There is a lot of Business Class availability to destinations across the Middle East, Asia and Africa from a number of US airports between May and June of next year. It tends to sell out fast when availability drops on these routes, especially to high-demand redemption destinations.
Most of the non-stops to DOH are from East-Coast cities with a few flights from Chicago as well. If you don't mind a 2-stop trip with a positioning flight to one of the East Coast gateways, there are many other options. For the first time, AA has domestic first class availability on those connecting flights.
I was able to find 2-stop itineraries from many smaller, regional airports on the east coast.
It is bookable for 70, 000 AAdvantage miles. I was able to find good options in India. It seems that a large part of the route map is fair game.
Qsuites aren’t a bad way to travel halfway around the world.
Fly Qatar Airways Qsuites from the multiple US Airports to the Middle East, India and Southern Asia (including the Maldives) for 70,000 AAdvantage Miles one-way from May to the end of the booking window in June (May has the most dates). Fly to Africa for 75,000 AAdvantage Miles.
Best one-stop availability is from IAD, BOS, PHL, JFK and ORD.
Spotty one-stop and decent two-stop availability from ORD, ATL, MIA, IAH, DFW, SEA, LAX and SFO as well as many regional airports.
Availability from JFK to Cape Town next May
Dates can be found on the AA and Alaska monthly calendars.
AAdvantage – Business class is 70,000 miles each way (use portal+aa.com) to the Middle East, India and Southern Asia; 75,000 to Africa.
Avios (Qatar/BA) – Business class is 70,000 Avios from the East Coast to Doha, 85,000 if going beyond to India, Africa or the Maldives (use portal+britishairways.com or qatarairways.com). American Express, Chase and Capital One are all British Airways, while Citi transfers to Qatar Airways. Through end of this month there’s actually a 30% transfer bonus from Chase to British Airways. Avios can be transferred from BA to Qatar, but it can be a bit of a process to set up initially (see how here).
Alaska Air – Business is 85,000 miles each way (use portal+alaskaair.com) – NOTE: Unusually, Alaska seemed to not have quite the availability that AA had on the dates that I compared.
Good availability from Dulles to the MaldivesAnd it’s actually in Business all the way!
Quick Thoughts
One of the best products in the world is Qsuites. They have a self-contained suite that is more like a first class cabin. It is almost always the DOH-MLE leg that is the first to go, so if you find a date that works for you, book it.
