Qatar to Upgrade Its Flights to Miami — but Only for a Month
Like its fellow Oneworld alliance member — and frenemy — American Airlines, Qatar has a widely varying business class hard product. On the lower end, American Airlines has its 767s and Qatar has its pre-Qsuites 777. On the other end of the spectrum are American Airlines' excellent 777-300ER and 787-9s seats and Qatar's A350s and 787s.
US-based travelers currently only have three gateways at which they can experience (one of) Qatar's best business-class products: New York (JFK), Philadelphia (PHL) and Boston (BOS) to Doha (DOH). Each of these utilize Qatar's A350 which sports a 1-2-1 configuration in business class and is fitted with Wi-Fi. On its other US routes, Qatar operates a 2-2-2 arranged Boeing 777 without Wi-Fi. While the service and food are going to be great on either plane, there's no doubt that the A350 provides a better business class experience.
Well, here's some good news for Miami-based travelers. As reported by One Mile At a Time, Qatar's nonstop between MIA and DOH is getting upgraded from a 777 to an A350... but only for one month. As reported by Routes Online, the change from a Boeing 777-300ER to an Airbus A350-900XWB will be effective from September 1-30.
These changes aren't showing up yet in Google Flights or ITA Matrix — both sites still show the 777 operating this flight. However, when I searched these flights on Qatar's website, the A350 is listed as the aircraft type.
If you're not booked on this route yet, this is an excellent opportunity to check out Qatar's excellent business-class product. You'll get almost 14 hours of top-notch service from MIA to DOH and 15.5 hours on the return. And, Qatar has availability on this route for many dates in September, as you can find on British Airways' website:
But, don't use British Airways to actually book these flights — it'll cost you 300,000 Avios and $546 round-trip to book. Instead, you can book this route for 70,000 AAdvantage miles plus $5.60 of taxes one-way. Just remember that you're now limited to just three connecting flights before or after the transatlantic flight. Also, if you're originating in MIA and flying a round-trip, you can take advantage of Japan Airlines' award chart for a 100,000-mile business class round-trip on Qatar.
