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 24, 2015, 3:38 pm
#1186
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,624
Just checked an EY booking for January and it looks fine in Etihad's manage booking on etihad.com
Dec 24, 2015, 3:44 pm
#1187
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Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: FIND ME ON TWITTER FOR THE LATEST
Posts: 27,730
Dec 24, 2015, 4:14 pm
#1188
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Hong Kong
Programs: BA Gold, DL PM, , Hilton Diamond (from being in a bed), SPG Plat, MR Plat
Posts: 922
No problems with me too. Two bookings for next year are fine. Cant select seats on AUH-LHR A380 because of a two week long 'equipment change' but thats a different matter!
Dec 24, 2015, 6:20 pm
#1189
Suspended
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: FIND ME ON TWITTER FOR THE LATEST
Posts: 27,730
Well, there was a reason, in fact. My JFK-AUH-MUC award booking-- w/ ticket # issued-- departing this weekend-- was cancelled unilaterally by AA according to EY's extremely helpful phone rep. I asked how/if/why maybe some other glitch might have occurred, but, nope-- at least according to EY-- AA cancelled it.
Been DMing AA via twitter last 24 hours and they've been assuring me all is well.
Been DMing AA via twitter last 24 hours and they've been assuring me all is well.
Dec 24, 2015, 6:59 pm
#1190
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,624
Well, there was a reason, in fact. My JFK-AUH-MUC award booking-- w/ ticket # issued-- departing this weekend-- was cancelled unilaterally by AA according to EY's extremely helpful phone rep. I asked how/if/why maybe some other glitch might have occurred, but, nope-- at least according to EY-- AA cancelled it.
Been DMing AA via twitter last 24 hours and they've been assuring me all is well.
Been DMing AA via twitter last 24 hours and they've been assuring me all is well.
Which day were you travelling? there is award availability on the 27h to AUH if issues getting it reinstated
Dec 24, 2015, 7:09 pm
#1191
Suspended
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: FIND ME ON TWITTER FOR THE LATEST
Posts: 27,730
However, a look at the PNR notes show that the entire booking was cancelled sometime after I booked it and then re-booked then ticketed immediately thereafter. EY's site constantly shows:
Cannot retrieve booking reservation
We're sorry, your booking cannot be retrieved due to any of these reasons: flights have already flown or booking is cancelled. Please call us at at 02 599 0000 from within the UAE or 00971 2 599 0000 from outside the UAE for assistance.
We're sorry, your booking cannot be retrieved due to any of these reasons: flights have already flown or booking is cancelled. Please call us at at 02 599 0000 from within the UAE or 00971 2 599 0000 from outside the UAE for assistance.
EY's phone agent seemed to take the matter very seriously and offered to call me on my cell "the second she got an answer for AA" and really, really just seemed commendably interested in the situation.
But, yes, on AA.com (and to all of AA's reps) it shows as holding confirmed.
EDIT TO ADD: EY called back and said booking is cancelled, no flights presently associated with ticket # ("no flight lines") and that they feel 90% confident AA cancelled it.
Dec 24, 2015, 7:30 pm
#1192
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: ADL
Programs: QFF, AAdvantage, All
Posts: 1,137
Just selected my seats, which I couldn't do yesterday.
Last edited by LukeO9; Dec 24, 2015 at 7:38 pm
Dec 24, 2015, 7:31 pm
#1193
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Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: FIND ME ON TWITTER FOR THE LATEST
Posts: 27,730
Dec 24, 2015, 7:53 pm
#1194
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: North America
Posts: 2,265
JonNYC ... sorry for the troubles ... hopefully it will get sorted out quickly.
Were you ever able to access your itinerary on Etihad.com? Or you never tried before this instance?
Also, maybe it's time to get the Etihad liaison involved. I know asking the US AA agents to send a message to the EY liaison is like pulling teeth ... but the Aussie desk should be able to do it.
It seems as if AA system never properly transmitted the data over to EY.
Edit: Obvious question but did you reconfirm the ticket number(s) and EY PNR with the AA agent? Maybe they got changed during the cancellation / rebooking but never reached you.
