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)
Oct 18, 2020, 7:41 am
#1396
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: ORD
Programs: AA, UA, GE
Posts: 5,123
Not seen this mentioned before so just want to share my experience with a work-around for finding the QR pnr and selecting seats. As always (and reported by others here) whenever I have an AA award booked on QR for 2 pax there is a problem accessing the booking on the QR web site*. This is how I managed to get my QR pnr and select seats without phoning AA or QR:
1. Go to the QR web site and try to access Manage Booking with your AA pnr. It will bomb but take you to another page.
2. On this page enter your ticket number and surname and your booking will be found.
3. Unfortunately, a pop-up appears asking for contact details and once you've done that it then says there was an error and you can't continue. At this point all seems lost. Except...
4. Your booking is there - it's just obscured by the pop-up. Including the QR pnr. To see this activate a print page and it becomes visible.
5 Go to either the RJ or MH web sites and enter your QR pnr into their Manage Booking pages. Your booking will come up and be available to make changes.
6 Select seats.
The seats do register with QR because if you access your booking later on the QR site you will be able to see your allocated seats (behind the bloody pop-up, using the print page trick).
Hope this works for others.
*At some stage it tells you the same frequent flyer number is being used by both pax. Once you get your information off the Malaysian web site you will see that AA does indeed enter an additional FF# that is the same for both pax. This seems to be the cause of the QR site having a tantrum.
1. Go to the QR web site and try to access Manage Booking with your AA pnr. It will bomb but take you to another page.
2. On this page enter your ticket number and surname and your booking will be found.
3. Unfortunately, a pop-up appears asking for contact details and once you've done that it then says there was an error and you can't continue. At this point all seems lost. Except...
4. Your booking is there - it's just obscured by the pop-up. Including the QR pnr. To see this activate a print page and it becomes visible.
5 Go to either the RJ or MH web sites and enter your QR pnr into their Manage Booking pages. Your booking will come up and be available to make changes.
6 Select seats.
The seats do register with QR because if you access your booking later on the QR site you will be able to see your allocated seats (behind the bloody pop-up, using the print page trick).
Hope this works for others.
*At some stage it tells you the same frequent flyer number is being used by both pax. Once you get your information off the Malaysian web site you will see that AA does indeed enter an additional FF# that is the same for both pax. This seems to be the cause of the QR site having a tantrum.
Oct 18, 2020, 12:34 pm
#1398
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,624
Oct 18, 2020, 1:17 pm
#1399
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: ORD
Programs: AA, UA, GE
Posts: 5,123
Oct 18, 2020, 1:29 pm
#1401
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: ORD
Programs: AA, UA, GE
Posts: 5,123
Oct 19, 2020, 1:35 pm
#1402
Join Date: Sep 2020
Location: East Coast
Programs: AA, QR, SQ, BA, Marriott, IHG, Hilton
Posts: 30
Trying to book SIN - DOH - PHL using AA miles in J in December but it seems that there's no SIN - DOH in J right now. DOH - PHL is available.
Should I:
- Book DOH - PHL first and hope SIN - DOH opens up before the flight? If it does open up, can I add it to existing reservation or would I have to start fresh?
- Book SIN - DOH in Y and DOH - PHL in J and then keep looking to see if SIN - DOH J becomes available? If so, I'm guessing I could just upgrade easily?
- Do something else?
There are other award redemption for PHL - SIN but with than 1 stopover, which is what I'm trying to avoid if possible.
Any advice is appreciated!
Should I:
- Book DOH - PHL first and hope SIN - DOH opens up before the flight? If it does open up, can I add it to existing reservation or would I have to start fresh?
- Book SIN - DOH in Y and DOH - PHL in J and then keep looking to see if SIN - DOH J becomes available? If so, I'm guessing I could just upgrade easily?
- Do something else?
There are other award redemption for PHL - SIN but with than 1 stopover, which is what I'm trying to avoid if possible.
Any advice is appreciated!
Oct 19, 2020, 1:51 pm
#1403
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,624
Personally - my 1st choice would be to take routing with 2 stops that would allow for business class travel the whole way and then change closer to date should availability open
Out of the other 2 options - it seems logical to book the SIN-DOH in economy and then DOH-PHL in business rather than just book DOH-PHL
Are there no options that would allow the travel as a single award rather than going via Qatar?
