And now the silver lining: I just booked another segment, this time Flagship First Class (AA's latest 3-cabin transcon redesign atop the A321). Taxes were the same as the economy flight mentioned above: 80 AED.
Remember, Etihad still uses the old pre-2016 AA award chart. In theory, this means 32.5K Etihad miles for P-class tix within North America. My agent misread the chart and only charged 25K -- not the first time Etihad has created a "bank error in my favor", either
Compare that to 50K + $80.60 (close in booking fee) via AA directly. There's still serious value in this program, folks!
edit to add: availability seen by EY was identical to MileSAAver First shown on aa.com. Those seats were NOT visible on BA or Qantas.