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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 Jan 3, 2018, 2:51 pm
  #1  
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Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 2,113
Qatar Airways / QR: Redeem AA Miles for Award (master thd)

guys - i'm getting horrible availability calling into american to book qatar reward flights. Is there another program that has better availability? Currently checking JFK-BOM for nov and dec and they said they have 0 in business and coach


thx
sam007 is offline  
Old Jan 3, 2018, 5:13 pm
  #2  
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Posts: 3,944
sam007 if neither AA nor QR have any availability then it is very likely that there are no reward seats available. There may be closer to flight date!
Why not look at other origins such as BOS?
remdk is offline  
Old Jan 3, 2018, 5:18 pm
  #3  
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Originally Posted by remdk
sam007 if neither AA nor QR have any availability then it is very likely that there are no reward seats available. There may be closer to flight date!
Why not look at other origins such as BOS?
Since the OP is using AA miles, I'd suggest that he call AA and inquire about award-seat availability on AA partners CX and EY from JFK to BOM.
guv1976 is offline  
Old Jan 3, 2018, 5:29 pm
  #4  
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ok, does anybody know how many aadvantage miles are required for a qsuite award flight BOM-JFK on business and is it the same as all their business flights - 70k miles?
sam007 is offline  
Old Jan 4, 2018, 12:16 am
  #5  
 
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: Doha, Qatar
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Originally Posted by sam007
ok, does anybody know how many aadvantage miles are required for a qsuite award flight BOM-JFK on business and is it the same as all their business flights - 70k miles?
I believe it is 70k.
Here is the AA Oneworld award chart;
https://www.aa.com/i18n/aadvantage-p...ward-chart.jsp

When using AA mile, I always check the availability on the QA website first. I often check the BA website too as they normally tell you how many award seats are available.
Ben_W is offline  
Old Jan 4, 2018, 12:47 am
  #6  
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Originally Posted by sam007
I'm getting horrible availability calling into American to book Qatar reward flights. Is there another program that has better availability? Currently checking JFK-BOM for Nov and Dec and they said they have 0 in business and coach
Is this Nov 2018 & Dec 2018? AA only books 330 days out.
Are you looking asking for JFK-DOH-BOM (not JFK-BOM)?

Nominally all ffps' have the same OW award availability. But it does seem to vary in practise. Not unusual to get better award availability on the airline of the ffp, compared to partners.

AA forum thread QR / Qatar Airways oneworld Partner: Earn and Redeem AA Miles
Mwenenzi is offline  
Old Jan 4, 2018, 3:04 am
  #7  
 
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Seems like QR hasn't released JFK-DOH yet, because I can find DOH-BOM plenty available in Nov/Dec. However, JFK-LHR-BOM on BA is available widespread in November.
ckx2 is offline  
Old Jan 4, 2018, 4:40 am
  #8  
 
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Originally Posted by ckx2
Seems like QR hasn't released JFK-DOH yet, because I can find DOH-BOM plenty available in Nov/Dec. However, JFK-LHR-BOM on BA is available widespread in November.
Looks like JFK-DOH and IAD-DOH availability in November is nonexistent.. There is business and coach availability on BOS-DOH several days in November, searching for 2 seats.
cheltzel is offline  
Old Jan 4, 2018, 5:04 am
  #9  
 
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Dave Noble I think you will find that the Indian Subcontinent is a part of IATA area 3 "Asia, Guam, Southwest Pacific" while DOH is in area 2.
remdk is offline  
Old Jan 4, 2018, 5:43 am
  #10  
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Originally Posted by remdk
Dave Noble I think you will find that the Indian Subcontinent is a part of IATA area 3 "Asia, Guam, Southwest Pacific" while DOH is in area 2.
Doha is in the Middle East for AA award region definition
Middle East and Indian Subcontinent count as a single region for routing

