The best use of American Airlines AAdvantage miles is when you redeem them on world-class partner airlines like Cathay Pacific, Etihad Airways, JAL, Qatar Airways, Qantas, and a few others. Redeeming AA miles for AA flights is kind of a waste given the fact that U.S. airlines generally suck.. especially in the premium cabins. Thankfully with AA’s oneworld membership and their other airline partners, AAdvantage miles are worth more than Alaska, Delta, and United miles (and AA still publishes an award chart for partner flights). One of the best redemptions that’s currently possible is the ability to fly Qatar Airways Qsuites using AA miles for a phenomenal cost.
What is the Qatar Airways Qsuite?
The Qatar Airways Qsuite is the airline’s flagship Business Class product available on select aircraft, most of which operate long-haul flights. For ticketing purposes, this is considered Business Class… however, the product is an amazing flying experience: your own suite with a fully lie-flat bed, a door, etc. There are even select Qsuite seats which can be connected together to form a larger suite if you are traveling with someone.
Qatar Airways Qsuites aren’t found on all of their aircraft, rather only on:
- all Airbus A350-100s
- select Airbus A350-900s
- select Boeing 777-200LRs
- select Boeing 777-300ERs
Qatar also operates Airbus A330s and A380s and Boeing 787s – none of those feature Qsuites.
Qatar Airways does frequently change equipment last minute – meaning that you have to check the seat map for your flight frequently to avoid any disappointment if your aircraft is changed last minute. Technically no route is guaranteed to have Qsuites, but Qatar does publish a list of destinations that it frequently operates aircraft with Qsuites to.
one of the best ways to redeem AAdvantage miles is on Qatar Airways
How Do You Find a Route With Qsuites?
Again, this isn’t 100% guaranteed since Qatar Airways frequently swaps aircraft. The easiest way to check if your desired route has Qsuites is to pull up Google Flights, select Business Class, and then search for your desired flight. In the details of the flight, it will say either “individual suite” if the aircraft has Qsuites, or “lie-flat seat” if it does not.
How Do You Find Award Availability?
The best way to search for Qatar Airways award availability is to search for the nonstop route either on American Airlines or British Airways websites – you can use other oneworld partners as well to check for availability. Qatar Airways may offer more award space to their own members.
For example, if you are wanting to fly from Phoenix to Los Angeles to Doha, search for LAX-DOH nonstop first to find the availability.
When you find award availability, sometimes you may need to call American Airlines to book as not all Qatar Airways award space shows up online.
How Many AAdvantage Miles do Qsuites Cost?
Qatar Airways is based in Doha, Qatar, which is the “Middle East” region on the AAdvantage award chart.
Looking at American Airlines’ oneworld and other airline partners award chart, the cost of a one-way Business Class ticket is:
- Middle East to/from US48/Canada: 70k miles
- Middle East to/from Alaska: 75k miles
- Middle East to/from Hawaii: 92.5k miles
- Middle East to/from Caribbean/Mexico/Central America/South Pacific: 80k miles
- Middle East to/from South America 1: 87.5k miles
- Middle East to/from South America 2: 90k miles
- Middle East to/from Europe: 42.5k miles
- Middle East to/from Middle East/Indian Subcontinent: 30k miles
- Middle East to/from Africa: 55k miles
- Middle East to/from Asia 1/Asia 2: 40k miles
However, keep in mind you can simply connect in Doha, so you could fly North America – Doha – Africa, or Europe – Doha – Asia. You would need to check the AAward chart for the price depending on what region you start in and end in. Keep in mind AAdvantage has quite a few routing rules that must be followed otherwise your award will price as two and you will pay more miles.
AAdvantage Routing Rules
American Airlines has several rules regarding transiting en route to your final destination on award tickets.
- You must fly the most direct routing, but are allowed reasonable connections and routing within Maximum Permitted Mileage
- so you can fly Seattle – New York – London, but obviously can’t fly New York – Seattle – London
- You cannot transit via a third region, with some exceptions
- the first region is your region of departure
- the second region is your region of arrival
- the third region would be a transit region, only if allowed
All in All
The best way to redeem American Airlines AAdvantage miles is for travel in the premium cabins on their incredible partner airlines. Award availability can be hard to find in some cases, but generally speaking, Qatar Airways does a good job at releasing premium cabin space – you just have to keep your eye out for it. Some routes will have more award space than others and there are routes that may even have award space for the whole family.
Remember that American Airlines no longer charges change or cancellation fees for awards, so you can lock in and change an award as many times as you want – just remember that if your award includes a flight on American Airlines, changes are not allowed and you have to make a brand new booking.