Jan 13, 2015, 2:43 pm

FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides

Booking Award Seats on EY / Etihad Airways Using AA / AAdvantage Miles

This thread is about "how to" book Etihad / EY award seats using AA AAdvantage miles. This wiki is new, so anyone with 90/90 who wishes to add helpful information is, of course, urged to do so.

You cannot search or book awards for travel on EY (Etihad) on www.aa.com
You can search award availability on EY's website. Look for seats on flights operated by Etihad Airways labeled as "GuestSeats".
You have to call AA to book them. You may need to request the AA agent to look up the inventory one segment at a time in order to find the inventory in their system. OR:
Your best bet is to call AA Australia (+61 2-9101-1948 ) - although the call center is actually in Suva, Fiji -as they can see the inventory reliably, and you can book (or put the EY segments on hold so you can flesh out the award afterward).
A handy EY route map is at http://flights.etihad.com/routemap
The applicable AAdvantage miles award chart is the oneworld and Other Airline Award Chart
Award routing rules are in the wikipost of this thread
It can be instructive to read about our members' successful award bookings on EY using AAdvantage miles in the Success stories of award booking on Etihad using AA miles (>= 2015) thread. [Note: posts prior to 2015 about this topic (with the exception of a few 2014 end of year posts brought forward for continuity) are archived at ARCHIVE: Success stories of award booking on Etihad using AA miles]
If you find EY inventory from your continent but not your city of choice, as usual you can include any other AAdvantage award airlines in order to complete the itinerary. E.g. LHR-xAUH-DEL-xAUH-CDG on EY connecting to CDG-LHR on BA.

How to: Use AA Miles to Book Award on Etihad / EY (Archive - 2015 and earlier)

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Oct 28, 2014, 1:51 am

#421

dannyrado

Join Date: Jan 2010

Location: N.Wales, UK

Posts: 933

Thanks. I'm on it.

Rather archaic rule considering the fastest 3 routes to Oz from MAN are Middle Eastern airlines...

Oct 29, 2014, 10:02 am

#422

ASUDan130

Join Date: May 2006

Posts: 1,913

Just read that the F Lounge in AUH is closed until April. I currently have an F ticket in a few months on the new 787 and was wondering if it makes sense to downgrade that ticket to J as the new business studio seats look really good and now that there is no F lounge. The benefits of F over J now all of a sudden don't seem worth it. What does everyone think? Does it cost money on AA to change the class of the ticket?

Oct 29, 2014, 10:17 am

#423

JonNYC

Suspended

Join Date: Mar 2001

Location: FIND ME ON TWITTER FOR THE LATEST

Posts: 27,730

Quote:

Originally Posted by ASUDan130

Stick with F-- you'll be glad you did. AUH F-lounge was really nothing special at all (in the context, of course, of the truly great F-lounges around the world) It was more like a J-lounge to me.

And, yes, it will cost $$ to downgrade the award ticket.

Oct 29, 2014, 11:36 am

#424

ASUDan130

Join Date: May 2006

Posts: 1,913

Hey Jon,

Thanks for the advice.. Well spending $$ cinches it for me to stay. However, I bet when the new F lounge opens it will be really awesome. But, yes I know EY lounges can't hold a candle to LH/TG F lounge and it seems like the new premium lounge is just a larger version of what the F lounge was but now the only difference is more people have access to it. From what I have gathered though late in the evening it gets very busy and not so much in the morning when I am travelling.

Oct 29, 2014, 11:52 am

#425

skunker

Join Date: May 2006

Location: SAN

Programs: Lots of faux metal

Posts: 6,425

The F lounge was nice, but pailed in comparison to other F lounges or even the F service in the air. For example, in the air they serve Johnnie Walker Blue but only serve Black in the F lounge.

The Cuban cigars were a nice touch though.

Nov 19, 2014, 10:51 am

#426

PresRDC

FlyerTalk Evangelist

Join Date: May 2001

Location: South Bend, IN

Programs: AA EXP 3 MM; Marriott Bonvoy Lifetime Titanium Elite

Posts: 18,562

The lounge is expected to reopen in 2015. I don't think they've set a date.

Nov 25, 2014, 4:35 am

#427

zainman

Join Date: Nov 2009

Programs: QF WP, QR GOLD, TK GOLD, EY GOLD, AF/KLM GOLD

Posts: 392

Just tried to make a reservation with the AAdvantage desk like so:

MEL-xAUH-DUB.

Even though I can see "guest seat" availability on this route on the EY website, the agent for some reason could not see it. I asked her to check just AUH to DUB and she could see it but she couldn't see MEL to AUH.

I then checked EY to see if there was availability out of SYD and there was again "guest seat" availability on the EY only this time, the agent could see it and I placed a hold on this booking.

Any idea what is going on? She quoted me the correct number of miles as I am aware that this itinerary will be charged 75k in J because it will be booked as two separate awards.

