Unlocking Global Adventures: Booking Qatar Airways Trips with American Airlines Miles

If you are looking to up your luxury travel hacking game, booking Qatar Airways Qsuite is the ultimate flight to book. Qatar Airways business class Qsuite is being reviewed as one of the world's best business class seats available.  Before starting the travel points game, I had never even heard of Qatar Airways.  Qatar Airways Qsuite is a revolutionary business-class offering that has redefined luxury and comfort. Qsuite offers the flexibility to create custom seating arrangements to accommodate different travel preferences and group sizes. The center seats can be transformed into a quad configuration, perfect for families, colleagues, or friends traveling together. Alternatively, passengers can opt for individual seats with ample personal space. This 5-star airline is the first airline to offer your own private room on long-haul flights.  There is an array of additional services offered to make these award-winning journeys a wonderful option for international flights. Qatar Airways flights are quickly becoming known as the best airline for international destinations. 

Qatar Airways has its own miles reward program, however, its co-branded credit card is not offered in the United States. So how can we earn award flights for these luxury flights? Enter One World Alliance airline partnership. 

One World Airline Partnership

One World Airline Partnership has 13 partner airlines which allow you to book tickets using points from any one of the member airlines. The airlines in this partnership include:

The Oneworld alliance consists of 12 member airlines,  including:

• American Airlines

• British Airways

• Cathay Pacific

• Finnair

• Iberia

• Japan Airlines

• Malaysia Airlines

• Qantas

• Qatar Airways

• Royal Air Maroc

• Royal Jordanian

• SriLankan Airlines

So this means if you have miles with any Oneworld member airline, you can use book another One World airline awards travel on another one of the member airlines. For example, if you have American Airlines or British Airways miles you can use them to book flights on Qatar Airways. Here is where travel hacking comes into play. 

Citibank Travel Rewards Cards 

Citibank offers several different American Airlines credit cards. Remember our credit card hacking strategy to always start with the lowest level credit card in a Co-branded group first. To learn more about why you should start with the lowest level card in a cobrand group, check out our post "Essential Guide to the Perfect Starter Travel Credit Card."  By obtaining all 3 personal Citi AA cards, you can earn 160,000 American Airline points (320,000 points if using a Partner or Person 2). To learn more about using a partner for travel hacking check out our post "How Partnering Up Boosts Your Credit Card Travel Hacking Game."

Chase Travel Rewards Cards

Another option to get miles from a One World Airline partner is getting British Airlines or Iberia miles through Chase general travel cards. Chase general travel rewards have a 1:1 transfer option to transfer earned Chase points to British Airlines or Iberia Airlines. Since both of these airlines are also a part of the One World Airline Partnership they can be used for award flights among any of the 12 partner airlines. 

Chase also offers a co-branded credit card with British Airways (currently offering 75,000 sign-up bonus Avios) and Iberia Airlines (currently offering 75000 sign-up bonus Avios). The Chase Iberia credit card offers a $1,000 discount code. The British Airways card has several perks such as: 

• Earn a Travel Together Ticket every calendar year you make $30,000 in purchases on your British Airways credit card. Valid for two years when you redeem Avios for a flight on British Airways for a companion traveling on the same flight, or use it for a 50% discount on the Avios price you pay when booking a solo reward flight.
  

• Receive statement credits of $100 for Economy and Premium Economy - or $200 for Business and First Class seats - three times per year, up to $600, when you book a reward flight to London traveling on British Airways and pay taxes, fees, and carrier charges with the British Airways Visa Signature

On the British Airways card and Iberia card, you earn airline miles called Avios. You can transfer Avios to the airline partners that use Avios, including Qatar Airlines. If your desire is a luxury business seat on Qatar Airlines, it may be best to transfer your Avios to Qatar and book directly through Qatar’s website. 

Keep in mind that Chase abides by a rule called 5/24. This means that you will not be approved by Chase for a new card if you have opened 5 credit cards in a 24 month period. To learn more about the Chase 5/24 rule, check out our post "Demystifying Chase's 5/24 Rule: What You Need to Know".  With these tips and tricks,  you can earn an award ticket on a luxury international flight with Qatar Airlines.