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

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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 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.
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)

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Old Jan 23, 2023, 12:32 pm
  #3016  
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Programs: IHG Platinum
Posts: 1,066
Economy class tickets cost 35K AA miles each way and booked only a few minutes apart yesterday:

15th of July: CGK-DOH and DOH-LHR Qatar is charging for seat selection on both legs.
22nd & 23rd of July: MAD-DOH and DOH-CGK seat selection is complimentary for both legs.

Anyone know why the CGK-DOH and DOH-LHR legs don't come with complimentary seat selection?

Last edited by hightide; Jan 23, 2023 at 12:56 pm
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Old Jan 25, 2023, 5:29 pm
  #3017  
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Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 2,135
Why does JFK-DOH on aa website have a premium economy section for Qatar when the airilne doesn't even offer it? It shows 62.5 miles vs 40k economy. Thanks
sam007 is offline  
Old Jan 25, 2023, 6:24 pm
  #3018  
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Join Date: May 2015
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Posts: 17,399
Originally Posted by sam007
Why does JFK-DOH on aa website have a premium economy section for Qatar when the airilne doesn't even offer it? It shows 62.5 miles vs 40k economy. Thanks
Does QR sell PE on the CX-leased planes?
Smiley90 is offline  
Old Jan 26, 2023, 1:09 am
  #3019  
 
Join Date: Mar 2021
Posts: 161
Originally Posted by sam007
Why does JFK-DOH on aa website have a premium economy section for Qatar when the airilne doesn't even offer it? It shows 62.5 miles vs 40k economy. Thanks
That’s the AA JFK-DOH flight
dwhelan5 is offline  
Old Jan 26, 2023, 1:20 pm
  #3020  
pH
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: LHR
Programs: AA EXP
Posts: 160
Originally Posted by pwendell
So I am on an AA award ticket in J on my connection in DFW. Everything was fine and I was checked in for my QR flight to DOH, but then they told me we were being bumped as they oversold J and they were bumping us as non QR Redemption passengers. We will now be delayed and they are also refusing compensation. Spoke with AA EXP desk and they can't believe it either but the OW liaison was unable to get QR to budge. Anyone else had this happen? Any suggestions on follow up?
Just curious how this panned out. Were you able to stay in J on alternate flights or were you simply downgraded?

Thanks in advance for your data point.
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Old Jan 26, 2023, 5:53 pm
  #3021  
 
Join Date: May 2007
Programs: UA 1K, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 5,453
Is there a specific time of day when close-in (1-8 weeks out) award availability, if any, gets released?
dkc192 is offline  
Old Jan 27, 2023, 8:51 am
  #3022  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 2,135
If anybody has flown both Qatar and Etihad economy recently and can differentiate between the two, that'll help. I her it's a wash and they are very similar
sam007 is offline  
Old Jan 27, 2023, 11:17 am
  #3023  
 
Join Date: Jun 2002
Posts: 552
Originally Posted by sam007
If anybody has flown both Qatar and Etihad economy recently and can differentiate between the two, that'll help. I her it's a wash and they are very similar
I have not flown in economy on either, but if you have OneWorld status, Qatar is the easy choice for lounge access and the ability to select premium seats for free.

Qatar also has the better connecting hub plus the ability to earn loyalty points with AA. Some Etihad fares will earn no miles at all.

Finally, if booking with AA miles, there have been numerous issues with Etihad charging for bags.
brodielayne likes this.
dc10forlife is offline  
Old Jan 30, 2023, 8:00 am
  #3024  
 
Join Date: Sep 2013
Posts: 28
Baggage allowance for award tickets on QR economy

what is the baggage allowance for AA award tickets with QR flights (JFK/PHL to India) in economy?
rkonda is offline  
Old Jan 30, 2023, 8:03 am
  #3025  
 
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Programs: AAdvantage Exec Platinum, Hertz #1 Club Gold Five Star, IHG Platinum, Marriott Gold, HHonors Silver
Posts: 2,039
Originally Posted by rkonda
what is the baggage allowance for AA award tickets with QR flights (JFK/PHL to India) in economy?
You can find the official answers here: https://www.qatarairways.com/en/baggage/allowance.html

Note: Purchasing the ticket with AA Miles does not change your allowances/fees.
Antarius and rkonda like this.
GNRMatt is offline  
Old Jan 30, 2023, 8:10 am
  #3026  
 
Join Date: Sep 2013
Posts: 28
Originally Posted by GNRMatt
You can find the official answers here: https://www.qatarairways.com/en/baggage/allowance.html

Note: Purchasing the ticket with AA Miles does not change your allowances/fees.
Thanks. I was not sure if AA baggage policy applies if the ticket is bought through AA
rkonda is offline  
Old Jan 31, 2023, 5:35 am
  #3027  
 
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 2
Upgrading one leg of QR award itinerary

Curious if anyone has had luck upgrading one segment of a QR itinerary through AA. I currently have business class award from USA -DOH -MLE. The DOH-MLE flight had equipment swap from A320 to 777 and now has first class available. AA reps say I can’t change DOH-MLE leg unless full itinerary from USA-DOH-MLE is available on miles, which seems unlikely to happen. Thanks!
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Old Feb 4, 2023, 2:00 pm
  #3028  
 
Join Date: Feb 2022
Posts: 25
Hi, Ive made 2 separate bookings with award flights on Qatars Qsuites from MLE-DOH-IAD-SFO. Where do I go to ask them to seat us together? Is there a timeframe i should request this by? At least for the Qsuite from DOH-IAD. Thank you for the help
SMVSH is offline  
Old Feb 9, 2023, 6:31 am
  #3029  
 
Join Date: Feb 2023
Posts: 37
Trying to book from ORD to JNB in a qsuite. When I look at ORD to DOH and then DOH to JNB there is AA award availability for both (though none on BA website surprisingly) segments at 70k and 55k, but when I want to book the flight as one reservation AA only gives me an option on BA. Is this something that could be resolved by calling AA directly, or will they not do this as one ticket (would have 3+ hours in DOH so its a fine connection).

Anyone have any advice? planning honeymoon for december 2023 and dont wanna screw this up!
thedsmith is offline  
Old Feb 9, 2023, 6:34 am
  #3030  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Feb 2001
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Programs: AA EXP 2MM, SK EBS
Posts: 12,481
Originally Posted by thedsmith
Trying to book from ORD to JNB in a qsuite. When I look at ORD to DOH and then DOH to JNB there is AA award availability for both (though none on BA website surprisingly) segments at 70k and 55k, but when I want to book the flight as one reservation AA only gives me an option on BA. Is this something that could be resolved by calling AA directly, or will they not do this as one ticket (would have 3+ hours in DOH so its a fine connection).

Anyone have any advice? planning honeymoon for december 2023 and dont wanna screw this up!
It could be married segment issues or it could be just aa.com wonkyness. You won't know until you call. I would put the ORD-DOH on hold at aa.com then call AA and ask to add the DOH-JNB segment.
JJeffrey is offline  


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