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)
Nov 18, 2022, 10:29 pm
#2851
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Oklahoma City, OK
Programs: AA EXP/MM, Bonvoy Titanium / LT PLT
Posts: 38
Have 2xJ US-DOH on hold for Oct 2023 but having trouble with connecting flight to MLE. Booked 330 days out. Both US/AU agents say they only see Y availability, yet JL and awardnexus (BA) both show 2 J seats on each of 4 daily flights. I've called several times over several days. Have another passenger on similar routing but a separate award & different flights, and one time an agent said "well it wasn't there a minute ago but now I can see one seat" so grabbed DOH-MLE J for that one. However the remaining 95% of the time everyone is seeing zero availability in J, and no one ever saw 2. And this seems to be specific ex-DOH, had no trouble whatsoever with outbound from US. (BTW JL was showing availability separately for US-DOH, DOH-MLE, and US-DOH-MLE combined, so don't think married segment logic is at play here).
Nov 18, 2022, 10:54 pm
#2852
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Seoul, KR
Programs: MAR Titanium, HH Gold
Posts: 572
Update: while booking the return ~330 days out, was able to get 2x J MLE-DOH-US. AA agent was able to see and confirm both segments at the same time, matching availability seen via JAL site. However, when checking the outbound US-DOH-MLE, same issue as before - JAL site shows 2x J DOH-MLE but AA agents can't see it. I might do a sample booking on another date US-DOH-MLE that shows J availability on both segments and see if AA can put a hold on it. I might also try to ask agents to "send the request anyway" for DOH-MLE and see if it comes back confirmed, as per above.
Nov 19, 2022, 7:11 am
#2853
Join Date: Sep 2018
Posts: 223
I called AA Korea desk- +82-2-6438-9008 and selected a Korean service for an obvious reason 
Not sure if they can speak English.
I would suggest like "I know you might be seeing zero availability of first class (Z) seats but could you try to send a request to book a seat just in case?"
And please note the agent whom I spoke with previously said "QR system keeps rejecting my requests..." and that was on a weekday and I made a successful holding today (Saturday) in weekend. This might have made some difference? QR desk is off today? I don't know but would like to point out this data point.
Good luck!
Not sure if they can speak English.I would suggest like "I know you might be seeing zero availability of first class (Z) seats but could you try to send a request to book a seat just in case?"
And please note the agent whom I spoke with previously said "QR system keeps rejecting my requests..." and that was on a weekday and I made a successful holding today (Saturday) in weekend. This might have made some difference? QR desk is off today? I don't know but would like to point out this data point.
Good luck!
Edit: The booking shows it was re-ticketed back on Nov 15. So it's been a few days now.
Last edited by najama2; Nov 19, 2022 at 7:28 am
Nov 19, 2022, 8:08 pm
#2854
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Oklahoma City, OK
Programs: AA EXP/MM, Bonvoy Titanium / LT PLT
Posts: 38
Congrats iceman06 ! Did you also make that successful booking in weekend? Would like to gather more data points. Yeah the key is "please try to just send the request to grab the Z/J seat".
Nov 19, 2022, 11:06 pm
#2855
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Seoul, KR
Programs: MAR Titanium, HH Gold
Posts: 572
Today AA agent called me as she found a Z for my trip CAI-DOH-ICN. What a kind surprise. But the date was not I want so had to keep CAI-DOH in Y.
And I also realised that not just a QR system declines AA's request for Z but actually QR staff (human) denies such a request. Wow. Perhaps there was a generous agent working yday? Hmm...
Anyway I need to get this Y leg fixed over new few weeks.
Nov 20, 2022, 2:20 pm
#2856
Join Date: Mar 2021
Posts: 161
Hoping you AA experts will have some advice for me.
We were issued 2 J tix as AAdvantage awards on 15 June 2022 for travel on QR1370/QR707 CPT-DOH-IAD on 10 March 2023. All good, tickets fully issued on AA stock. Qatar had a small (25 min) schedule change for QR707 on 1 October 2022 and, apparently at that time, they totally unconfirmed our travel. I have spent hours on the phone with the AAdvantage International Award Desk having their Oneworld liaison queue and re-queue the request to Qatar to reconfirm (Qatar has denied it repeatedly). Of course, I've also sunk thousand$ into nonrefundable travel plans for South Africa in reliance on this ticketed return travel.
