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 28, 2018, 2:43 pm
#451
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: NYC
Programs: AAdvantage, UA Mileage Plus, IHG Rewards Club
Posts: 379
Quick question -- does QR ever release J seats to AA closer to departure date or even randomly over the next year? I have QR award tickets booked with AA miles for next year (331 days from today), but the dates are less than ideal. I'm just wondering if I should continue to monitor award availability every day until a seat opens up to change the dates, or whether that's a futile effort.
Oct 28, 2018, 5:54 pm
#453
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Manhattan Beach, California
Programs: BMI Diamond Club Gold forever
Posts: 6,367
Any further insight on subsequent release of J seats? I see they pretty reliably release 4 award seats in business class on US-DOH routes I am researching. We are on the west coast and could do either DFW-DOH or LAX-DOH. I am trying to figure out what the best chance is of doing my 3 kids and I on one of these and my wife on the other (on the same day) and then hoping for a final 5th seat to open on our flight eventually. I used to do this for CX and had pretty good luck getting us all on the same flight. The other option is to do 2 of us on DFW-DOH and 3 on LAX-DOH and just meet up on the other side of the planet within a few minutes of each other ;-) But it is always fun to fly together on these ultra long hauls. Between LAX and DFW, any sense of which is more likely to open another seat over the course of the year after week book but before we fly?
Oct 28, 2018, 6:02 pm
#454
Moderator: American AAdvantage
Join Date: May 2000
Location: NorCal - SMF area
Programs: AA LT Plat; HH LT Diamond, Maître-plongeur des Muccis
Posts: 62,948
Or not. Al Baker declared QR would never join oneworld - the day before it was announced they’d joined oneworld. This was hardly an overnight decision. Akbar Al Bluster, sometimes.
AAB is starting to talk smack about ditching OW (and his primary beef is with AA), and if DP doesn't budge...we could all be looking at a smaller, sadder version of OW in a year... (fingers crossed that doesn't happen of course)
Oct 29, 2018, 11:01 pm
#455
Join Date: Oct 2018
Posts: 1
BOS-DOH-BKK
I am new at this. I’m trying to figure out how much AA miles do I need to book Business class from Boston to Bangkok. and if I see the space open for BOS-DOH and DOH-BKK but not BOS-BKK ...I can call AA to book? Thanks in advance.
Oct 30, 2018, 12:08 am
#456
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Live: IWI; Work: DCA/Everywhere; Play: LAS/SJU/MLE
Programs: AA EXP, DL PM, Hyatt Glob, Marriott Ambassador/LTP, Nat'l Exec Elite, LEYE Gold
Posts: 6,669
You can call AA to book, but keep in mind that going the long way will cost you 110,000 miles (70k for USA - ME and 40k for ME - Asia 2). If you go via the Pacific (keeping in mind that you're allowed to connect only in Asia 1 or Asia 2), you're looking at 70k instead, but you'll need to find availability on AA/JL/CX.
Oct 30, 2018, 5:29 am
#457
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 60
Australia(any east coast city)-DOH-LAX (one award)
If I book any an AA award in business on QR/MU from Australia to LAX will this be a 80/85 business award or two awards? It's the only way I can book a business award for the time I want to go. I lost $150 booking an QF business award from SFO to MEL 9 months in advance never found a real business return. I
thanks
thanks
Oct 30, 2018, 5:47 am
#458
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: RDU <|> MMX
Programs: AA EXP 2MM, SK EBS
Posts: 12,456
If I book any an AA award in business on QR/MU from Australia to LAX will this be a 80/85 business award or two awards? It's the only way I can book a business award for the time I want to go. I lost $150 booking an QF business award from SFO to MEL 9 months in advance never found a real business return. I
thanks
thanks
Oct 30, 2018, 6:02 am
#459
Join Date: Jan 2017
Posts: 790
I specifically asked if this was new (I've had no issues getting similar QR awards manually repriced in the past) or somehow related to AA's recoding of domestic AA 2-class flights to be Y/J. They never provided me an answer to that specific question, simply said Qatar awards were different.
