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 30, 2015, 7:43 am
#1216
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Essex
Programs: BAEC, Amex, SPG Gold, VA Red, HHonours Gold
Posts: 116
Dec 30, 2015, 7:44 am
#1217
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: YVR
Programs: AC: E50K, AP: dDiamond
Posts: 963
As a datapoint, I was attempting to book BOM-AUH-JFK-YVR on EY-EY-CX in F and the American AA rep could not see a single leg, including the CX piece and was adamant there was no space. Australia made the reservation no problem and put it on hold as they said it needed to be manually approved and to call back in 24 hours to ticket and pay which I have not yet done.
Mark
Mark
Dec 30, 2015, 10:00 am
#1218
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 11
Trying to book CDG-AUH-MLE and see 2 GuestSeat Business available on Ethiad's site. When calling the agents can only see 1 available?
Any ideas/tips to help me make them see the 2?
The agents say that they cannot see any I availability (which matches to expertflyer as well) but it's strange that Ethiad is showing guest seats with miles then?
Any ideas/tips to help me make them see the 2?
The agents say that they cannot see any I availability (which matches to expertflyer as well) but it's strange that Ethiad is showing guest seats with miles then?
Last edited by econoar; Dec 30, 2015 at 10:15 am
Dec 30, 2015, 10:36 am
#1219
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Essex
Programs: BAEC, Amex, SPG Gold, VA Red, HHonours Gold
Posts: 116
Trying to book CDG-AUH-MLE and see 2 GuestSeat Business available on Ethiad's site. When calling the agents can only see 1 available?
Any ideas/tips to help me make them see the 2?
The agents say that they cannot see any I availability (which matches to expertflyer as well) but it's strange that Ethiad is showing guest seats with miles then?
Any ideas/tips to help me make them see the 2?
The agents say that they cannot see any I availability (which matches to expertflyer as well) but it's strange that Ethiad is showing guest seats with miles then?
Dec 30, 2015, 11:24 am
#1220
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 11
Trying to book CDG-AUH-MLE and see 2 GuestSeat Business available on Ethiad's site. When calling the agents can only see 1 available?
Any ideas/tips to help me make them see the 2?
The agents say that they cannot see any I availability (which matches to expertflyer as well) but it's strange that Ethiad is showing guest seats with miles then?
Any ideas/tips to help me make them see the 2?
The agents say that they cannot see any I availability (which matches to expertflyer as well) but it's strange that Ethiad is showing guest seats with miles then?
Dec 30, 2015, 12:44 pm
#1221
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Boulder
Programs: AA Plat, CX Silver
Posts: 2,361
Yesterday most days in September had GuestFirst availability on the A380 AUH-JFK. Today it's almost all gone. Still seeing a few seats here and there so I suspect those seats were snatched up rather than removed from inventory by EY.
Dec 30, 2015, 1:34 pm
#1222
Join Date: Oct 2002
Programs: United Premier 1K
Posts: 1,230
I posted on the success thread about my booking, but wanted to mention here that when I called the NZ desk to reserve (I couldn't get through to the Australia desk), I had an agent tell me that she couldn't see any availability for my flights, even the OW flights that I KNEW had availability. A case where HUACA solved the problem. So beware that even some Australian and New Zealand agents can be clueless. (Every other agent I spoke to on the NZ desk was amazing)
Dec 30, 2015, 3:15 pm
#1223
Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 69
I see guest availability on my dates (2 seats) and both US agents and Aussie agents are telling me they see nothing. Any suggestions ?
Dec 30, 2015, 3:18 pm
#1224
Join Date: Feb 2010
Programs: Aeroplan
Posts: 10
Trying to book MLE-AUH-MUC in C but the agent is claiming they need to book under some other booking code to release the space from Etihad, and then it will cost 47,500 miles instead of 30,000 miles.
Anyone else run into this? Sounds bizarre.
Anyone else run into this? Sounds bizarre.
Dec 30, 2015, 3:20 pm
#1225
Moderator: American AAdvantage
Join Date: May 2000
Location: NorCal - SMF area
Programs: AA LT Plat; HH LT Diamond, Maître-plongeur des Muccis
Posts: 62,948
Are you doing that?
In the meantime, I'll delete your other post; we don't allow cross posting. (You can always ask a moderator to move a post, etc. clicking on the little widget under your name that resembles a red-edged white triangle with an exclamation point.)
/Moderator
Dec 30, 2015, 4:04 pm
#1226
Join Date: May 2004
Programs: UA 1K 2MM, BA Gold, SQ TPP
Posts: 1,487
SIN-AUH-USA one award or two
I had thought it was one award, but the agent is saying I need two separate awards?
Dec 30, 2015, 4:14 pm
#1227
Join Date: Oct 2002
Programs: United Premier 1K
Posts: 1,230
Definitely two awards. Asia 2 - USA is only allowed as one award when flying over the Pacific. Your routing will price out as Asia 2 to ME + ME to USA. (Although priced as two awards, you can however get it all on one ticket)
Dec 30, 2015, 4:19 pm
#1228
Join Date: May 2004
Programs: UA 1K 2MM, BA Gold, SQ TPP
Posts: 1,487
OK thanks. I was reading somewhere that there was an exception on routes which are a valid routing for the operating carriers. (Many carriers sell tickets from SIN to the East Coast that go over Europe).
Dec 30, 2015, 5:25 pm
#1229
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: USA
Programs: IHG/Spire Amb., Hilton/Diamond, SPG/Gold, Marriott/Gold, AA/Plat, Southwest/CP
Posts: 270
Dec 30, 2015, 5:59 pm
#1230
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: KYE
Posts: 4,156
Or you're laying over 24 hours in AUH?