight (which would be unusual), then you can call AA and ask them to ask QR to put you on an alternate flight (you can request a specific flight). There's no guarantee in this situation, but hopefully they will accommodate. I wouldn't expect it to come to that, though.
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Old Apr 28, 2022, 6:52 am
  #2294  
 
Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: DFW
Programs: AA, 3MM
Posts: 37
Originally Posted by anabolism
Unfortunately, EF is currently unable to search (and hence set alerts for) QR award inventory.
Is this still the case??

I am starting the process to book an awards trip to MLE from DFW for the wife and I. Just doing a "pick a date" and seeing if there is available award seats is ridiculous and was going to get EF so I could actually see when there is open award inventory. I don't have a specific date in mind, just need to know when available and thought EF was the way to go. But, if EF cannot show me QR it does me no good.

I appreciate anyone's comments regarding EF and QR info/updates.
Thanks
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Old Apr 28, 2022, 7:15 am
  #2295  
Left Expert Flyer 4/23
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 2,741
Originally Posted by Mynoles1
Is this still the case??

I am starting the process to book an awards trip to MLE from DFW for the wife and I. Just doing a "pick a date" and seeing if there is available award seats is ridiculous and was going to get EF so I could actually see when there is open award inventory. I don't have a specific date in mind, just need to know when available and thought EF was the way to go. But, if EF cannot show me QR it does me no good.

I appreciate anyone's comments regarding EF and QR info/updates.
Thanks
We are actually testing a solution to this now so you should be able to do your QR award searches (ignore the note at the top of the page). If you encounter a problem please email us directly using our email or contact form, thanks.
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