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 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.
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.
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)
#406
Where/how are you looking? EY had a bug (or "feature") earlier this year where NA-AUH award space wouldn't show if you searched for NA-AUH or NA-AUH-XXX directly. However, when searching for XXX-AUH-NA//NA-AUH-XXX as a roundtrip, the NA-AUH segment would correctly show available space. If you haven't already, I'd give it a try on QR.
#407
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 269
Where/how are you looking? EY had a bug (or "feature") earlier this year where NA-AUH award space wouldn't show if you searched for NA-AUH or NA-AUH-XXX directly. However, when searching for XXX-AUH-NA//NA-AUH-XXX as a roundtrip, the NA-AUH segment would correctly show available space. If you haven't already, I'd give it a try on QR.
#408
I am seeing ex-NA availability in early August 2019, so perhaps they're just opening the space closer in.
#409
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 269
The last two weeks of August have been blocked off for about the last 1.5 months I have been looking. September is no issue. So the schedule is open after this "block". Not sure if I should just wait or book the week after. Of course that means giving up a free vacation day for me.
#410
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Global
Posts: 5,977
The last two weeks of August have been blocked off for about the last 1.5 months I have been looking. September is no issue. So the schedule is open after this "block". Not sure if I should just wait or book the week after. Of course that means giving up a free vacation day for me.
If you really meant "a day", that is crazy. A day is nothing when it comes to dates for award tickets. Book the ticket and be happy you got it within a day of what you wanted.
#411
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 269
I was referring to having the Labor Day Holiday being a "free vacation day" if I traveled over that week. Every day counts when you have so few. I have gotten all the stars to align in the past, part of why I'm trying to book as early as possible. I don't need to fly on Qatar is the more reasonable reality.
#412
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: home = LAX
Posts: 25,927
I was referring to having the Labor Day Holiday being a "free vacation day" if I traveled over that week. Every day counts when you have so few. I have gotten all the stars to align in the past, part of why I'm trying to book as early as possible. I don't need to fly on Qatar is the more reasonable reality.
Where are you flying on one award on QR that you want to go in North American late summer? Many places where you can get a single award on QR (Africa, Indian subcontinent), that's not necessarily the best time of year there.
#413
Well, then, perhaps you can move your flight to late November and (at many companies) get two 'free vacation days'?
Where are you flying on one award on QR that you want to go in North American late summer? Many places where you can get a single award on QR (Africa, Indian subcontinent), that's not necessarily the best time of year there.
Where are you flying on one award on QR that you want to go in North American late summer? Many places where you can get a single award on QR (Africa, Indian subcontinent), that's not necessarily the best time of year there.
#414
Join Date: Aug 2009
Programs: AA - Executive Platinum 1MM, Hilton Diamond, Bonvoy Platinum
Posts: 74
Does anyone know if it's possible to redeem an award ticket LGA-DCA (on AA) onward IAD-DOH (on Qatar) as a single award? AA doesn't fly into IAD so DCA is the only option in the Washington DC area. I'm really hoping to snag a Qsuite award.
#417
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 736
However, looks like you can grab 2 J seats IAD-DOH right now on September 2nd. The availability in general comes and goes in patches which is extremely annoying in general. Right now I'm personally sitting on some flights into DOH but can't get my connecting flights yet in June.
#418
Join Date: Aug 2012
Programs: AA PLT, SPG Gold
Posts: 2,401
Well, then, perhaps you can move your flight to late November and (at many companies) get two 'free vacation days'?
Where are you flying on one award on QR that you want to go in North American late summer? Many places where you can get a single award on QR (Africa, Indian subcontinent), that's not necessarily the best time of year there.
Where are you flying on one award on QR that you want to go in North American late summer? Many places where you can get a single award on QR (Africa, Indian subcontinent), that's not necessarily the best time of year there.
#419
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: ATLien
Programs: Hub Captive Club
Posts: 125
Good luck everyone!!