Qatar Q-Suites offer majestic business class cabins which points & miles enthusiasts dream of traveling on long-haul flights. Q-Suites are hard to come by, but they are sometimes available when you look 360 days ahead of time.
I recently booked an outbound JAL flight to travel to Asia (https://awardcracker.com/award-booking-jal-premium-cabins-with-points/). I booked the JAL flight to first go to Tokyo and am planning to extend the trip to visit Nepal (https://awardcracker.com/nepal-trip-with-miles-points/). I was able to find the Q-Suite award space for the inbound flight to US from Nepal (see image below).
Q-Suites booking for two costed us 170K Qatar Avios and <$500 taxes.
We were able to choose the center Q-Suites to be able to sit close to each other.
Q- Suites double bed set up is probably the next best to the Singapore First Class Suites.
Can you get award alerts from paid programs for the Q-Suites?
None of the paid award travel search engines (e.g., seats.aero, pointsyeah.com) are able to get you alerts 360 days ahead of time since they depend on AA or Alaska for the Oneworld award space. I recommend searching manually, if you are looking to book premium cabins on JAL (on Asia Miles), Qatar or Iberia 360 days ahead of time.
Is Q-Suite award space always available 360 days ahead of time?
Q-Suite award space is not guaranteed compared to JAL business class space on Asia Miles webpage. However, you will get lucky from time to time when you keep looking for award space in both directions of your travel dates.
For example, I searched today (2/24/24) for the Q-Suites award space between Kathmandu and Nairobi to JFK, and award space is available (for 2) to book 360 days ahead of time (see images below).
Is it a good deal to book Q-Suites with Qatar Avios?
Qatar Avios booking costs a little more in taxes compared to AA miles, but you will get to confirm the booking up to a year in advance and able to grab seats on a weekend instead of the middle of week.
Summary
If you have a good stash of transferable credit card points (Amex, Chase, Citi or Capital One), they all can be moved directly or indirectly to Qatar Airways (https://awardcracker.com/master-your-avios-redemption-skills/) to complete the booking of award winning Q-Suites for a memorable trip. I recommend looking into both directions of travel for Q-Suite availability, since award space is sometimes only available for inbound flights. Qatar Avios trip cancellation and redeposit fees are only $25 and one should take advantage of it to plan travel a year in advance.