As you may know if you read United's announcement or saw our update to Best Qatar Awards Bookable with United Miles, United announced on June 1, 2012 that its partnership with Qatar would end September 15, 2012:
“Customers will be able to accrue mileage on Qatar Airways codeshare and interline flights until September 14, 2012. Award travel ticketed on or before September 14, 2012, will be honored as ticketed and valid for one year.”
That pretty clearly implies you can in fact book award travel on Qatar on or before September 14, 2012, using United miles, but you could be excused for thinking you're going crazy if you've been calling United recently to try to book a Qatar award. Here are some of the responses from United call center agents that I and others have gotten:
“There's no availability.”
[Even though there's Qatar award availability for all your flights visible on United's Web site, you just need to call to build in a stopover”]
“Qatar tickets had to be booked by June 6.”
[Hmm–and what about the United announcement?]
“Qatar is no longer a partner after June 15, can no longer book travel on them”
[Ditto–we're talking booking award travel, not a codeshare]
“Qatar has left the Star Alliance, can't book awards on it”
[Umm, Qatar was never part of the Star Alliance–it was a non-alliance partner of United!]
“Qatar awards ticketed after June 7 are being cancelled by Qatar within 48 hours”
[Seriously? Pretty desperate way to try to protect the bottom line]
And most damningly:
“Sorry, we've been told not to ticket flights on Qatar” [gaijinjapan, FlyerTalk]
[Ok, candor appreciated–confirms what we've been suspecting]
So you see where this is going, and I thought a quick FAQ on booking Qatar to the Maldives with United Miles Before It's Too Late might be in order in case you're still thinking of flying Qatar to the Maldives or elsewhere:
So can I still use United miles to book Qatar to the Maldives or not?
Yes, you can book online at United.com. Don't assume you can call United to book the same Qatar flights you see online, however (see above).
How much will a business class award on Qatar from the U.S. to the Maldives be?
60,000 United miles each way, 120,000 round trip. Taxes and fees for the roundtrip will be ~$33 for JFK-DOH-MLE-DOH-JFK. If you only book the outbound, for example, JFK-DOH-MLE, taxes are just $3:
I need more United miles; how long does it take for Ultimate Rewards transfers to appear?
Transfers are fast, but may not appear instantly; in my case it took about 30 minutes before I could see it reflected in my United account.
I want to build in a stopover on a Qatar award–how do I get it ticketed?
Here's the problem: United call center agents have apparently been instructed not to book ANY Qatar awards, even though Qatar awards ARE still bookable online. You should think twice about how much time you're willing to spend calling, being told no, hanging up, calling again, waiting on hold, etc.
One tactic that has worked for some is to book all Qatar segments as separate one ways, then getting MileagePlus to refund you the excess miles you used to book what is really a roundtrip ticket with a stopover. This assumes you have the extra miles in your account to book all the individual segments.
See this quote from Ericka, on FT:
“We finally got the 90,000 miles refunded for our patched together QR roundtrip ticket (two one-ways with stopover). 1k voice opened a ticket number but it was ultimately follow up calls to MP and reservations that got the miles put back in our account….immediately.”
I want to have Qatar segments as part of a more complex trip–how do I get it ticketed?
Unfortunately the same problem rears its head: good luck getting a United agent to ticket this. Instead, you might try by first booking the Qatar flights online, then calling United and adding the other legs that you need on other airlines.
See this quote from kmfdm91 on FT:
“Why was I so easily able to ticket [an itinerary of Qatar, Qatar, Lufthansa, Lufthansa), but not (an itinerary of South African Airways, Qatar, Qatar). In my past (with Continental) I had difficulty booking anything with SA flights, so I figured it might be the same.
Sure enough, online the Qatar only flights confirmed and to my surprise, TICKETED. My wife called up a few minutes later and added the South African Airways flight to the beginning of the ticket and they collected the extra taxes, and we are all set.”
Ok, I got myself to the Maldives on Qatar, but I'm running low on United miles. How do I get back?
Simple, just stay in the Maldives–why are you in a hurry to come back anyway? 🙂 Actually, this is where American AAdvantage miles can be put to great use. I'd recommend flying Etihad via Abu Dhabi, e.g. MLE-AUH-JFK and going for first class (90,000 United miles) even though the MLE-AUH leg will be in business as there's no first class on that segment. And take advantage of Etihad's chauffeur service to get a nice ride home from JFK or whichever city you fly into. Etihad's U.S. gateways are New York JFK, Chicago, and Washington DC.
Alternatively, if you don't mind paying for Male-Colombo and a longer routing, you could fly Male-Colombo, then Cathay Pacific: Colombo-Singapore-Hong Kong-NYC (or other destination Cathay serves). You could fly business class on Cathay Colombo-Hong Kong, and first class Hong Kong-NYC, for 67,500 AA miles, though there's still the cost of the Male-Colombo segment, ~$230 on SriLankan or as low as $173 on China Eastern.
Or, you could earn more United miles with these cards; I earned many of the miles we'll be using to go to the Maldives with the Ink Bold 50,000 sign-up bonus and the 5x office supply store category bonus:
Apply: Ink Bold Business Card – 50,000 points transfer 1:1 to United
Apply: Ink Plus Business Card – 50,000 points transfer 1:1 to United
Apply: Sapphire Preferred
Related posts
Best Qatar Awards Bookable with United Miles
Tips for Booking Award Tickets to the Maldives
Use American Airlines AAdvantage Miles for Etihad First Class
How to Find Star Alliance Award Seats
Best Park Hyatt to Stay 2 Free Nights with the Hyatt Visa
Check out and apply for the Best Travel Credit Cards.
If you enjoyed this, please follow TravelSort on Twitter or like us on Facebook to be alerted to new posts.
Become a Member to find your perfect luxury or boutique hotel at up to 50% off: TravelSort Hotels