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Old May 10, 2018, 6:23 am
  #18  
eggzlot
 
Join Date: Oct 2014
Programs: IHG AMB/Spire, Hilton Diamond, SPG Gold
Posts: 204
UPDATE: So I was able to book 2 business class seats for February last night. The first time I called I could tell the call center was likely in India. I know the blogs suggest calling the Manchester call center, but I did not feel like paying for the international call just to "feel things out". This time around I still called the toll free US 800 # but based on the accent of the phone operator, fairly sure it could have been the Manchester office. The big difference, once I requested the ticket, she immediately asked me for my Etihad Membership #, reconfirmed my name/birthday and then asked for my traveling partner's full name so she can start the reservation process. The first person I called a few nights ago just said "let me check" when I asked about availability but never asked me for my full name, my Etihad membership #, etc.

She was able to pull up 2 seats on the exact dates I wanted from the start. She did mention AMEX points do transfer ASAP (though they have to legally say it could take up to 48 hours) but she did say Citi bank usually takes at least 10 days from her experience. I asked about the availability of these seats and she was fairly frank - my outbound flight she said looked "wide open" but my return trip she said looked fairly tight. She said I cannot make suggestions on what to do with my points - when I asked for her experience, she said in the last ~2 weeks she has made 4-5 bookings on Royal Air Maroc and only 1 was executed with the exact times/dates, the other few bookings had to slightly alter dates, do a connection, etc.

Risk v reward, I just transferred my AMEX points on the spot, got the tix...Now I'll have to figure out how to blow those Citibank Thankyou points. The long transfer times and some more obscure partners make it a fairly tough program (but that is for another forum on here!)
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