Nov 25, 2014, 5:00 am

#428

ma91pmh

Join Date: Aug 2009

Location: RDU

Programs: A few

Posts: 5,499

Hang up and call again

Nov 25, 2014, 2:12 pm

#429

zainman

Join Date: Nov 2009

Programs: QF WP, QR GOLD, TK GOLD, EY GOLD, AF/KLM GOLD

Posts: 392

Quote:

Originally Posted by ma91pmh

Hang up and call again

Tried that but it didn't work. Must have been something wrong with the EY website because it seems like the agent was right. I could see availability when I put in MEL-xAUH-DUB but when I put it in MEL-AUH, I can't see anything either!

Anyway, all is good because I've got the SYD-xAUH-DUB award on hold. Am I able to add a QF leg MEL-SYD to connect with the EY flight out of SYD? I've read online that I am able to combine non-*O partners with one world partners on the same booking. Just want to make sure I am following the rules, so the final itinerary would look like this:

MEL-xSYD-xAUH-DUB, first leg on QF and rest on EY. This should still be 75k in J one-way?

Nov 25, 2014, 2:20 pm

#430

JonNYC

Suspended

Join Date: Mar 2001

Location: FIND ME ON TWITTER FOR THE LATEST

Posts: 27,730

Quote:

Originally Posted by zainman

Actually, a quick look seems to show that the EY fares MEL-DUB may not allow use of QF for the MEL-SYD-- so you'll have to try and see.

Dec 8, 2014, 6:25 pm

#431

sporadic

Join Date: May 2006

Location: Melbourne, Australia

Posts: 350

Quote:

Originally Posted by JonNYC

Actually, a quick look seems to show that the EY fares MEL-DUB may not allow use of QF for the MEL-SYD-- so you'll have to try and see.

But he's pricing it out as 2 separate tickets: MEL-SYD-AUH and AUH-DUB. By pricing it that way there won't be a need for a MEL-DUB fare. I've done a SIN-BNE (EY)-MEL (QF) ticket before so I think that the domestic QF flights won't be a problem.

Dec 8, 2014, 6:44 pm

#432

JonNYC

Suspended

Join Date: Mar 2001

Location: FIND ME ON TWITTER FOR THE LATEST

Posts: 27,730

Quote:

Originally Posted by sporadic

Oooh, you're so right-- that "this should still be 75k in J one-way?" didn't trigger my "is that how much that is?" sensor-- now I see what ya mean!

Dec 8, 2014, 11:24 pm

#433

sporadic

Join Date: May 2006

Location: Melbourne, Australia

Posts: 350

Quote:

Originally Posted by JonNYC

Oooh, you're so right-- that "this should still be 75k in J one-way?" didn't trigger my "is that how much that is?" sensor-- now I see what ya mean!

Personally I'd go MEL/SYD-DXB on QF and then AUH-Europe on EY, especially if 2 separate tickets... QF F lounges (assuming either F ticket or OW Emerald) > EY lounges in Australia. (And I do have that routing coming up next year!!!)

Dec 20, 2014, 12:32 am

#434

Peppep

Join Date: Sep 2012

Location: Bergen, Norway

Programs: AA PLT, CC Concierge, A3*G

Posts: 291

I'm trying to figure out if I'd be able to book BGO-LHR-DUS (BA) and DUS-AUH-DEL (EY) on one award. There are published EY fares from BGO to DEL, but they all seem to price through AMS or CPH/DUS on ITA. When forcing LHR it splits into multiple fares. The only restrictions I'm able to find in the fare rules are:

Code:

Category 4: Flight restrictions
  THE FARE COMPONENT MUST NOT BE ON
      ONE OR MORE OF THE FOLLOWING
        SN FLIGHTS 4000 THROUGH 4999
        SN FLIGHTS 5000 THROUGH 5999
        SN FLIGHTS 7000 THROUGH 7999
        SN FLIGHTS 8000 THROUGH 8999
        SA FLIGHTS 7000 THROUGH 7157
        SA FLIGHTS 7162 THROUGH 7950
        SA FLIGHTS 1761 THROUGH 1768
        SA FLIGHTS 1771 THROUGH 1772
        SK FLIGHTS 3000 THROUGH 3999
        SK FLIGHTS 6100 THROUGH 6449
        SK FLIGHTS 6500 THROUGH 6549
        SK FLIGHTS 6700 THROUGH 6899
        SK FLIGHTS 8000 THROUGH 8349
        SK FLIGHTS 8400 THROUGH 8999
        SK FLIGHTS 9300 THROUGH 9999.
  AND
  IF THE FARE COMPONENT INCLUDES TRAVEL BETWEEN PAR/AMS AND
  AUH
      THEN THAT TRAVEL MUST BE ON
      ONE OR MORE OF THE FOLLOWING
        ANY EY FLIGHT OPERATED BY EY.
  AND
  IF THE FARE COMPONENT INCLUDES TRAVEL BETWEEN INDIA AND
  AUH
      THEN THAT TRAVEL MUST BE ON
      ONE OR MORE OF THE FOLLOWING
        ANY EY FLIGHT OPERATED BY EY
        ANY EY FLIGHT OPERATED BY 9W.

Am I good to go...?

Last edited by Peppep; Dec 20, 2014 at 12:47 am

Dec 20, 2014, 10:45 am

#435

skunker

Join Date: May 2006

Location: SAN

Programs: Lots of faux metal

Posts: 6,425

What's the allowed routing or MPM?