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Thrifty Traveler Premium reported that Qatar Airways has open Business Class availability to the Maldives from airports throughout the US all the way through January 2023. Since they sent out the e-mail this morning, quite a bit of the 2022 availablilty has dried up. There is still good availability for Fall-January 2023, but book now. Flights are available out of a plethora of US cities including many smaller regional airports, but the best availability seems to be through JFK and LAX. There is quite a bit of 2+ passenger availability and it’s all bookable for 70,000 AAdvantage Miles.
The Deal
- Fly Qatar Airways Qsuites from the multiple US Airports to the Maldives (MLE) for 70,000 AAdvantage Miles one-way. Best availability is from JFK and LAX. Book on AA.com.
Quick Thoughts
Qsuites are hands-down one of the best business class products in the world. While it can be easier to find availability from the US to Doha, it’s much more uncommon to find Qatar business class all the way through to MLE. This most likely won’t last long, so book if you find dates that work for you. There is also wide-open availability at Le Meridien Maldives, which can still be booked out to the full length of the calendar (before price changes take effect on 3/29) for as low as 35,000 Marriott points per night. Get it while you can!
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How do I guarantee I get 2 seats together? (to adjoin into a bed). Expert flyer shows all the middle pair seats as “Blocked”
I found a good bit of options to Doha in biz, but zip (in biz) for the nearly 5 hr. flight from Doha to MLE. That is too long in coach for moi. It might even be worse after the 9ish hours in Q’s biz from JFK to Doha. Oh well.
Yeah, I noticed that the DOH-MLE business space got spotty very quickly.
I call BS on this. Have been looking at ORD and JFK to Maldives for weeks and there is barely anything, let alone good availability in business. Tons of coach class seats, if you enjoy 13 1/2 hours to Doha then another 4 1/2 to Male.
Indeed overhyped. There is ABSOLUTELY nothing there. You are literally in the middle of nowhere. You can find the same crystal clear waters and beaches elsewhere and would be far more accessible.
not disagreeing, but can you please share some examples of “the same crystal clear waters and beaches elsewhere that are far more accessible” from the USA?
Exumas, Bahamas.
Turks and Caicos.
Overwter Bungalows ?
Are you implying that the overwater bungalows are exclusive to the Maldives?
Any tip on how to see those flights? I am using desktop and just see economy for 80k miles, and 140k miles for business
I had the same problem. I used point.me to search and found dates that should have availability and then went back to AA.com with those dates. The 70k business fares will come up if they are available on the dates you put in, but they won’t if you are unfortunate in your date selection and pick dates with only economy available.
JFK or BOS for lounge? I remember the AF lounge in BOS being terrible.
Booked two for late January for my partner’s birthday. Thinking of staying in Male one night when we get there then head to Le Meridian. I read the sea plane departure times vary plus we will be tired so maybe one night at a local hotel will be smart. Any thoughts?
Yes, I think that’s a great idea. Staying a night in either Male or Hulhumale gives a totally different perspective (and is a lot of fun) and takes a lot of pressure off the international arrival time. Taking the ferries between the two islands is a must-do IMHO.
Overpriced, over hyped and over touristic. Went once and whilst the water was gorgeous the reefs are dying and I can go to a lot nicer places for less and will not return, I think people go so they can brag that if they paid for the air and hotel it would have cost them $xxxxx. Not a good reason to go there
ur comment about maldives being overhyped … reinforces my hesitation.
when u went, where did u stay?
can u give a few examples of nicer places?
So much for all that groupthink.
If I book via AA can I cancel the award? If so, do the miles go back to American or to Qatar?
AA miles would go back to AA. You can’t move AA miles to QR.
Watch out JFK there is an AA flight at the exact same time as the QR flight and much of the availability is the AA one.
Hi
My Advantage app does not pull up a calendar.
Any suggestions?
Thanks
Desktop
I couldn’t get the calendar to come up even on my laptop until I did one-way searches. Used this to figure out which dates had availability and then went back to do round-trip searches.
Everything I’m seeing on the AA website is economy class from DOH-MLE.
Unfortunately not an AA millionaire…did not get targeted for that SM deal. This would be a cheap vaca at the end of the day.
Not seeing these available (looking at same search you did) on BA using avios. Only econ. It should be visible there if available to AA, no?
Not always, unfortunately. AA tends to have more expansive availability. When searching BA, are you using one-way or RT searches?
always search one way (and typically book one way as well; though that may change strategically as new to Amex MRs in the last 2 years and have not used any on ANA yet)
How do the logistics work? Can I book through the AA website or do I need to call somewhere?
Book through AA