-FlyerBeek
-FlyerBeek
I called the AA 1-800 number and they say the First class part breaks the award. I felt like I was talking in circles with the person, and was not sure if it was because First class was unavailable or if it was because the First class segment would cause it to go from 70K to 115K, but she checked with her supervisor and basically said QR will kick back the request to ticket it all at 70K.
Wish I knew more, but I tried a lot of angles and I couldn't get this booked. I ultimately took AMM to DOH in coach, and DOH to ATL in business for 70K. Maybe I'll try again another time as I have it on hold.
Oct 30, 2018, 6:05 am
#460
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: RDU <|> MMX
Programs: AA EXP 2MM, SK EBS
Posts: 12,456
AA website now shows QR all the way in Business for 70K miles from Amman to Doha to Atlanta. The Amman to Doha leg is of course in the infamous Gulf First (on a 788) and while the website shows it as all pricing at 70K miles, when you try to book it says the availability is gone.
I called the AA 1-800 number and they say the First class part breaks the award. I felt like I was talking in circles with the person, and was not sure if it was because First class was unavailable or if it was because the First class segment would cause it to go from 70K to 115K, but she checked with her supervisor and basically said QR will kick back the request to ticket it all at 70K.
Wish I knew more, but I tried a lot of angles and I couldn't get this booked. I ultimately took AMM to DOH in coach, and DOH to ATL in business for 70K. Maybe I'll try again another time as I have it on hold.
I called the AA 1-800 number and they say the First class part breaks the award. I felt like I was talking in circles with the person, and was not sure if it was because First class was unavailable or if it was because the First class segment would cause it to go from 70K to 115K, but she checked with her supervisor and basically said QR will kick back the request to ticket it all at 70K.
Wish I knew more, but I tried a lot of angles and I couldn't get this booked. I ultimately took AMM to DOH in coach, and DOH to ATL in business for 70K. Maybe I'll try again another time as I have it on hold.
Oct 30, 2018, 6:24 am
#461
Join Date: Jan 2017
Posts: 790
Assuming HUCA means people have gotten this to price out okay with not having to accept Economy on the Gulf shorter connecting flight?
I even asked the agent to ask her supervisor ... and it got me no where. She was very nice, but you know how this goes. Total ranges of competency.
That said, I have no issue trying again. Nothing to lose.
I even asked the agent to ask her supervisor ... and it got me no where. She was very nice, but you know how this goes. Total ranges of competency.
That said, I have no issue trying again. Nothing to lose.
Oct 30, 2018, 11:03 am
#462
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: RDU <|> MMX
Programs: AA EXP 2MM, SK EBS
Posts: 12,456
Assuming HUCA means people have gotten this to price out okay with not having to accept Economy on the Gulf shorter connecting flight?
I even asked the agent to ask her supervisor ... and it got me no where. She was very nice, but you know how this goes. Total ranges of competency.
That said, I have no issue trying again. Nothing to lose.
I even asked the agent to ask her supervisor ... and it got me no where. She was very nice, but you know how this goes. Total ranges of competency.
That said, I have no issue trying again. Nothing to lose.
Oct 30, 2018, 9:43 pm
#463
Join Date: Jan 2017
Posts: 790
Wow - nice. Well I am at a loss. I just called again and spoke to a new agent and she said Z class for AMM-DOH will cause the price to raise and it is not ticketable at 70K miles.
Oct 30, 2018, 9:48 pm
#464
Join Date: Jan 2017
Posts: 790
I tried to book ATL-DFW-DOH-MCT as an experiment as it didn't give me the same error (I could hold it if I wanted), so maybe there is some phantom Z availability going on with my attempted days/flights for AMM-DOH.
Oct 31, 2018, 4:48 am
#465
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: RDU <|> MMX
Programs: AA EXP 2MM, SK EBS
Posts: 12,456
Yea, most likely phantom space and nothing to do with the Z/U issue. What if you try to book the AMM-DOH as a stand alone segment, is it actually available and/or bookable?