Does QR release additional award inventory closer to departure?
 

I am traveling BOS-DOH-MLE on an award booking in J in mid-January. Currently I have a 14-hour layover in DOH -- which of course means either the transit hotel or the lounge since I am not eligible to enter Qatar -- but there are two earlier DOH-MLE flights with plenty of revenue inventory but no award inventory available. Is there a likelihood that QR will make any additional seats available for award bookings? Alternatively, is it possible that the check-in staff will be willing to move me to an earlier connection when I check in at BOS?

(I called QR, but since it's an AA-issued ticket they won't touch it. I called AA, who told me that they no longer have any way to request QR to open up a seat.)

With my experience of traveling on QR J with a QR award ticket they will NOT put you on an earlier connection . this was DOH-BKK sector and i could have also taken 2 earlier emptier flights.

and my flight was full in J.

+1 on the previous reply, you should fully expect to fly as ticketed, and don't expect any free change unless it's at the convenience of the airline to shift you (eg. Oversold flight).

Ok, to answer my own question, QR did in fact open up additional award inventory approximately 7 or 8 days prior to departure (I don't know the exact timing because I'm not sure I checked every day).

I originally was booked on QR676, the 810a DOH-MLE departure. That flight is still showing J9 C9 D9 I9 R9 and has 2 J award seats available.

QR674 at 1240a and QR672 at 210a have both been showing J9 but i0 R0 for some time (I don't recall what the C or D inventory was) with no J award seats available.

Today, QR674 is showing J9 C7 D0 I0 R0, and they made two J award seats available, one of which I grabbed.

Interestingly, QR672 is, at the moment, showing more revenue availability than QR674 (J9 C9 D9 I0 R0), but no additional award availability has been made available. I'll keep checking to see if this changes as this actually is my preferred flight.

I am checking everyday. Currently I booked 2 J for MLE-CMB-DOH-LAX. I want to change to MLE-DOH-LAX. I rather have long stop over in DOH to enjoy the lounge in DOH than spent 4 hour at the lounge in CMB. I notice more award seats are open up. The date I want Feb 23 is not open up yet but Feb 24 is available. Hopefully Feb 23 is open up later when it get closer.

Another data point: I am traveling MLE-DOH-JFK today. QR is operating three MLE-DOH flights today, at 18:55, 19:55 and 20:55. I was booked on the 18:55 flight (an award ticket in J), which was originally scheduled to be a 777 and was later changed to be an A320. So I've been watching the other flights, both operated on 777s, to see if additional availability would open up. Over night (i.e., less than 24 hours prior to departure), QR opened up an additional J award seat on the 20:55 flight and I was able to make the change.

How do you check for equipment change on QR? Hopefully, the date I want open up.

Back in June I booked JFK-DOH-MLE for April 10 in J (2 travelers). A couple days ago QR cancelled our first JFK-DOH leg and rebooked us on a flight departing 8 hours earlier. Thankfully the itinerary is still intact, but it means a 10 hour overnight layover in DOH. There are 2 earlier DOH-MLE flights, neither are showing J availability. One of them is on the A320, which I would avoid in any case, but the other 777 flight has available in Y. Right now we're trying to decide whether it's worth sitting in coach for 5 hours to get a 9am arrival in MLE instead of 3:30pm and enjoy most of an extra day at the resort vs the DOH lounge. Anybody have experience on the 777 in Y? Thanks

I've been on the 77W in Y many times and it's just average, definitely a significant downgrade even compared to the A320.

i would never ever opt for a 3:30 arrival in MLE. of course flying J is nice but personally i value a full extra day at the resort way more than 4 hours in J... this is especially true if your resort is a seaplane ride away as any delay with the 330 arrival may result in a missed seaplane flight and a transit night in hulhumale (done that once won’t do it again).

we r going to maldives in march and also we’re faced with the option of J on the 8:10am vs Y on the 00:40am and opted for the latter.

Thanks for this advice, very much appreciate it!

This was my exact situation earlier this month. I was scheduled to fly BOS-DOH, arriving DOH at 5:55pm, and connecting DOH-MLE at 8:10am (a 14-hour layover in the lounge), arriving MLE at 3:00pm. I kept an eye on the flights, however, and exactly one-week prior to my scheduled departure, a J award seat on QR674 opened up, allowing me to depart DOH at 12:40am (reducing my layover from 14 hours to seven), and arriving MLE at 7:30am. (Of course the fact that you are looking for two seats makes this more of a challenge.

It pains me to fly in Y, but I tend to agree with this advice. Even with my 7:30am arrival at MLE, by the time I collected my bags, transferred to the seaplane, and flew to my resort, it was late morning by the time I arrived. So I assume the 3:00pm arrival would have resulted in my not arriving at the resort until close to dinner time. Moreover, although I suspect they do their best to accommodate all arriving passengers, I'd be concerned that a delayed arrival on the late afternoon flight could result in a night in Male if you miss the last seaplane.

Also, if you are able to fly on April 7 rather than April 10, you can get the flights you're looking for now (albeit with the connecting flight on the A320, which still is going to be better than Y).

Thanks for everyone's advice. I took the voluntary downgrade to Y on the 2:05am flight. Keeping my fingers crossed for J availability to open up closer to departure.

i was on the exact same itinerary as you. jfk-doh-mle and have been checking hourly to see if qr would open up even 1 seat, i would have been fine with my wife sitting upfront. They did not open a single seat until day of departure. I was able to change to jfk-auh-mle on ey so i flew all in biz so dont have your hopes up. Look for alternatives imo if you want to fly all in j. That was 3 weeks ago so fairly recent, also resorts are full so i would expect them to be full. If you are after lounges the ey biz lounge at auh is superb, with amazing cook to order food, and amazing top shelf, so wont be disappointed, pretty close to qr lounges.