Qatar Airways joined the oneworld alliance in late 2013, making them the first and only of the "big three" Gulf carriers to join one of the "big three" alliances. Qatar joining oneworld was exciting news for mileage enthusiasts: -- Qatar Airways often publishes very reasonable premium cabin fares, so they're a great airline to fly…
Continue reading: Is Qatar Airways Blocking All Partner Award Space?
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I noticed this too and wondered if it was a glitch or not.
Since they're part of OneWorld, do they "have to" release seats to partners?
"Phoned the Privilege Club line and the agent said they are currently updating systems and revised availability should be displayed by the end of the week (!)"
I had two reservations on hold with American for travel to S Africa through DOH. I called last night to ticket them and all seemed OK however I have not received an email confirmation or the e tickets yet. Status on AA website shows "On Request ". I thought this might be a normal delay but this is worrisome.
My gut tells me it's a tech glitch of some sort. If it's intentional, I'd imagine QR would still release economy class awards to partners but restrict premium cabin awards to their own members (which honestly makes sense to me given QR does have a phenomenal premium product whereas some of its partners are not up to par.)
It's also happening on the Gol miles program "Smiles" not even a single qatar flight.
I hope they come back at least in economy.
I don't know when the 4 seats were ever available on QR (unless its last minute or a long time out). I am EP and have NEVER been able to redeem any miles for QR business. I like QR but their reluctant OW membership participation is getting seriously annoying (from award space to Emerald lounge access in Doha). If you want to stay, participate as an equal, or leave (or start a semi-alliance like Etihad).
Awards on QR are always very difficult to find. They will rather fly with empty seats and make no money than give awards to partners (for which I assume they make at least some money).
I don't think this is a glitch or it wouldn't have gone on this long. Also the "maintenance story" is also hogwash as it shouldn't take several days to "upgrade" systems and if it does you don't want to fly them anyway. I think they are just being difficult frankly after reading Ben's earlier posts about them
Like Charlie, above, I booked a ticket between S Africa and N America connecting in DOH. AA booking showed "on request". However the reservation was ticketed yesterday, two weeks after booking. Be patient, I think it's a glitch.
I vote for "clitch." Now the remaining mystery is how long it is taking to open the Al Safwa First Class Loung at HIA.
Lucky - In your opinion, does it make sense to transfer citi thank you points to Qatar's ff program? Are redemption rates reasonable between the sub-continent and the US?
Thanks!
Ask for U fare code. Learned this the hard way after calling half a dozen AA agents.
This is a glitch?? does anybody has an idea about when the glitch will be solved?
Still not fixed. I'm getting worried if this is intentional. Was looking to book award flights from USA to India on Qatar business class using AA miles, the other possible partner Etihad doesnt have availability for the dates that Qatar now would have.
egrrr! They seem to block long flights trip... only has available shorts flights for now on.
I'm seeing that some flights are back up but none of the flights from DOH to North America are showing. Anyone have any thoughts or see anything different?
Any recent updates on this? When I looked yesterday I could not see any availability from the U.S. (at least not IAD, PHL or JFK) to Doha in any class. I have to think it is a glitch.
Same here as of this morning still. Only finding very sporadic award space DOH-PHL or BKK-DOH, no real pattern that I can see.
It is hard for me to imagine a glitch that renders North America unbookable, while DOH-everywhere else seems as abundant as ever (to Europe, Africa, Asia). My hopes of getting the entire family on either BOSDOH or JFKDOH seem to have been dashed (we are currently ticketed for two on each, though would prefer to fly together).
I think they are block again. I couldnt find any from the BA webpage. They appeared there, but without price.When i wanted to book them, the system didnt let me
Anyone have an update on this? I was eyeing BOS/PHL-DOH for a while but now it's obviously gone. We still think it's a "glitch" a month in?
That's a different glitch. If it displays on BA but doesn't price you can call them and get it done. Or call AA. But they key is finding space on BA, which is others have noted has become next to impossible from NA in July and August.
@JM -- what you're describing doesn't necessarily mean you can't book it. I booked a flight a couple of weeks ago that did the same thing. It showed the availability but didn't price out on BA, but I was using AA miles, so pricing out on the BA website didn't matter to me. I called AA to book and had no problem booking it over the phone. For those monitoring the situation, my flight was DXB-DOH-JNB -- so no US legs.
However, I can't seem to find any availability the other way on Qatar now. Originally, I was seeing some dates I didn't want, but I have seen 0 availability now for the past week or two. I'm not too concerned as I'm not counting on Qatar to open space, but I would be happy if they did. There are tons of seats available on some of the flights/dates I'd be interested in -- just none showing for partner availability it seems. Hoping this doesn't last like this.
I'm trying to redeem Smiles for Qatar flights for next year, but there is no availability. Tried different destinations in Asia also tried different moths and nothing is available.
It appears Qatar has blocked off NA to DOH availability in July again...anyone know if this is blackout partner award month for some reason?
June/July is the Ramadan holiday season in the Middle East so I wouldn't be surprised if nothing is available
I'm not seeing any partner Qatar seats available to India in October-November 2016 either.
Let me start by saying that I have over 1 million miles in the bank on Qatar. I have NEVER (in the past 2 years) been able to book a business class award seat on any Qatar flight. I was able to book an award economy seat from PHL to DOH. I tried to upgrade weeks before the flight with no success. They told me at the counter that no upgrades were available yet when I walked up to business class during the flight, there were 22 empty seats. I have also never been able to find a seat on American using Qatar/One World to any destination domestic or international. Get the same reply. No seats available on the dates you requested and not seats available with 4 days either side of those dates. I have called them and ask for when seats were available and been told there are no seats available at all.
The Qatar program is a scam. They are not acting as a partner on One World and continuing to advertise that they are a partner is fraud. Had I known this I would have booked my million miles on any other airline. Has anyone filed a complaint with the FTC?
Nothing between Hong Kong and Europe. EVER! Been searching for last 2 years. And recently Cathay to Europe has also totally dried up (even with Asia Miles). No other reasonable options as OneWorld coverage in Asia is really thin. MH is only flying to London which isn't convenient for me) and Sri Lankan (which also isn't convenient as too far/ schedule not good) also is retreating from Europe. Even BA nowadays (with USD 100 fee to reserve their soso J seat) has no availability. Oh, and of course Finnair never has availability either (neither long out or short notice).
OneWorld miles redemption seems a total scam as the only availability is in Y (which of course is bad value).
This is happening again. Zero availability on partner sites (AA, British) from mid-Nov to Dec 2019. Not a single seat for any US flight (origin or destination). On AA site, the flight shows up everyday 331 days out but cant be booked. These are phantom availability after checking with AA agents and on British Airways site.
Wondering if there are any big changes coming or if this is a glitch.