Out of the other 2 options - it seems logical to book the SIN-DOH in economy and then DOH-PHL in business rather than just book DOH-PHL
Are there no options that would allow the travel as a single award rather than going via Qatar?
Oct 19, 2020, 2:53 pm
#1404
Join Date: Sep 2020
Location: East Coast
Programs: AA, QR, SQ, BA, Marriott, IHG, Hilton
Posts: 30
Personally - my 1st choice would be to take routing with 2 stops that would allow for business class travel the whole way and then change closer to date should availability open
Out of the other 2 options - it seems logical to book the SIN-DOH in economy and then DOH-PHL in business rather than just book DOH-PHL
Are there no options that would allow the travel as a single award rather than going via Qatar?
Out of the other 2 options - it seems logical to book the SIN-DOH in economy and then DOH-PHL in business rather than just book DOH-PHL
Are there no options that would allow the travel as a single award rather than going via Qatar?
Oct 19, 2020, 3:00 pm
#1405
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,624
From what I'm seeing, if I wanted 1 stopover, only QR (and thus having to go through Doha) is the only option. The other options, that would price it as a single aware, are at least 2 topovers, which is not bad, though some of them are on the longer side from a total travel time. JAL is one such airline and that's probably my backup plan at this time.
Oct 19, 2020, 5:47 pm
#1406
Join Date: Apr 2019
Location: MCO-TPA
Programs: AA EXP, UA, B6, DL, Bonvoy Lifetime Platinum, Hilton, National
Posts: 199
Not seen this mentioned before so just want to share my experience with a work-around for finding the QR pnr and selecting seats. As always (and reported by others here) whenever I have an AA award booked on QR for 2 pax there is a problem accessing the booking on the QR web site*. This is how I managed to get my QR pnr and select seats without phoning AA or QR:
1. Go to the QR web site and try to access Manage Booking with your AA pnr. It will bomb but take you to another page.
2. On this page enter your ticket number and surname and your booking will be found.
3. Unfortunately, a pop-up appears asking for contact details and once you've done that it then says there was an error and you can't continue. At this point all seems lost. Except...
4. Your booking is there - it's just obscured by the pop-up. Including the QR pnr. To see this activate a print page and it becomes visible.
5 Go to either the RJ or MH web sites and enter your QR pnr into their Manage Booking pages. Your booking will come up and be available to make changes.
6 Select seats.
The seats do register with QR because if you access your booking later on the QR site you will be able to see your allocated seats (behind the bloody pop-up, using the print page trick).
Hope this works for others.
*At some stage it tells you the same frequent flyer number is being used by both pax. Once you get your information off the Malaysian web site you will see that AA does indeed enter an additional FF# that is the same for both pax. This seems to be the cause of the QR site having a tantrum.
1. Go to the QR web site and try to access Manage Booking with your AA pnr. It will bomb but take you to another page.
2. On this page enter your ticket number and surname and your booking will be found.
3. Unfortunately, a pop-up appears asking for contact details and once you've done that it then says there was an error and you can't continue. At this point all seems lost. Except...
4. Your booking is there - it's just obscured by the pop-up. Including the QR pnr. To see this activate a print page and it becomes visible.
5 Go to either the RJ or MH web sites and enter your QR pnr into their Manage Booking pages. Your booking will come up and be available to make changes.
6 Select seats.
The seats do register with QR because if you access your booking later on the QR site you will be able to see your allocated seats (behind the bloody pop-up, using the print page trick).
Hope this works for others.
*At some stage it tells you the same frequent flyer number is being used by both pax. Once you get your information off the Malaysian web site you will see that AA does indeed enter an additional FF# that is the same for both pax. This seems to be the cause of the QR site having a tantrum.
Oct 19, 2020, 9:18 pm
#1407
Join Date: Jul 2001
Programs: AA EP
Posts: 2,203
It’s a pain. It is a code that says it so a FF ticket and. Inhibits any mileage accrual.
