Jan 13, 2015, 2:43 pm
Last edit by: SingaporeDon
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)
Dec 2, 2015, 7:09 pm
#1021
Join Date: May 2007
Location: ORD
Programs: UA 1K / Bonvoy Gold
Posts: 10
I called AA in the U.S. today with several QR and EY itineraries. Spoke with what seemed to be a very knowledgable and capable agent. She confirmed exact matches of award availability on QR that matched what I found on ba.com; some of the same itineraries were "not available" when I called a different agent yesterday (I added some new ones to the mix today). In both cases none of the EY flights were available. Used all of your advice and called Australia - all of the EY flights showed available as well as the QR (i didn't test all of the QR ones).
Thanks for the helpful advice!!!
Thanks for the helpful advice!!!
Dec 2, 2015, 7:43 pm
#1022
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Chicago & AUH
Programs: AA PLT Pro, EY Gold, Hilton Gold, Marriott Gold, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 172
Just got of the phone with AA Australia - they were able to book me two biz tickets YYZ/AUH/ORD. Multiple agents in the states said no availability despite Etihads website telling me otherwise. Thanks for the suggestion!
Dec 2, 2015, 8:08 pm
#1023
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: BOS
Programs: AA Plat
Posts: 302
Just had an interesting experience... looking for MLE-AUH-KUL, and found two Y in MLE-AUH, and 2 J/F in AUH-KUL according to Etihads website. Called Australia first and they can only see AUH-KUL availability. I grabbed two seats there, then called US line to see if they can at least see economy seats MLE-AUH. To my surprise, the agent was able to find 2 seats in J and booked us on that. Definitely inconsistency even with the Etihads website (in a good way that seats are available but not visible there).
Dec 3, 2015, 9:58 pm
#1024
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: DEN
Programs: Free checked in bag on UA & DL. Free icecream at Marriott checkin.
Posts: 2,862
Called US ExecPlat desk multiple times today and they could not "see" EY availability. Then called Australia as recommended and got it first call.
I have also updated the WIKI with the right AA AU number +61 2-9101-1948. The previous one was AMEX AU.
I have also updated the WIKI with the right AA AU number +61 2-9101-1948. The previous one was AMEX AU.
Dec 4, 2015, 8:22 am
#1025
Join Date: Jul 2013
Programs: AA EP, Delta Diamond, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 79
Does anybody know the exact time of day that Etihad updates its award availability? Looking to make a last minute booking so would be good to know!
Dec 4, 2015, 8:44 am
#1026
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: YYZ
Posts: 1,666
For instance, I cancelled a DUS-AUH segment, and that re-appeared online instantly (the cabin was empty otherwise.) Whereas when I had to let go of a AUH-SYD segment, it never reappeared under the "Guest" category.
I found LHR-AUH availability at 12pm CET, when that availability was not there an hour earlier (there was also no movement in the revenue buckets, which lead me to believe it wasn't someone cancelling an award, but EY releasing additional availability.)
Dec 5, 2015, 11:37 am
#1027
Join Date: Jul 2015
Posts: 272
I just call AA Australia to hold a ticket for me and my girlfriend for LHR-AUH-MLE, and the agent told me for 2 ticket in First class will be $500 in fee? is this sound right? why it it so expensive is there any way around this? anyone know plz chime in thanks!
Dec 5, 2015, 11:40 am
#1028
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: YYZ
Posts: 1,666
Air Passenger Duty when departing ex-UK. Only way around it is to fly from another port, as it doesn't apply when connecting in the UK.
Dec 5, 2015, 12:16 pm
#1029
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,624
United Kingdom Air Passengers Duty (GB) A$290.90
United Kingdom Passenger Service Charge (UB) A$86.20
$377.10 ( approx GBP 183.210 or USD 276 )
The only way round this is to not start the Journey from London
Dec 5, 2015, 2:24 pm
#1030
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 68
Yes. A week ago or so on the JFK-AUH route Etihad was still releasing a bunch of F guest seats last minute, usually at least 2 or 3 days before the flight date. Now they're not even releasing the open F seats on the day of the flight. This seemed to happen right around the time several bloggers made posts explaining that you could still find award space close in.
Dec 5, 2015, 2:34 pm
#1031
Join Date: Mar 2010
Programs: AA EXP, AA LT Gold, SPG Plat 75
Posts: 890
Yes. A week ago or so on the JFK-AUH route Etihad was still releasing a bunch of F guest seats last minute, usually at least 2 or 3 days before the flight date. Now they're not even releasing the open F seats on the day of the flight. This seemed to happen right around the time several bloggers made posts explaining that you could still find award space close in.
Dec 5, 2015, 2:49 pm
#1032
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: DCA/IAD/WAS
Programs: MAR AMB, WOH Explorist, AA EXP, UA 2P
Posts: 2,138
Dec 5, 2015, 2:55 pm
#1033
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,624
How are bloggers any better or worse than FT for giving out information
Dec 5, 2015, 3:55 pm
#1034
Suspended
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: FIND ME ON TWITTER FOR THE LATEST
Posts: 27,730
Dec 5, 2015, 4:50 pm
#1035
Join Date: May 2004
Location: San Francisco, CA
Programs: AA EXP 1MM, UA 1K, Marriott/SPG Platinum Elite
Posts: 774
Premium Stopover
Has anybody had success booking the free "premium stopover" hotel on an AA award?
http://www.etihad.com/en/plan-and-bo...ium-stopovers/
I can't seem to find any restrictions about using a mileage ticket or booking through another airline, but I'd love to hear if anybody has done this successfully?
http://www.etihad.com/en/plan-and-bo...ium-stopovers/
I can't seem to find any restrictions about using a mileage ticket or booking through another airline, but I'd love to hear if anybody has done this successfully?