What to do?! AA is powerless to put me in QR's seats, and QR won't talk to me about this travel since it's ticketed on AA stock. I'm desperate for a strategy to get Qatar and American (and this is primarily Qatar's fault, sure) to set this right...
We were issued 2 J tix as AAdvantage awards on 15 June 2022 for travel on QR1370/QR707 CPT-DOH-IAD on 10 March 2023. All good, tickets fully issued on AA stock. Qatar had a small (25 min) schedule change for QR707 on 1 October 2022 and, apparently at that time, they totally unconfirmed our travel. I have spent hours on the phone with the AAdvantage International Award Desk having their Oneworld liaison queue and re-queue the request to Qatar to reconfirm (Qatar has denied it repeatedly). Of course, I've also sunk thousand$ into nonrefundable travel plans for South Africa in reliance on this ticketed return travel.
What to do?! AA is powerless to put me in QR's seats, and QR won't talk to me about this travel since it's ticketed on AA stock. I'm desperate for a strategy to get Qatar and American (and this is primarily Qatar's fault, sure) to set this right...
I’ve had this happen a few times with me upcoming flights. The first time was a flight cancellation, and the flight showed as unconfirmed. Went back and forth with QR and AA until I had a nice QR agent that said QR has offered a replacement flight and AA has to reticket it. I relayed this info to AA and they successfully reticketed it.
I then had a minor schedule change and aircraft swap. QR said the flights were unconfirmed, but I was on vacation and didn’t have time to sort it out. When I checked a week or so later it had sorted itself out and was confirmed (checked with QR 3 times).
Nov 21, 2022, 1:45 pm
#2857
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: PHL
Programs: US; AA; UA; Hilton Gold; Club Carlson Gold; IHG Platinum;
Posts: 388
I have business award ticket booked DXB-DOH-PHL. The first segment DXB-DOH is in Y because there wasn’t any J availability at the time of the booking. Now I found 2 business seats on DXB-DOH a day before which would give us about 8 hours layover in DOH.
Tried to call AA and asked to change the first segment to the prior day flight with available business seats but was told that they can’t just change 1 segment; instead they have to rebook the entire itinerary. In order to do that they should see J availability on the second segment DOH-PHL as well. Obviously there weren’t any additional J seats available on the DOH-PHL route, so I just kept the existing booking.
Is that the way the award booking with QR works or the rep wasn’t knowledgeable enough to make this type of change?
Tried to call AA and asked to change the first segment to the prior day flight with available business seats but was told that they can’t just change 1 segment; instead they have to rebook the entire itinerary. In order to do that they should see J availability on the second segment DOH-PHL as well. Obviously there weren’t any additional J seats available on the DOH-PHL route, so I just kept the existing booking.
Is that the way the award booking with QR works or the rep wasn’t knowledgeable enough to make this type of change?
Nov 21, 2022, 2:24 pm
#2858
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: NYC, SEA
Programs: Hyatt Glob, Marriott Titanium, AA EXP, DL PM, AS 100k (fake), B6 M3 (fake), BA Gold (fake), UA FO.
Posts: 740
I have business award ticket booked DXB-DOH-PHL. The first segment DXB-DOH is in Y because there wasn’t any J availability at the time of the booking. Now I found 2 business seats on DXB-DOH a day before which would give us about 8 hours layover in DOH.
Tried to call AA and asked to change the first segment to the prior day flight with available business seats but was told that they can’t just change 1 segment; instead they have to rebook the entire itinerary. In order to do that they should see J availability on the second segment DOH-PHL as well. Obviously there weren’t any additional J seats available on the DOH-PHL route, so I just kept the existing booking.
Is that the way the award booking with QR works or the rep wasn’t knowledgeable enough to make this type of change?
Tried to call AA and asked to change the first segment to the prior day flight with available business seats but was told that they can’t just change 1 segment; instead they have to rebook the entire itinerary. In order to do that they should see J availability on the second segment DOH-PHL as well. Obviously there weren’t any additional J seats available on the DOH-PHL route, so I just kept the existing booking.
