tropikey

Hi,
I've found some posts regarding redemption of qmiles on award flights with QR's partners but they're scattered throughout different threads, so I hope you don't mind, if I create this new thread
Could you please share your experiences with successful or unsuccessful (I hope they're in minority) redemptions?
I plan to make RTW trip in late August 2019 and I'd like to cover part of this trip with my qmiles. However, considering QR's "enhancements", in order to avoid disappointment and disturbances in creation of my trip, I'd like to know with advance, what are chances to exchange my qmiles for one way flight in J for example with JL, CX or MH?
Assuming that I find availability for certain flight on BA or AA website (or any other showing such availability), is there much risk that even though QR will reject my online application for award flight? How long does it take to receive information about successful (or unsuccessful) redemption?
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makrom

When reading this, I can't help but think of this strip: https://www.xkcd.com/927/

I too opened a thread with questions about partner redemptions some time ago but I didn't get a reply. I assume experience is rather limited.
What I can tell is that you apply and then either receive approval or rejection. Can't say anything about chances, but rejections seem to be quite common and it can take some weeks until you receive them.
As far as I am aware, there are no unified award capacities, so award availability for other programs could be an indicator at best.

What definitely helps is to provide them with as many alternatives as possible. Btw there currently seems to be a system issue (let's pray it's just that). Regardless of what I search for, I always get "No flights found".

lost_in_translation

Let's put it a different way, has anyone actually been able to book a partner redemption through QRPC this year?

tropikey

Thanks @makrom
I'm sorry but haven't found your earlier thread.
Well, it doesn't sound good. What I need when planning RTW trip for miles in different alliances is certainty and reliability. Considering what you wrote above, it seems I'll not find it at QR (at least in case of partner redemptions). Particularly, waiting few weeks for their decision is completely out of the question.

makrom

@tropikey
No worries about my old thread, I didn't mean to complain. After some months, it's better to open a new thread anyway since any information in the old thread is likely outdated.
Please note that it doesn't have to take a few weeks. I just heard from some instances where it took that long, but in other cases the reply came within a few days.
You should also consider that one way flights are bad value due to the degressive total distance based pricing. For example 5001 to 6000 miles in C costs 120k Qcredits, whereas 8001 to 12000 miles (e.g. a RT for 6000 miles OW) only costs 170k.

miro776

I did only one partner award request on qatarairways web... (S7 airline, one way economy ticket EVN-DME-MUC)
I sent request February 3. and next day (February 4.) they sent me email with PNR. I did call to european suport center to confirm ticket and I had to provide credit card info for paying fee. ( the total fee was 79 euros!)

Anyway I had to cancel this award a week before fly for family reason. It was painfull process to cancel this ticket.
S7, partner award request form (Qatar web)

NoY

Thanks for starting this thread - lets see what pops up from others - I too got no useful response when asking about partner redemptions of QRPC points - I will burn my 200k points on partners I suspect - then am done with PC, thank goodness.

tropikey

@miro776:
thanks for your input. It's good to know that QR's time of reaction can be so short.

@makrom:
Yes, I'm aware of lower value of one way awards by partner airlines. It's possible that I'll leave qmiles in my "pocket" for other trip than RTW and then I'll use them for RT partner flight (or flights, in case of shorter distances).

kornner

I just did a partner redemption for CX and IB flights after their enhancement. I checked the availability on ba.com beforehand.

I used to be able to just email them my preferences and they'll reply with a tentative PNR. Not anymore. I got a response from them 4 days after my initial email that they can only process requests made from their webpage. Did that and they replied back with on-hold booking in 1-2 days. What's new is they now tell you how much the fee will be in their reply, and let you process payment on qatarairways.com without calling or visiting their office.

tropikey

How much did you have to pay extra for CX? Usually award flights with this airlines involve low additional charges. Was it the same in this case?
Could you also add (if it's not a secret), what routes did you book?

kornner

I'm pretty certain what you'll have to pay extra will be only for airport taxes. It may cost more if that carrier normally charge YQ/YR in addition. For my BKK-HKG return in Y, I got charged for just under THB 3,000. (In this case, the currency is THB as the itinerary is ex-BKK.) It's for CX-imposed YR and airport taxes. No booking fee from QR's side (and I hope it would stay this way). Not sure if there'd be any difference when it comes to J/F, but I think extra costs shown on ba.com would be a good reference, if not exactly, for what you're going to pay.

I'm not sure how they calculate required miles for routes with stopover though, because my oneway BCN-MAD-DBV on IB was calculated not by combining BCN-MAD + MAD-DBV segments as I initially thought. The miles required were less than that. So you might save some miles with some creative routing, I guess. I only have to pay extra for a small amount of taxes on this route.

The new partner redemption engine on QRPC's website can now let you select specific flights (they just list the flight, doesn't reflect actual availability), so I'd say you'll have a pretty good chance getting a successful booking if you make your selection according to what's available on ba.com. However, I heard CX's availability for partner airlines redemption goes black after their Asia Miles enhancement. Not sure if it's still the case now.

tropikey

Great, thank you very much. Now it sounds better and I'm more optimistic

Mwenenzi

A lot will depend on the routes you want to travel and when. Business class awards can be hard to get. Some airlines have awards available from ~353 days and others start 330 days out. But awards can become available at any time (or never).
The AA forum has dedicated threads on AA partner awards. You will have similar problems to posts those in threads. Problems with availability are common

What approximate routes are you wanting? Will need to be very flexible with routes & dates.

Dazeq

I had no problem to book award on QF about a week ago (Australia Y domestic one way). Checked the availability on BA executive then choose the flight. Received message next day with booking on hold, followed the payment link, paid about 20 AUD and ticket was issued.

tropikey

@Mwenenzi: my problem is that RTW trip will include award flights both in OW and *A, so I need to plan carefully, particularly that I'll have to make it quite compact, without long intervals between flights. This is however separate subject, so as you suggest, I'll search elsewhere for necessary information

@Dazeq: good to know, as flights in Australia are also one of my targets.

How about J flights with MH or JL? Has anyone booked such flight recently using qmiles?