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)
Jan 7, 2018, 3:55 pm
#16
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: DEN
Programs: DL PM, Hyatt Explorist, Hilton Gold
Posts: 395
(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.
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.
Jan 7, 2018, 4:03 pm
#17
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,550
Actually, I do have another question....doing some research now and I am seeing some availability when I search KUL-NRT and then separately NRT-US but not seeing that availability when I do KUL-US. This is on BA.com. If I'm able to find them individually, do you think AA will be able to put both together for one reward when I call them?
If it is due to married sector availability, then no
Best thing to do is phone and try
Jan 7, 2018, 5:33 pm
#18
Join Date: Jan 2012
Programs: AY+ Plat, Marriott Plat, Hyatt Discoverist
Posts: 2,846
Actually, I do have another question....doing some research now and I am seeing some availability when I search KUL-NRT and then separately NRT-US but not seeing that availability when I do KUL-US. This is on BA.com. If I'm able to find them individually, do you think AA will be able to put both together for one reward when I call them?
The issue with married segments is that some individual segments might be available only when “married” to other segments. For example, KUL-NRT might be married to NRT-LAX. But let’s say you wanted to go to SAN. Searching KUL-NRT and NRT-SAN separately would show no award space on KUL-NRT, even though you would see it when searching KUL-LAX. Here, it doesn’t sound like this is an issue.
You might run into an issue where the agent might say s/he doesn’t see the availability you are seeing. This has been an issue recently particularly for JL, since JL recently migrated its reservation system over to a new platform. Make sure the agent is searching for U space on JL. Even if the space really exists, you may need to make several calls until you find an agent who can see it.
Jan 11, 2018, 9:04 pm
#19
Join Date: Jul 2015
Posts: 272
I just put on hold a ticket in J for CDG - DOH - IAD - DFW one way, and I thought it going to be 70k for person. But the agent on the phone insist it should be 115k? is this correct? I tell her the award chart show I will only get charge for bussines class from Euro to US for 70? what did i do wrong? thanks!
Jan 11, 2018, 11:15 pm
#22
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,550
Jan 11, 2018, 11:49 pm
#23
Join Date: Jan 2012
Programs: AY+ Plat, Marriott Plat, Hyatt Discoverist
Posts: 2,846
Your options for Europe to US are AA, BA, IB, and AY for 57.5k miles one-way in J.
Jan 12, 2018, 10:04 am
#24
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 4,533
Jamie
Jan 14, 2018, 2:27 pm
#25
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: DEN
Programs: DL PM, Hyatt Explorist, Hilton Gold
Posts: 395
(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.
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.
Locked it in just now as both legs were available for 110K miles total. This all worked out super well for our trip and we're stoked to check out Qatar J on the A350. Thanks again!
Jan 14, 2018, 4:27 pm
#26
Join Date: Jan 2012
Programs: AY+ Plat, Marriott Plat, Hyatt Discoverist
Posts: 2,846
Upon much more research and some modifying of plans, we've locked in the return! We were able to book HKG-KUL-LGK (spending 5 nights in Langkawi) for $115 each, so not worth using mileage, if it were available. We're then doing LGK-SIN after our time in Langkawi, a day and a half in Singapore, and then SIN-DOH-BOS in business on A350s for both legs Locked it in just now as both legs were available for 110K miles total. This all worked out super well for our trip and we're stoked to check out Qatar J on the A350. Thanks again!
Locked it in just now as both legs were available for 110K miles total. This all worked out super well for our trip and we're stoked to check out Qatar J on the A350. Thanks again!
Jan 17, 2018, 10:24 pm
#29
Join Date: Nov 2015
Programs: AA EXP, Marriott Titanium, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 53
Jan 17, 2018, 10:42 pm
#30
Join Date: Jul 2015
Posts: 272
Did you check on British Airways? i check it just now for the whole month of October only show a few day with economic, and I even check with November there is no availability? not sure what did i do wrong?