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 22, 2018, 1:16 pm
#46
Join Date: Jan 2016
Posts: 377
Has anyone recently successfully found DOH-MEL or SYD in J? It seems SYD does not have either F or J but MEL has enough Fs. However I honestly dont want to pay the price to be in A380F because the J has the same access to the bar and the F seats are not private. We had DOH-BKK before. 2 days before departure the flight was filled by a Doha family, so instead of just us and 1 extra passenger up to that point the whole F cabin was full. It wasn't a comfortable flight esp because it was the 2am departure.
Jan 22, 2018, 1:26 pm
#47
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,543
I did a lot of checking and research the past couple months trying to burn American Miles during a gap year for me and the wife. I was focusing on Qatar mainly, and wanted to book the long flights. During this time, I did not find any J awards for direct flights to South America or Australia/New Zealand. My takeaway was that they simply do not open any award space for certain long flights.
Have also found availability on DOH-MEL
Jan 22, 2018, 2:13 pm
#48
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,738
I did a lot of checking and research the past couple months trying to burn American Miles during a gap year for me and the wife. I was focusing on Qatar mainly, and wanted to book the long flights. During this time, I did not find any J awards for direct flights to South America or Australia/New Zealand. My takeaway was that they simply do not open any award space for certain long flights.
I dont have a set destination region to fly to from EU, though South Pacific / South Africa and Namibia / Asia 2 are among the consideration. Need to think about the home-coming portion as well. I can use multiple programs but of course try to use the lowest cost ones. Going EU-South Pacific, QR option is the lowest, and the products are the most desirable.
Thanks for bring up CBR.
Jan 22, 2018, 4:05 pm
#49
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: ORD
Programs: AA, UA, GE
Posts: 5,121
I gather you were flying BA on the JNB-LHR segment? How much was the surcharge?
This routing would cost a lot more out of pocket cash than a CPT-DOH-US, or a CPT-JNB-DOH-US, whether the CPT-JNB is on BA flight number or a separately purchased LCC ticket.
DOH-CPT is much tougher to get than DOH-JNB. I second SFO777's suggestion to use Avios or buy an LCC ticket depending on how much you value your Avios. The JNB-CPT route is shuttle flight like one flight per hour thru out the day. Usually you can find inexpensive fares whether on Kulula.com or on Mango (SA's arm of LCC).
This routing would cost a lot more out of pocket cash than a CPT-DOH-US, or a CPT-JNB-DOH-US, whether the CPT-JNB is on BA flight number or a separately purchased LCC ticket.
DOH-CPT is much tougher to get than DOH-JNB. I second SFO777's suggestion to use Avios or buy an LCC ticket depending on how much you value your Avios. The JNB-CPT route is shuttle flight like one flight per hour thru out the day. Usually you can find inexpensive fares whether on Kulula.com or on Mango (SA's arm of LCC).
Personally I'd happily pay the $20 USD difference and get a single ticket, bags checked through, lounge access and a way better seat.
Jan 22, 2018, 5:30 pm
#50
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,738
You are comparing apples and oranges. The Comair J surcharge is somewhere between $80 and $85 (US). A Mango Y seat is something like $65 to $70 (US). One is J and one is LCC Y.
Personally I'd happily pay the $20 USD difference and get a single ticket, bags checked through, lounge access and a way better seat.
Personally I'd happily pay the $20 USD difference and get a single ticket, bags checked through, lounge access and a way better seat.
For such a short segment I would look for the most convenient flight instead of trying to get the Comair segment as part of the ticket. In all 6 times we needed to use JNB, the connection time on the available JNB-CPT or CPT-JNB with Comair never worked anyway. We sure dont want to spend several hours at the airport just so we could be on Comair. Lounge access is given with the Priority Card we have. It has access to all 3rd party lounges at JNB. Never need a checked bag so those are non factors to us.
Sometimes having separate ticket actually has its own advantage in the case one wants a longer stay at Jo'burg than a layover.
Jan 23, 2018, 5:01 am
#52
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: ORD
Programs: AA, UA, GE
Posts: 5,121
It is a 2 hours flight I dont care about if not sitting in J. Never fly Mango but the Kulula seat is quite comparable to US domestic coach and certainly better than BA, even its Club Europe business class which is no better than a coach seat with the stupid little block between 2 seats but the seat you actually sit in, is just as narrow as the coach seat.
