Hello and greetings from Chicago! I’m back home after a week of flying to and from Vietnam during my incredible 2017 Qatar Airways Mileage Run. During that time I took several Qatar Airways flights and credited each of them to American Airlines’ AAdvantage frequent flyer program.
It’s always quite nerve-racking when waiting for partner flights to post to AAdvantage. For starters I’m often not even sure how many miles I’ll earn. I usually have a rough estimate in my head, but until I see the miles actually post to my account I’m never 100% sure. This is especially important near the end of the year as I begin to think about last-minute mileage runs to push me into the next highest level of elite status.
Crediting Qatar Airways Flights To The AAdvantage Program
Qatar Airways is currently a OneWorld Alliance partner airline. This means you’re able to credit Qatar Airways flights to any OneWorld partner’s frequent flyer program. Today, I’ll focus on crediting Qatar Airways flights to the AAdvantage frequent flyer program. Just keep in mind this option is available for other OneWorld programs as well.
When crediting Qatar Airways flights to AAdvantage you’ll earn Elite Qualifying Miles (EQM), Elite Qualifying Dollars (EQD), Elite Qualifying Segments (EQS), and award miles based on the fare class purchased and miles flown. To keep it straight, American maintains published earning rates with partner airlines. You’ll find the chart for Qatar Airways below. It’s important to check these charts regularly has they are subject to immediate changes at the airline’s discretion.
As you can see, you’ll earn the most EQD, EQM and award miles by purchasing premium fare classes from Qatar Airways. When you purchase discount economy tickets you’ll earn very little elite or award miles. That last bit of information is especially important. Since you can credit Qatar flights to any OneWorld partner, it may be a better idea to credit deep discount economy flights to an airline other than American.
Adding Your AAdvantage Account Number To Your Reservation
Once you decide on a flight that you’d like to credit to AAdvantage you need to make sure to add your account number to your reservation. Adding your AAdvantage number also helps unlock any benefits you receive from your OneWorld Elite Status.
Keep in mind, if you don’t add your AAdvantage account number to your reservation that you can still request a mileage accrual later on. If you choose this method you won’t receive you’re OneWorld elite benefits while flying with Qatar Airways. You’ll also need to retain your E-Ticket number to request a mileage accrual later on.
How Many Days Do Miles Take To Post?
Usually it takes up to a few days for partner airline flights to post to your American AAdvantage account. According to AAdvantage, flights may take up to 14 days to post! Luckily with Qatar Airways the process often takes just a few hours.
During my recent mileage run, my initial flight took just under two days to post to my account. After that, each flight posted within hours of departing which occasionally occurred prior to us landing at our destination. Since I kept a close eye on my mileage earning rates during my trip, this helped me keep everything straight and allow me to figure out if I still needed to take a flight or two to top off my account at year-end.
Final Thoughts
I’m really impressed by how quickly Qatar Airways flights posted to my American Airlines AAdvantage account. From prior experience with British Airways, posting usually took just over two days. Whiles this isn’t a huge inconvenience, I always wished it happened sooner.
Qatar Airways makes that wish a reality and often posts miles within 10-15 hours of your actual departure time. I was shocked when I saw my flight from Doha to Chicago (14 hours) post before we even landed in Chicago. However, it was quite confusing since I wrongfully assumed I earned extra EQD from a previous connecting flight.
