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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 Oct 1, 2018, 5:30 am
  #406  
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Join Date: Apr 2017
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Originally Posted by spin2nd
That's exactly what I noticed and was speaking of earlier in the thread. It's like someone messed up loading a spreadsheet in the system... N.America-DOH basically doesn't exist in that time period which is somewhat hilarious b/c everything is loaded fine DOH-N.America.
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.
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Old Oct 1, 2018, 6:44 am
  #407  
 
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 269
Originally Posted by Beltway2A
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.
Unfortunately, that doesn't help. At this rate all the return flights will be booked before outbounds become available...
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Old Oct 1, 2018, 7:18 am
  #408  
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Originally Posted by the188
Unfortunately, that doesn't help. At this rate all the return flights will be booked before outbounds become available...
Sorry to hear that. Figured it was worth a shot.

I am seeing ex-NA availability in early August 2019, so perhaps they're just opening the space closer in.
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Old Oct 1, 2018, 9:30 am
  #409  
 
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 269
Originally Posted by Beltway2A
Sorry to hear that. Figured it was worth a shot.

I am seeing ex-NA availability in early August 2019, so perhaps they're just opening the space closer in.
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.
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Old Oct 1, 2018, 9:44 am
  #410  
 
Join Date: Sep 2009
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Originally Posted by the188
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.
A day? I assume you mean a week.

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.
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Old Oct 1, 2018, 1:09 pm
  #411  
 
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 269
Originally Posted by Global321
A day? I assume you mean a week.

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.
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.
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Old Oct 2, 2018, 10:55 am
  #412  
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Originally Posted by the188
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.
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.
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Old Oct 2, 2018, 11:00 am
  #413  
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Originally Posted by sdsearch
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.
You joke, but I flew QR on Thanksgiving day last year to India, and I have to say that I was reasonably impressed with their "Thanksgiving Dinner" menu offering.
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Old Oct 3, 2018, 9:11 pm
  #414  
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Programs: AA - Executive Platinum 1MM, Hilton Diamond, Bonvoy Platinum
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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.
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Old Oct 3, 2018, 9:29 pm
  #415  
 
Join Date: Aug 2014
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I've seen lots of US->DOH availability pop-up that wasn't there two days ago for those who are looking.
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Old Oct 4, 2018, 7:02 am
  #416  
 
Join Date: Mar 2015
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What dates are you looking at where it showed up? I am not seeing anything between August 10th and September 2nd from East Coast to DOH. Checking both BA and QF for availability.
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Old Oct 4, 2018, 8:16 am
  #417  
 
Join Date: Aug 2014
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Originally Posted by the188
What dates are you looking at where it showed up? I am not seeing anything between August 10th and September 2nd from East Coast to DOH. Checking both BA and QF for availability.
June-July in general.

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.
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Old Oct 4, 2018, 9:59 am
  #418  
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
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Originally Posted by sdsearch
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.
Eh? Have you been to India in the summer? No thank you. Fall or winter for me any day of the week.
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Old Oct 4, 2018, 11:46 am
  #419  
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
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Originally Posted by the188
What dates are you looking at where it showed up? I am not seeing anything between August 10th and September 2nd from East Coast to DOH. Checking both BA and QF for availability.
I didn't want to let the cat out of the bag until it ticketed all of the way through -- as of now my wife and I are confirmed ORD-DOH-JNB on 8/23/19 and my family flies the same trip on 8/22/19. Availability never showed up on ba.com, Qantas, or any of the other methods of checking. When I Called in, I told the agent what flights I wanted and she seemed perplexed when the ORD-DOH segment didn't show availability in her system. I kept my mouth shut as I knew it wasn't showing up...she put me on a 5 minuted hold to talk to 'the helpdesk' -- I have ZERO idea what was done, said, or inquired about but after the hold she had availability and all of the tickets were issued. My mother-in-law called at a different time for her tickets so now this worked on two different itineraries for traveling two different days - 4 seats total.

Good luck everyone!!
spin2nd is offline  
Old Oct 5, 2018, 7:11 pm
  #420  
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 2,172
I am sure that there is a simple answer to this and it is just my brain is not working. AA award for QR. Flying US->EUR would require two awards if via DOH? Also, flying US->Asia would require two awards if via DOH? Thks much!
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