American Eagle Awards with Qatar Airways

Qatar Airways Privilege Club had become one of the cheapest options for booking American Airlines awards after British Airways killed that off for good. But then Qatar Airways had its own devaluation, which, while not as bad as British's, still stinks. There can still be some value with a good transfer bonus in place, though. As travelers flocked to Qatar Airways after the BA devaluation, many were puzzled by an odd quirk of Qatar's search engine. Qatar doesn't show award availability on certain flights even though multiple other partners like BA, Qantas, and Alaska show those flights on their websites. Ultimately, it mostly boils down to whether you're trying to book American Eagle awards with Qatar Airways.

Qatar's search engine doesn't show American Eagle flights

Bizarrely, Qatar Privilege Club does not show regional flights operated by American Eagle, which is the brand name of American's various regional affiliates. Multiple phone and chat representatives claim that members cannot redeem Qatar Avios for “codeshare flights.” But it turns out this isn't really the case.

For starters, these aren't really codeshare flights. American Eagle is the brand name encompassing six regional airlines, three of which are wholly-owned subsidiaries of American. American is fully in control of American Eagle operations and isn't just slapping their name and flight number onto a completely different airline's flights. Indeed, American doesn't even distinguish between its own flights and American Eagle flights on its own website! At least not in a meaningful way that affects consumers.

The case here is that Qatar's search engine simply does not show American Eagle flights. Qatar's app returns one of two messages when you search for an award on their app and the only flights available are American Eagle ones. The error message varies between a standard message that no flights were found:

… and a more cryptic message that doesn't really make much sense.

Workaround: Call Qatar to book American Eagle awards with Qatar Airways

Despite what some Qatar reps may say, you can actually book American Eagle awards over the phone by calling Qatar Airways. If an agent tells you they cannot do that, hang up and call again. The quality and competence of phone reps varies widely.

Folks have also had success by filling out the redemption request form on Qatar's website. Responses to that form take much longer than a phone call, so I would opt for calling instead.

You can search for saver award availability on American Eagle via Alaska, British Airways, or Qantas. Once you find your flight, you can call Qatar Airways to book.

Qatar's search engine ignores a lot of US airports

Another odd issue is that Qatar's website and app don't recognize a lot of US airports. This would make sense if these airports are only served by American Eagle flights, but that's not the case.

For example, American Airlines (not American Eagle) offers non-stop service from Albany, NY (ALB) to Charlotte and Chicago O'Hare, but you can't search for awards into or out of Albany with Qatar. The search engine simply doesn't recognize an airport with that name or code.

This issue appears to be separate from the American Eagle one, but is just as puzzling. There is little rhyme or reason as to which airports make the cut. Plenty of airports that are not serviced directly by Qatar Airways still show up, so this is not the determining factor. Otherwise, we would be limited to only a handful of airports.

Fortunately, the same workaround exists. Travelers can call Qatar Airways to book these flights once they find award availability with another partner.

American Eagle Awards with Qatar Airways: ToP Thoughts

Qatar Airways Privilege Club is a cheaper alternative to British Airways for booking American Airlines awards with Avios, despite some significant drawbacks. Qatar's inability to show award availability for American Eagle flights quite puzzling, but at least the flights are bookable over the phone.