Is that the way the award booking with QR works or the rep wasn’t knowledgeable enough to make this type of change?
Nov 21, 2022, 2:27 pm
#2859
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: MLB
Programs: DL DM/2.9M, AA EXP, *A Gold
Posts: 245
I have business award ticket booked DXB-DOH-PHL. The first segment DXB-DOH is in Y because there wasn’t any J availability at the time of the booking. Now I found 2 business seats on DXB-DOH a day before which would give us about 8 hours layover in DOH.
Tried to call AA and asked to change the first segment to the prior day flight with available business seats but was told that they can’t just change 1 segment; instead they have to rebook the entire itinerary. In order to do that they should see J availability on the second segment DOH-PHL as well. Obviously there weren’t any additional J seats available on the DOH-PHL route, so I just kept the existing booking.
Is that the way the award booking with QR works or the rep wasn’t knowledgeable enough to make this type of change?
Tried to call AA and asked to change the first segment to the prior day flight with available business seats but was told that they can’t just change 1 segment; instead they have to rebook the entire itinerary. In order to do that they should see J availability on the second segment DOH-PHL as well. Obviously there weren’t any additional J seats available on the DOH-PHL route, so I just kept the existing booking.
Is that the way the award booking with QR works or the rep wasn’t knowledgeable enough to make this type of change?
Nov 21, 2022, 3:42 pm
#2860
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: NYC, SEA
Programs: Hyatt Glob, Marriott Titanium, AA EXP, DL PM, AS 100k (fake), B6 M3 (fake), BA Gold (fake), UA FO.
Posts: 740
In my experience, AA tickets this as a Y segment + a J segment rather than booking the entire itinerary as a J ticket with a placeholder seat in Y for the first segment and a waitlist for J for this segment. I've never gotten anywhere with the request you've made of them. I'm by no means an expert in this area, just sharing my several experiences attempting the same thing. Fortunately DXB-DOH is a 45 min flight. You certainly won't suffer much in Y for this short flight. To each his own, but I wouldn't invest more time trying to fix this.
Nov 21, 2022, 3:44 pm
#2861
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: MLB
Programs: DL DM/2.9M, AA EXP, *A Gold
Posts: 245
Nov 21, 2022, 3:53 pm
#2862
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Seoul, KR
Programs: MAR Titanium, HH Gold
Posts: 572
Nov 21, 2022, 3:55 pm
#2863
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Seoul, KR
Programs: MAR Titanium, HH Gold
Posts: 572
This is a very longstanding problem. It is expressly not supposed to work this way, but many of us, myself included, have been bitten by this particular error, with no favorable resolution. Some in this thread have evidently had recent success with asking the AAgent to attempt to request the J seat even though it's showing as unavailable to them. My desired J seats are long gone, so I haven't tried this method.
Nov 21, 2022, 4:01 pm
#2864
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: NYC, SEA
Programs: Hyatt Glob, Marriott Titanium, AA EXP, DL PM, AS 100k (fake), B6 M3 (fake), BA Gold (fake), UA FO.
Posts: 740
FWIW, it seems larger than intra-Gulf - my segment was DOH-MLE, which I think a few others on here had as well (though I suppose you could interpret that as intra-Gulf with a very broad definition of "Gulf"...)
Nov 21, 2022, 4:37 pm
#2865
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Seoul, KR
Programs: MAR Titanium, HH Gold
Posts: 572
I agree that this is a very interesting and potentially useful piece of the puzzle, but I think there's more to it than just that because AA reps frequently can't see QR saver space at all, even when it is readily bookable via other OW partners. There seems to be a systems limitation component as well, or else some very poorly trained AA agents who are using the system wrong (though this problem is so persistent that a systems fault seems more likely to me).
FWIW, it seems larger than intra-Gulf - my segment was DOH-MLE, which I think a few others on here had as well (though I suppose you could interpret that as intra-Gulf with a very broad definition of "Gulf"...)
FWIW, it seems larger than intra-Gulf - my segment was DOH-MLE, which I think a few others on here had as well (though I suppose you could interpret that as intra-Gulf with a very broad definition of "Gulf"...)
Well Asia1-DOH-MLE could be ticketed at 40k (J) in the past but not anymore... now it should be ticketed separately.