I was able to change it through the QR site — basically making this funky # the 2nd FF and my AAdvantage # in the fist field.
another trick is to add ur email via AY site. That way you can get into your QR PNR and you will see this funky number
but just call QR and they can reverse the numbers.
I was able to change it through the QR site — basically making this funky # the 2nd FF and my AAdvantage # in the fist field.
another trick is to add ur email via AY site. That way you can get into your QR PNR and you will see this funky number
but just call QR and they can reverse the numbers.
Not seen this mentioned before so just want to share my experience with a work-around for finding the QR pnr and selecting seats. As always (and reported by others here) whenever I have an AA award booked on QR for 2 pax there is a problem accessing the booking on the QR web site*. This is how I managed to get my QR pnr and select seats without phoning AA or QR:
1. Go to the QR web site and try to access Manage Booking with your AA pnr. It will bomb but take you to another page.
2. On this page enter your ticket number and surname and your booking will be found.
3. Unfortunately, a pop-up appears asking for contact details and once you've done that it then says there was an error and you can't continue. At this point all seems lost. Except...
4. Your booking is there - it's just obscured by the pop-up. Including the QR pnr. To see this activate a print page and it becomes visible.
5 Go to either the RJ or MH web sites and enter your QR pnr into their Manage Booking pages. Your booking will come up and be available to make changes.
6 Select seats.
The seats do register with QR because if you access your booking later on the QR site you will be able to see your allocated seats (behind the bloody pop-up, using the print page trick).
Hope this works for others.
*At some stage it tells you the same frequent flyer number is being used by both pax. Once you get your information off the Malaysian web site you will see that AA does indeed enter an additional FF# that is the same for both pax. This seems to be the cause of the QR site having a tantrum.
1. Go to the QR web site and try to access Manage Booking with your AA pnr. It will bomb but take you to another page.
2. On this page enter your ticket number and surname and your booking will be found.
3. Unfortunately, a pop-up appears asking for contact details and once you've done that it then says there was an error and you can't continue. At this point all seems lost. Except...
4. Your booking is there - it's just obscured by the pop-up. Including the QR pnr. To see this activate a print page and it becomes visible.
5 Go to either the RJ or MH web sites and enter your QR pnr into their Manage Booking pages. Your booking will come up and be available to make changes.
6 Select seats.
The seats do register with QR because if you access your booking later on the QR site you will be able to see your allocated seats (behind the bloody pop-up, using the print page trick).
Hope this works for others.
*At some stage it tells you the same frequent flyer number is being used by both pax. Once you get your information off the Malaysian web site you will see that AA does indeed enter an additional FF# that is the same for both pax. This seems to be the cause of the QR site having a tantrum.
Oct 21, 2020, 1:46 am
#1408
Join Date: Dec 2016
Posts: 22
Been searching several times a day for a month as both my outbound and return flights are mixed class (LAX-DOH-MLE) hoping that both DOH-MLE and MLE-DOH segments open up in J last minute for end of October early November. Any one else had luck finding availability or experiences with availability opening up last minute or not?
Oct 21, 2020, 9:39 am
#1409
Join Date: Feb 2019
Programs: Hyatt
Posts: 6
I am thinking of booking ORD to DOH in Qsuites, total travel time one way is 13 hours and 15 mins. I have the option to fly BA in Business to LHR and then do Qsuites to DOH and this will be LHR to DOH total travel time of 6 hours and 45 mins. How does the experience and service compare on a longer 13 hour flight in qsuites vs a shorter 7 hour flight?
Oct 21, 2020, 1:28 pm
#1410
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,624
If booking as an award , it will be hundreds of dollars more expensive to travel on BA/QR rather than the non stop
Taxes on QR non stop will be $8 approx
Taxes on BA/QR would be approx $32 plus $700 surcharge for a total of $732
Cheaper and non stop and being QR rather than BA , would be a no brainer to me
Taxes on QR non stop will be $8 approx
Taxes on BA/QR would be approx $32 plus $700 surcharge for a total of $732
Cheaper and non stop and being QR rather than BA , would be a no brainer to me
Last edited by Dave Noble; Oct 21, 2020 at 1:33 pm