IATA definitions are irrelevant, what matters is the definitions as listed at https://www.aa.com/i18n/aadvantage-p...ward-chart.jsp
Dave Noble is offline  
Old Jan 4, 2018, 6:53 am
  #11  
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well i can't just book DOH-BOM now and JFK- BOM later as it'll turn out to use many more miles When do you think they'll release JFK-BOM for nov/dec travel and any way to get alerted? expertflyer doesn't support this airline
sam007 is offline  
Old Jan 4, 2018, 6:55 am
  #12  
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Originally Posted by sam007
well i can't just book DOH-BOM now and JFK- BOM later as it'll turn out to use many more miles When do you think they'll release JFK-BOM for nov/dec travel and any way to get alerted? expertflyer doesn't support this airline
You may be able to do it without extra miles and just paying a $150 redeposit/reissue fee as long as you get an agent that will do it
Dave Noble is offline  
Old Jan 6, 2018, 4:06 pm
  #13  
 
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Originally Posted by Youngtraveldude
Thanks! 70K CX USA-Asia 2 is business, right? It's 110K in first?
Back to figuring our our return from our honeymoon to SE Asia in June and I'm hoping someone can confirm how much certain routes will cost. Currently looking at the following options:

1) KUL-HKG-US on CX
KUL-HKG = 30/40K aa miles (biz/first)
HKG-US = 70K/100K (biz/first)

2) KUL-DOH-US on QR
KUL-DOH = 40/50K aa miles (biz/first)
DOH-US = 70/115 aa miles (biz/first

3) KUL-NRT-US on JAL
KUL-NRT = 30/40K aa miles (biz/first)
NRT/HND-US = 60/80K miles (biz/first)

Is that accurate? Also, can any of the above be booked on one reservation (even if the costs for both legs are their own)?

Also, in terms of availability, will I possible find better or different availability if I split up the legs? I.e. look at KUL-HKG as one award/segment and then separately look for HKG-US.

We're flying CX first (one first/one biz currently) US-HKG and still need to book HKG-KUL. The criteria for selecting the return are availability, flight times (try to maximize trip) and cost (might not be an issue if we have enough miles).

Thanks in advance!
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Old Jan 6, 2018, 4:54 pm
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Originally Posted by Youngtraveldude
Back to figuring our our return from our honeymoon to SE Asia in June and I'm hoping someone can confirm how much certain routes will cost. Currently looking at the following options:

1) KUL-HKG-US on CX
KUL-HKG = 30/40K aa miles (biz/first)
HKG-US = 70K/100K (biz/first)

2) KUL-DOH-US on QR
KUL-DOH = 40/50K aa miles (biz/first)
DOH-US = 70/115 aa miles (biz/first

3) KUL-NRT-US on JAL
KUL-NRT = 30/40K aa miles (biz/first)
NRT/HND-US = 60/80K miles (biz/first)

Is that accurate? Also, can any of the above be booked on one reservation (even if the costs for both legs are their own)?

Also, in terms of availability, will I possible find better or different availability if I split up the legs? I.e. look at KUL-HKG as one award/segment and then separately look for HKG-US.

We're flying CX first (one first/one biz currently) US-HKG and still need to book HKG-KUL. The criteria for selecting the return are availability, flight times (try to maximize trip) and cost (might not be an issue if we have enough miles).

Thanks in advance!
(1) and (3) can usually be booked as 1 award with a total cost of 70K miles in business class or 110K miles in first. (2) will require two different awards: KUL-DOH will be one award costing 40K or 50K for business or first, respectively; and DOH-US will be another award costing 70K or 115K miles. In all instances, even if multiple awards are required, you can book everything in 1 PNR.

Generally, in my experience, it will not make a difference in terms of availability if you split up the legs. In my experience, I have not run into issues with married segments with the airlines that will be relevant for you. Note also that you can use multiple airlines on 1 award. For example, you could do KUL-NRT on MH, and then NRT-US on JL or AA, and pay 70K miles in business class. I think the best way to search for availability (unless you are looking for availability on AA) is to use BA's search engine and search by segment.

You can book HKG-KUL separately and pay the appropriate additional mileage (I might look into using Avios if you can instead of AA miles in this case). Or you could add the HKG-KUL segment to your existing US-HKG award and pay the $150 change fee.
flyingeph12 is offline  
Old Jan 7, 2018, 2:57 pm
  #15  
 
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Originally Posted by flyingeph12

You can book HKG-KUL separately and pay the appropriate additional mileage (I might look into using Avios if you can instead of AA miles in this case). Or you could add the HKG-KUL segment to your existing US-HKG award and pay the $150 change fee.
Super helpful, thank you! That should do it for now but I'll let ya know if I get any more questions along the way
Youngtraveldude is offline  

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