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Qatar Airways / QR: Redeem AA Miles for Award (master thd)

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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 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.
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)

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Old Dec 1, 2018, 11:16 pm
  #526  
 
Join Date: Sep 2015
Posts: 476
Same for BOM. I looked at the whole yr but no availability on any dates. There's availability to other Indian cities but not to BOM. Someday's I really miss 9W for all Asia travel n award seats were never a problem.
anubond005 is offline  
Old Dec 3, 2018, 1:33 am
  #527  
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: San Francisco area
Programs: AA EXP, Marriott T
Posts: 455
Traveling LAX/DOH/ATQ in January with an overnight stay in the DOH on AA miles Business Ticket, would there be any promotions that still provide hotels for overnight stay? As US citizens do we still need transit visa?
bdhaliwa is offline  
Old Dec 3, 2018, 1:34 am
  #528  
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: San Francisco area
Programs: AA EXP, Marriott T
Posts: 455
I would look at multiple other cities that QR flies into, I have never not found award availability to ATQ for example, catch a connecting flight to BOM from there.
bdhaliwa is offline  
Old Dec 3, 2018, 9:11 am
  #529  
 
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: DCA/IAD
Programs: AA EXP; 1W Emerald; HHonors Diamond; Marriott Gold; UA dirt
Posts: 7,816
Does AA place any of its codes on QR flights? The earn rate for EQMs isn't so hot and the EQD rate is laughable. Looking at a fare to DAC next year ($900 ex IAD) and I would earn about 500 miles for what will be a 19,000 mile trip.

Going for great indeed!
IADCAflyer is offline  
Old Dec 3, 2018, 9:14 am
  #530  
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Join Date: Feb 2001
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Posts: 12,453
Originally Posted by IADCAflyer
Does AA place any of its codes on QR flights? The earn rate for EQMs isn't so hot and the EQD rate is laughable. Looking at a fare to DAC next year ($900 ex IAD) and I would earn about 500 miles for what will be a 19,000 mile trip.

Going for great indeed!
AA stopped codesharing on QR around June 2017 as part of the US3 vs ME3 dispute nonsense.
JJeffrey is offline  
Old Dec 3, 2018, 9:16 am
  #531  
 
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: DCA/IAD
Programs: AA EXP; 1W Emerald; HHonors Diamond; Marriott Gold; UA dirt
Posts: 7,816
Originally Posted by JJeffrey
AA stopped codesharing on QR around June 2017 as part of the US3 vs ME3 dispute nonsense.
Oh nice. Tnx.

Guess I'll have to suck it up. Oh well. Better than paying $3,500 for coach on Cathay...

One last question. QR seat availability seems very opaque. Is there a way to see what configuration of the 77W is being run on a route and what seats are open?
IADCAflyer is offline  
Old Dec 3, 2018, 10:23 am
  #532  
 
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: ORD
Programs: AA, UA, GE
Posts: 5,122
Originally Posted by IADCAflyer
Oh nice. Tnx.

Guess I'll have to suck it up. Oh well. Better than paying $3,500 for coach on Cathay...

One last question. QR seat availability seems very opaque. Is there a way to see what configuration of the 77W is being run on a route and what seats are open?
I would look at this website

Qatar Airways Cargo - Home

And use the aircraft type as defined in the Wiki on the Qatar airways fleet thread in the QR forum:

The Complete Guide to the Qatar Airways Fleet
cheltzel is offline  
Old Dec 3, 2018, 10:36 am
  #533  
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Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,572
Originally Posted by IADCAflyer
Does AA place any of its codes on QR flights? The earn rate for EQMs isn't so hot and the EQD rate is laughable. Looking at a fare to DAC next year ($900 ex IAD) and I would earn about 500 miles for what will be a 19,000 mile trip.

Going for great indeed!
Unless you are booking in a class where some of journey is ineligible for mileage accrual, I am not sure how you arrive at the figure

IAD-DOH-DAC-DOH-IAD is 18,724 miles

EQD earning on the loweest eligible fares would be 5% of 18732 = 936.20
EQM earning on the loweest eligible fares would be 50% of 18732 = 9,362
Award miles on the loweest eligible fares would be 25% of 18732 = 4,681

For a $900 fare, the EQDs are higher than fare paid. Of te $883 fare that I can see QR is offering in Feb, $692 is fare/surcharge and the rest is taxes

If there was an AA fare at that price, the EQD earning would be 692 , with award mileage earning of 3,460 and EQMs of 9,362 ( with fare earning basis). If it accrued based on distamce, award miles would be same as QR at 25% , the EQDs would be the same as QR at 5% ; the EQMs would still be 9,362

