On Wednesday I wrote about how Qatar Airways seemed to be blocking all award space to partner airlines. That meant those with points from American AAdvantage, British Airways Executive Club, etc., couldn’t redeem miles for travel on Qatar Airways.
That was a real shame, given that Qatar Airways has a great onboard product, and they also fly to a lot of destinations not served by other oneworld member airlines.
For about a week or so, partner airlines didn’t seem to have access to any Qatar Airways award space, which lead to some speculation as to what was going on. The way I saw it, there were a couple of possible explanations:
- It was a tech glitch, and for whatever reason Qatar Airways award space just wasn’t displaying to partner airlines at the moment.
- This was intentional on the part of Qatar Airways, as they didn’t see any value in making award space available to partner airlines. Qatar Airways is run by one of the most “passionate” people in the airline industry, and he has in no uncertain terms expressed his displeasure with some of his partner airlines.
The good news is that the former seems to be the case, and Qatar Airways awards are once again bookable using partner miles. The best place to search Qatar Airways award space is through the British Airways award search tool. When looking there, you should see a good amount of Qatar Airways award space.
As usual, Qatar Airways is pretty inconsistent when it comes to making award space available. When they do release space on their US routes, they typically make four business class seats available per flight, which is a pretty awesome opportunity to snag seats for that many.
Keep in mind that Qatar Airways serves quite a few cities in the US, and as of next year is adding more flights to Atlanta, Boston, Los Angeles, and New York.
To those of you who were waiting to book Qatar Airways award tickets but were being “blocked,” happy booking!
Lucky (or anyone)- I am finding a decent amount of reward tickets available on ba.com but when I call American to book with Advaantage miles, they don't see the same inventory. I have done some research, but no one can give me a definite explanation. Thoughts? Thanks very much!
I was only able to book in Business Class (it was Economy as well available). I could see the First Class, but it was impossible to me to book it, I called the Call Center and they couldnt do it.
Hmm, still not showing anything from PHL/BOS/JFK for most (if not all) days in July and August. There were 2+ in J available on most flights before this glitch occured, wonder if they've just pulled in inventory....?
Do you have any update? I'm still waiting for a flight!
BA rep at Flyertalk has posted it appears to be an IT bug: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/25520572-post471.html
Still not seeing an improvement, unfortunately. I've been tracking availability for PHL-DOH-BKK which was wide open less than 2 weeks ago, every single flight. Totally disappeared and not back yet.
Ok so now I'm seeing what appears to be normal availability from DOH to the US, but only up until 6/28/2015. Absolutely no availability after this date.
I can find other flights out of DOH later than this date but none that arrive in the US. Any thoughts?
Similar to some above, it looks like previously available flights are not showing up as usual (I've searched across numerous dates/times/airports). Any update on this?
Ah, Qatar!
Come for the luxury, stay for the human rights violations!
All the space is definitely NOT back yet. For flights from the US to DOH, there is normal availability. However, flights from DOH to the US are still non-existent. Anyone have any thoughts on this or see anything different? Still just a glitch or the new standard?
@Daniel
Not even close
Even with Lucky bashing QR a bit, their business class beats most others hands down
1
DOH - US flights - larger seat / bed, pajamas, service etc etc
The DOH lounge serves better champagne
2
Non US flights - India, ME, Africa -Much better seats.
EY flies crappy planes (think US domestic planes) to India and Africa
Both EK and QR...
@Daniel
Not even close
Even with Lucky bashing QR a bit, their business class beats most others hands down
1
DOH - US flights - larger seat / bed, pajamas, service etc etc
The DOH lounge serves better champagne
2
Non US flights - India, ME, Africa -Much better seats.
EY flies crappy planes (think US domestic planes) to India and Africa
Both EK and QR fly better planes there
QR flies F class only to EU on some flights but not to the US
so for F class from US, obviously EY and EK are better choices
Ben - Do you prefer QR or Etihad for business class if flying basically the same routing. Thanks.
Ben...asked a QR 777 captain yesterday on my flight to BKK why they are flying 3A380 there. He told me it's for training purposes due to the shortness of the flight. Btw..current VIP lounge staff is on hold regarding their holidays from mid of October, as they will stay in the Al Safwa afterwards...but even they dont know when it will finally open...his guess..early 2016
Still not showing ANY space out of DOH to S Africa next July......Frustrating !!