Might need some screenshots, because what you linked in the T&C's still says OR. I brought up PC tiers myself via Google and still also see the OR bit.

I'm certainly not saying you're wrong, but nothing I can find on the QR or QRPC website supports that.

This is exactly what I got when I pulled up the T&Cs and went to 4.4

Hello from Tbilisi! So far I've flown HND-DFW (marketed AA, operated JL); DFW-DTW-ORD-SFO-JFK (marketed+operated AA); JFK-DOH (marketed AA, operated QR); and DOH-TBS (marketed+operated QR). Just got an email that I made Gold (with 380 Qpoints) despite seeming not to have met the 20% or 4-flight requirements, since DOH-TBS was the only one both marketed and operated by QR. Mystifying, but I'm sure not gonna complain!

And to be a T&C + wayback machine nerd:

T&C 11 Aug 2024: "you will need to have earned at least 20% of your Qpoints or have flown 4 sectors ... on flights either marketed* or operated** by Qatar Airways."
T&C 30 May 2025: "you will need to have earned at least 20% of your Qpoints or have flown 4 sectors ... on flights marketed* and operated** by Qatar Airways."

So it used to be "20% or 4 sectors, marketed OR operated"; now it's "20% or 4 sectors, marketed AND operated". Maybe they just haven't updated their systems yet as I would slide in under the old (OR) definition with 20%.

One negative data point on waitlisting:
at the time of booking a DONE4, the system was only allowing economy even though D was widely available.
So, the AA RTW agent booked a QF domestic segment in econ but waitlisted for business.
months later, the waitlist "cleared" and the business seat was assigned.
however, when it came to travel day, QF could not check in the passenger, saying that the segment wasn't paid as business fare but rather it was booked in economy.
they also could not (or would not) take control of the ticket, so it was up to contacting AA (RTW desk was closed) to fix. 10 stressful minutes later, AA managed to fix and re-ticket.. then QF could check-in and so on.

In the future, I would not consider the waitlist option if it has the potential to cause such a mess. Of course, there was no way to know what was going on in the backend until check-in time. YMMV.

The key is that the ticket was not re-issued after the waitlist cleared, not the waitlist itself.

but it was literally impossible to know that this had occurred.
all of the other flights on the ticket were fine and could be flown.
I realize the waitlist feature is not the problem, but it shows that serious undetectable mistakes can occur as a result of this process (if not done properly).

The mitigation for this is calling in a week later and checking. Usually (in my limited experience) waitlists tend to clear pretty rapidly and so are probably just sat there.

Were you notified when the waitlist cleared and "the business seat was assigned"? That will be the time to ask for a re-issue. I agree AA can remind you of this more clearly, but for your future reference, that is when you need to ask AA to re-issue to confirm with AA that the ticket has been re-issued (so you receive a new ticket number).

No, -- Go to manage your booking on aa.com, and pull up your record. At the top, it will say whether or not it has been ticketed.

It said it was ticketed.

Not notified.. the whole process was strange. After booking with the waitlisted segment, AA showed the waitlisted business segment followed by the confirmed economy segment for the same flight. Months later, I noticed that those two segments dropped off the ticket altogether. Had to call back and ask what happened..the agent had said the wait-list cleared, then they added the segment back in business with a biz seat.
QF said something about how the segment was not paid for.. That the fare attached to the segment was economy saver not business...all this despite seeing the confirmed seat in biz. I don't know what the process is in the backend for processing wait-list but from my viewpoint, everything looked fine.

The AA agent forgot to get the ticket re-issued at that point. For your future reference, that would be the time to get a new e-ticket number or at least re-confirm that the ticket has been revalidated on the newly confirmed business class flight.
You have a confirmed D class reservation, but the ticket (which was still in economy for this flight coupon) was not linked to this confirmed seat in business. The reservation is the reservation. The ticket is the ticket. You need them to match to take a flight.

Interesting, and good to know. I never heard of the concept of a confirmed seat divorced from the relevant ticket.

When you first create a reservation and get the 24-hour hold (may even be longer for an RTW), you have a confirmed seat but not a ticket! When IRROPs occur, if you are rebooked but there is a routing change, the ticket will not match the reservation until someone re-issues the ticket.

Have the currency fluctuations in Argentina created any reasonable RTW opportunities?