It looks that for EQD and Award miles, the QR earning is better than an AA flight number would give

Looking on Expertflyer, the lowest fares do seem to be eligible for mileage accrual to AA

Last edited by Dave Noble; Dec 3, 2018 at 10:45 am
Dave Noble is offline  
Old Dec 3, 2018, 3:28 pm
  #534  
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 106
Trying to book PHL-DOH-DEL but only flights available are via LHR according to US AA CSRs and I prefer not to go via LHR.
Tried again only to be told that I can't book on QR using AA miles.
Tried Australian number but the number went silent after 30 minutes on hold.
Suggestions?
ShakuniMama is offline  
Old Dec 3, 2018, 3:40 pm
  #535  
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Programs: AA PLT, SPG Gold
Posts: 2,405
Originally Posted by ShakuniMama
Trying to book PHL-DOH-DEL but only flights available are via LHR according to US AA CSRs and I prefer not to go via LHR.
Tried again only to be told that I can't book on QR using AA miles.
Tried Australian number but the number went silent after 30 minutes on hold.
Suggestions?

My first question would be why are you calling? QR is now bookable online. The first agent may have been trying to say that they couldn't find any award space via DOH.
ShakuniMama likes this.
no1cub17 is offline  
Old Dec 3, 2018, 4:28 pm
  #536  
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 106
Originally Posted by no1cub17
My first question would be why are you calling? QR is now bookable online. The first agent may have been trying to say that they couldn't find any award space via DOH.
Thanks.
I believe that there is a direct flight from PHL to DOH but online I'm only getting to DOH via LHR.
ShakuniMama is offline  
Old Dec 3, 2018, 5:03 pm
  #537  
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Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,572
Originally Posted by ShakuniMama
Thanks.
I believe that there is a direct flight from PHL to DOH but online I'm only getting to DOH via LHR.
QR does have flights between DOH and PHL ; it seems likely that you are only getting services via LHR since those are the only ones with availability
ShakuniMama likes this.
Dave Noble is offline  
Old Dec 3, 2018, 5:43 pm
  #538  
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 5,631
Originally Posted by ShakuniMama
Thanks.
I believe that there is a direct flight from PHL to DOH but online I'm only getting to DOH via LHR.
Do you realize that awards, unlike paid tickets, are not always available? In fact they are only rarely available. You are very lucky to get any flights at all.
SeeBuyFly is offline  
Old Dec 4, 2018, 6:39 am
  #539  
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: used to be PER, now it's nowhere/eveywhere
Programs: QFF NB, AA GLD
Posts: 3,464
aa.com allows additional 3rd continent routings using QR

For some time, redemptions from Nth America to Africa have allowed routing via Doha on QR

Well I was exploring redemption options for a planned RTW trip next year, and I have discovered that aa.com allows additional routings via Doha. The routings I have found are:
South Pacific – Europe (AKL-xDOH-AMS)
South Pacific – Africa (AKL-xDOH-CMN)
South America – Africa (EZE-xDOH-ZNZ)
Asia – Africa (BKK-xDOH-ZNZ)
But not
Africa – Europe (I tried MBA-xDOH-CDG and MBA-xDOH-OSL)
For each of the above allowed routings, the redemption charge matched the charge for a direct routing, so no extra RDM were being charged.
And I was able to get to the final payment page for each of them.
I put one on 5-day hold; I might even buy it😊
pandaperth is offline  
Old Dec 4, 2018, 6:51 am
  #540  
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Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: RDU <|> MMX
Programs: AA EXP 2MM, SK EBS
Posts: 12,453
Originally Posted by pandaperth
For some time, redemptions from Nth America to Africa have allowed routing via Doha on QR

Well I was exploring redemption options for a planned RTW trip next year, and I have discovered that aa.com allows additional routings via Doha. The routings I have found are:
South Pacific – Europe (AKL-xDOH-AMS)
South Pacific – Africa (AKL-xDOH-CMN)
South America – Africa (EZE-xDOH-ZNZ)
Asia – Africa (BKK-xDOH-ZNZ)
But not
Africa – Europe (I tried MBA-xDOH-CDG and MBA-xDOH-OSL)
For each of the above allowed routings, the redemption charge matched the charge for a direct routing, so no extra RDM were being charged.
And I was able to get to the final payment page for each of them.
I put one on 5-day hold; I might even buy it😊
AFAIK these DOH exceptions have always been there, not just NA-Africa .
JJeffrey is offline  


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