Were you ever able to access your itinerary on Etihad.com? Or you never tried before this instance?
Also, maybe it's time to get the Etihad liaison involved. I know asking the US AA agents to send a message to the EY liaison is like pulling teeth ... but the Aussie desk should be able to do it.
It seems as if AA system never properly transmitted the data over to EY.
Edit: Obvious question but did you reconfirm the ticket number(s) and EY PNR with the AA agent? Maybe they got changed during the cancellation / rebooking but never reached you.
Dec 24, 2015, 8:04 pm
#1195
Suspended
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: FIND ME ON TWITTER FOR THE LATEST
Posts: 27,730
JonNYC ... sorry for the troubles ... hopefully it will get sorted out quickly.
Were you ever able to access your itinerary on Etihad.com? Or you never tried before this instance?
Also, maybe it's time to get the Etihad liaison involved. I know asking the US AA agents to send a message to the EY liaison is like pulling teeth ... but the Aussie desk should be able to do it.
It seems as if AA system never properly transmitted the data over to EY.
Were you ever able to access your itinerary on Etihad.com? Or you never tried before this instance?
Also, maybe it's time to get the Etihad liaison involved. I know asking the US AA agents to send a message to the EY liaison is like pulling teeth ... but the Aussie desk should be able to do it.
It seems as if AA system never properly transmitted the data over to EY.
The expression "no flight lines" (associated with ticket #) keeps coming up-- and indeed the PNR entry is devoid of any flights on EY.com, etc., etc.
If anyone's morbidly curious to follow this strange sojourn, I've tweeted AA begging for their assistance/involvement:
https://twitter.com/xJonNYC/status/680194977629077504
Dec 24, 2015, 8:08 pm
#1196
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: ADL
Programs: QFF, AAdvantage, All
Posts: 1,137
If I'm flying EY20 in F, then transfer to a connecting flight in J the next day (12hr layover, leaving the airport), do I get first lounge access for the connecting flight the following day?
I know with one world airlines you don't get business lounge access if the next leg, the next day (even if within 24 hrs) is in economy, even though its an economy only flight on a J ticket.
I know with one world airlines you don't get business lounge access if the next leg, the next day (even if within 24 hrs) is in economy, even though its an economy only flight on a J ticket.
Dec 24, 2015, 8:13 pm
#1197
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: North America
Posts: 2,265
Was never able to pull it up, but, too, never tried until a few hours after ticket issued. All AA phone contacts so far have been amazing (AA Twitter gave up the second it got complicated) and they are cueing it over to EY liaison, but, of course, an awfully tough time period to get anything done. They made me call back EY to have them search by ticket # before cueing it over (makes sense) and I do feel somewhat confident that it'll be cueing over shortly.
The expression "no flight lines" (associated with ticket #) keeps coming up-- and indeed the PNR entry is devoid of any flights on EY.com, etc., etc.
If anyone's morbidly curious to follow this strange sojourn, I've tweeted AA begging for their assistance/involvement:
https://twitter.com/xJonNYC/status/680194977629077504
The expression "no flight lines" (associated with ticket #) keeps coming up-- and indeed the PNR entry is devoid of any flights on EY.com, etc., etc.
If anyone's morbidly curious to follow this strange sojourn, I've tweeted AA begging for their assistance/involvement:
https://twitter.com/xJonNYC/status/680194977629077504
Is there anyway to convince AA's ticketing department to cancel and reissue the award for (re)ticketing? That might solve this debacle. The Aussie desk might be more helpful with this request vs the US desk
The Twitter team is great for simpler requests (seat/meal selection, praise/complaint, looking up info) but anything remotely serious and they will back down and defer you to contact AA directly. I don't think they have too much authority.
Dec 24, 2015, 8:17 pm
#1198
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: ADL
Programs: QFF, AAdvantage, All
Posts: 1,137
Dec 24, 2015, 8:26 pm
#1200
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: North America
Posts: 2,265
What if JonNYC forces a reticketing by changing to a different flight for the AUH>MUC leg? There are two flights a day (2am and 9am) ... business class award space is aplenty, if JonNYC is OK with a downgrade on AUH>MUC (I'm assuming he's in F).