Mentioned this in the etihaad guest forum....
I am debating on flying down to the Seychelles on the tail end of my trip, spending a few days there and booking a business award SEZ-AUH-JFK and just abandoning the return portion of the mistake fare. There is availability on my dates for that trip and if it's going to cost me 70k miles to upgrade I'd rather see Seychelles and come back in comfort with miles I can easily replenish with normal domestic travel and spend.
I'm going to call in tomorrow and place it on hold while I mull it over.... It's seeing the Seychelles and coming back in comfort versus the 70k miles....