MileValue is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com. This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more.
Note: Some of the offers mentioned below may have changed or are no longer be available. You can view current offers here.
UPDATE: Qatar space is still bookable. That’s the good news. The bad news is that there will be more errors than usual online when trying to book. And if you call, many agents believe they can’t book Qatar or that they can’t book Qatar flights that depart on 9/15 or later. Hang up and call back until you get a competent agent. My clients are headed to the Seychelles on Qatar with United miles, and you can too… if you book by 9/14.
I’ve been warning everyone that the ability to book Qatar Airways with United miles would disappear Friday September 14.
The basis for that statement is this section on United’s website:
And yet, right now, Qatar already seems to be unbookable. Space is still showing on united.com, but attempts to reserve it have been unsuccessful.
Specifically reserving it through the phone-hold-trick and purchasing awards with Qatar Airways have both failed.
Twenty-fours ago, a client placed on hold a roundtrip to the Seychelles with four segments on hold. Because of a delay in an Ultimate Reward transfer, he couldn’t place his companion’s award on hold.
Today when trying to get his companion’s ticket, we’ve gotten the standard error message on united.com saying reserving the itinerary had failed and to call United. Calling United and talking to several agents revealed that none could see the Qatar space visible online.
Going back online, I was able to use the phone-hold-trick to reserve some individual segments. But going back in to look at those reservations revealed a message I’ve never seen on united.com.
Ignoring the odd error that united.com thinks QR703 lands a day later than it does, both segments are listed as “waitlisted.” That’s also how United’s agents saw the segments, though, they couldn’t explain to me how that happened.
The good news is that reservations put on hold yesterday before these “waitlistings” and errors started can be ticketed today. But new United reservations with Qatar segments do not seem bookable.
It would be outrageous if United pulled the availability six days before they said they would, so I hope this is a temporary glitch, and I await United’s response.
Just getting started in the world of points and miles? The Chase Sapphire Preferred is the best card for you to start with.
With a bonus of 60,000 points after $4,000 spend in the first 3 months, 5x points on travel booked through the Chase Travel Portal and 3x points on restaurants, streaming services, and online groceries (excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs), this card truly cannot be beat for getting started!
Editorial Disclaimer: The editorial content is not provided or commissioned by the credit card issuers. Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of the credit card issuers, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuers.
The comments section below is not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser’s responsibility to ensure all questions are answered.
Oddly I wouldnt be surprised if UA did this purposefully. Although they did update their new shares yesterday.
Was able to ticket CDG-DOH-DXB on Qatar with UA miles today afternoon. It was sincerely a pain in the butt having to call over and over until an agent would be willing to try to book it but it paid off. Confirmed….and even shows on the Qatar website with the Star Alliance reservation number you get from united. I’d suggest keep trying until you get someone who is willing to do it. One word of advice….DO NOT use to click to call feature as that leads you to the web support guys and not even once would they even attempt to book the Qatar flights….they just simply refused and said the codeshare agreement is over. I called 888-674-9552 and those guys were much more willing to help and eventually got it booked for me. Good luck!!!
can you book qatar with us airways miles?
no
Hi, I just called UA regarding a J sector for an intra-asia award booking. Space is still showing for the KUL-HKT flight online, I called, spoke to a supervisor and after a long wait, she confirmed that indeed UA will continue to book QR award flights until the 14th.
I made it all the way to the payment info screen with LHR-DOH-SEZ.
Where in the process does it fail? Seems fine so far.
Interesting. I was seeing award space on Qatar for July 2013 at united.com last night. I didn’t try to book,as I’m still checking different itineraries, so I don’t know if it would have worked.
[…] I was worried over the weekend that United had prematurely pulled Qatar space. That turned out to be a false alarm, but I have noticed that there is more phantom space being displayed on united.com for Qatar space than their usually is. […]