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 26, 2018, 8:51 pm
#91
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,571
Just got off the phone with AA - so I had no idea that going Europe-DOH-Africa wouldn't be allowed on one award. That is nuts! I guess we'll slum it in economy on a paid ticket in that case. Can anyone confirm that's correct? AA's award chart does say 55K miles Europe-Africa in J, but I guess there's no exception for QR-QR.
I am not sure why you would think it is nits given that Africa is direcltly accessible from Europe and the Middle East is not en-route to Africa
Feb 27, 2018, 4:54 am
#92
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: RDU <|> MMX
Programs: AA EXP 2MM, SK EBS
Posts: 12,453
Well, given the other QR-QR exceptions, I don't think it's that unreasonable. The Middle East isn't en-route from North America to Africa either, but AA allows that connection at DOH. You would think they would force North America traffic to connect in Europe as well.
Feb 27, 2018, 12:18 pm
#93
Join Date: Jan 2017
Posts: 805
What QR business class award availability like? Trying to plan a trip to South Africa during Summer 2019. Trying to see if it's worth saving up a few more AA miles to book the trip home on Qatar or Eithad, but am also worried there will be no availability.
Feb 27, 2018, 12:31 pm
#94
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Denver • DEN-APA
Programs: AF Platinum, EK Gold, AA EXP, UA 1K, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 21,596
Focus on using miles first to get to JNB which is generally available, unlike CPT. Then search for NA-DOH flights.
I would just buy a ticket home, as ex-CPT/JNB fares are a bargain. You can get Emirates First Class from CPT/JNB to JFK for under $2,800 and you'll earn a boatload of AS miles.
Feb 27, 2018, 2:08 pm
#95
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: ORD
Programs: AA, UA, GE
Posts: 5,122
With a little bit of research, patience and gateway and date flexibility, seats should be available.
Focus on using miles first to get to JNB which is generally available, unlike CPT. Then search for NA-DOH flights.
I would just buy a ticket home, as ex-CPT/JNB fares are a bargain. You can get Emirates First Class from CPT/JNB to JFK for under $2,800 and you'll earn a boatload of AS miles.
Focus on using miles first to get to JNB which is generally available, unlike CPT. Then search for NA-DOH flights.
I would just buy a ticket home, as ex-CPT/JNB fares are a bargain. You can get Emirates First Class from CPT/JNB to JFK for under $2,800 and you'll earn a boatload of AS miles.
Feb 27, 2018, 2:18 pm
#96
Join Date: Jan 2017
Posts: 805
I've also never seen Emirates o/w fares cheaper than r/t. They'd probably be the airline I'd pick if I were to pay cash since they're the only one stop airline I could find to JNB other than South African from MCO.
Feb 27, 2018, 2:30 pm
#97
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: home = LAX
Posts: 25,933
Also, we're talking about South Africa. Which is in the Southern Hemisphere. So do you mean their Summer, or your Northern Hemisphere Summer? Terms like "Summer" are not the clearest when you're talking about travel from the Northern Hemisphere to the Southern Hemisphere (or vice versa).
Feb 27, 2018, 6:08 pm
#98
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: ORD
Programs: AA, UA, GE
Posts: 5,122
And be ready to be flexible with your days of travel if you want to use QR. At several times in the past, QR has only released business class availability to/from the USA for Mon-Thu departures, never for Fri-Sun departures. I had originally planned to do a weekend-to-weekend trip to South Africa, but when I discovered this I had to restructure it to a midweek-to-midweek trip to South Africa.
Also, we're talking about South Africa. Which is in the Southern Hemisphere. So do you mean their Summer, or your Northern Hemisphere Summer? Terms like "Summer" are not the clearest when you're talking about travel from the Northern Hemisphere to the Southern Hemisphere (or vice versa).
Also, we're talking about South Africa. Which is in the Southern Hemisphere. So do you mean their Summer, or your Northern Hemisphere Summer? Terms like "Summer" are not the clearest when you're talking about travel from the Northern Hemisphere to the Southern Hemisphere (or vice versa).
Feb 27, 2018, 7:00 pm
#99
Join Date: Aug 2012
Programs: AA PLT, SPG Gold
Posts: 2,405
Exactly, not sure what's so offensive. I didn't even think there would need to be an exception but rules are the rules I suppose. Oh well found a nice itinerary coming back from SEZ with UA miles so all is well!
Feb 27, 2018, 9:01 pm
#100
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,571
All travel has to be directly from origin region to destination region unless it is listed in the table of exceptions which can be found at https://c1.staticflickr.com/2/1681/2...94536cd6_z.jpg
Feb 28, 2018, 2:28 am
#101
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: London
Programs: AA EXP, 1MM
Posts: 643
"All travel has to be directly from origin region to destination region unless it is listed in the table of exceptions which can be found at https://c1.staticflickr.com/2/1681/2...94536cd6_z.jpg"Where does this table come from? I could not find anything like it on AA's website.
Feb 28, 2018, 6:10 am
#102
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: RDU <|> MMX
Programs: AA EXP 2MM, SK EBS
Posts: 12,453
And for say Europe to Asia 1 or Asia 2, there are tons of direct flights between the two on AA partners, but they still allow a QR connection at DOH.
Only logical reason I can think of is that coming from Europe, there's a definite disparity between northern and southern Africa, and AA doesn't want to allow such circuitous routings as say LHR-DOH-CMN. But the same is generally true coming from North America, so who knows.
It is what it is, but I can still certainly understand confusion in not allowing a DOH connection on a Europe-Africa award. The question certainly pops up on here every so often.
Feb 28, 2018, 6:14 am
#103
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: RDU <|> MMX
Programs: AA EXP 2MM, SK EBS
Posts: 12,453
"All travel has to be directly from origin region to destination region unless it is listed in the table of exceptions which can be found at https://c1.staticflickr.com/2/1681/2...94536cd6_z.jpg"Where does this table come from? I could not find anything like it on AA's website.
Feb 28, 2018, 7:27 am
#104
Suspended
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: FIND ME ON TWITTER FOR THE LATEST
Posts: 27,730
here's where the info came from
"All travel has to be directly from origin region to destination region unless it is listed in the table of exceptions which can be found at https://c1.staticflickr.com/2/1681/2...94536cd6_z.jpg"Where does this table come from? I could not find anything like it on AA's website.
Check out the wiki here:
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showwiki.php?t=1543680
Last edited by JonNYC; Feb 28, 2018 at 7:41 am
Mar 1, 2018, 6:45 am
#105
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: WAS, LAX
Programs: AS 100K
Posts: 1,330
Anyone on here successfully booked middle Q Suites? I got the award through AAdvantage, but they can't book middle suites and the Qatar Airways agent I ringed up said they'd only be available day of departure. That seems fishy to me since I can see that they do get booked up via ExpertFlyer.
Just wanting to check before I spend hours on the phone.
Just wanting to check before I spend hours on the phone.