For such a short segment I would look for the most convenient flight instead of trying to get the Comair segment as part of the ticket. In all 6 times we needed to use JNB, the connection time on the available JNB-CPT or CPT-JNB with Comair never worked anyway. We sure dont want to spend several hours at the airport just so we could be on Comair. Lounge access is given with the Priority Card we have. It has access to all 3rd party lounges at JNB. Never need a checked bag so those are non factors to us.
Sometimes having separate ticket actually has its own advantage in the case one wants a longer stay at Jo'burg than a layover.
For such a short segment I would look for the most convenient flight instead of trying to get the Comair segment as part of the ticket. In all 6 times we needed to use JNB, the connection time on the available JNB-CPT or CPT-JNB with Comair never worked anyway. We sure dont want to spend several hours at the airport just so we could be on Comair. Lounge access is given with the Priority Card we have. It has access to all 3rd party lounges at JNB. Never need a checked bag so those are non factors to us.
Sometimes having separate ticket actually has its own advantage in the case one wants a longer stay at Jo'burg than a layover.
The QR 77W flight to DOH (which seems to have the greatest award availability) departs at 13:10 and I see consistent availability on the Comair flight arriving at 11:00. There is availability on earlier flights depending on the exact travel date for more conservative connection planners like myself. We usually go to ZA for photo safaris and most of our hand baggage is taken up by cameras, lenses, etc. Out clothes are typically in checked baggage.
Jan 23, 2018, 2:15 pm
#54
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: home = LAX
Posts: 25,932
Jan 28, 2018, 7:38 pm
#56
Join Date: Jul 2015
Posts: 272
Jan 29, 2018, 3:21 am
#57
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Worldwide
Posts: 12,949
[KVS Tool 8.7.8/Diamond - Timetable]
Code:
DOH Doha Hamad Intl QA [OTHH] MLE Male Ibrahim Nasir Intl MV [VRMM] SAT 01 Sep 2018 - 07 Sep 2018 Carrier Flight From Depart To Arrive A/C St Frequency | Dur'n | Dep T | Arr T | Meals | Miles Kms | Codeshare --------- ------ ---- -------- ---- -------- --- -- ------------------------------------------------------------------- QR 672 DOH 02:00 MLE 09:00 359 0 1234567 05:00 - - M 2060 3315 QR 674 DOH 08:15 MLE 15:15 359 0 1234567 05:00 - - M 2060 3315
Feb 5, 2018, 5:39 pm
#58
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: SAN
Programs: AA,AS,UA
Posts: 4
Your first problem is that the ME3 typically don't release award seats for Christmas/NY travel this far out.
Next problem is DOH-CPT, which is very difficult any time of the year. Try DOH-JNB, then add easy award seat JNB-CPT on BA/Comair.
Also, don't limit yourself to IAD. Try PHL-DOH, ATL-DOH, BOS-DOH or JFK-DOH.
But the bottom line is that finding Christmas available right now will likely be an exercise in futility.
Next problem is DOH-CPT, which is very difficult any time of the year. Try DOH-JNB, then add easy award seat JNB-CPT on BA/Comair.
Also, don't limit yourself to IAD. Try PHL-DOH, ATL-DOH, BOS-DOH or JFK-DOH.
But the bottom line is that finding Christmas available right now will likely be an exercise in futility.
I'm having the same experience not being able to find early January 2019 availability. I thought I had it all figured out--did a dummy booking back in December and found CPT-DOH-ORD-SAN, all in J for dates at the 330 day threshold with no problems. Plenty of long-haul availability on T,W,and Th into BOS, PHL, ORD, MIA...Fast forward to today, no availability for any dates <330 days out to any US gateway from DOH.
SFO777 said that ME3 don't release Christmas/NY seats this far out--any idea when they could be expected to release them? Wondering if I need to look at using another program (UA?) to get me home... Or maybe just need a bit more patience?
Feb 5, 2018, 6:01 pm
#59
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: GIG
Programs: AAdvantage ExP 1MM, Smiles/GOL Diamond, TudoAzul/AZUL Diamond, HHonors Gold, Accor Platinum
Posts: 190
Qatar has almost no availability in any route these days. I don't know if this is related to the Jan Boutique Sale, but I have hundreds of thousands of miles in different programs and all of them show extremely reduced availability or none at all.
Feb 5, 2018, 6:02 pm
#60
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: GIG
Programs: AAdvantage ExP 1MM, Smiles/GOL Diamond, TudoAzul/AZUL Diamond, HHonors Gold, Accor Platinum
Posts: 190
