Jan 14, 2016, 5:43 am

FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides

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

Also see: Earning AA Miles EQM / EQD / EQS on EY / Etihad (master thread)

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

NOTE:AA has removed most EY and QR award access from aa.com due to a glitch booking these:

Quote:

From One Mile at a Time (link)

Bottom Line

For the time being you’ll have to call American if you want to ticket AAdvantage awards on Etihad & Qatar that aren’t for travel to & from the US or Canada. It makes sense that American took these awards “offline,” and now it also makes sense why so many passengers have been having issues with checked bags on awards.

You can now search or book awards for travel on EY (Etihad) on www.aa.com.
You can search award availability on EY's website. Look only for seats on flights operated by Etihad Airways that are labeled as "GuestSeats". You can also search on ExpertFlyer
- Note: You may see more availability if you search on EY's website using itineraries that do not originate in the US. In other words, to potentially see more availability on a USA-XYZ segment, search for XYZ-USA-XYZ. Expertflyer does not report this additional availability (if any), and US-based agents probably will not be able to see or book it (but see further below for Fiji).
- To expand on this point a bit, it seems that even if you only want to fly USA-AUH (or to other foreign destinations, since they route through AUH), due to an EY website quirk you need to search AUH-USA-AUH in order to find available USA-AUH routes.
You no longer 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:
It is often or even typically the case that for first and business class awards US agents cannot see the award space that you see on Etihad's site. Your best bet, then, is to call AA Australia (+61 2-9101-1948 ) then press 3 - or the New Zealand number (+64 09-308-4014) (actually South African contractor Mindpearl in Fiji) or Singapore (+65 6349-8444) as an alternative - what you need is the specific call center which is actually in Suva, Fiji (I believe it's our old South African agency friend Mindpearl) or, according to recent reports, in Trinidad (since there have been some reports that the Fiji center has closed). You can put the EY segments on hold so you can flesh out the award afterward and/or pay the fees in USD through the US call center, or simply buy it through non-US call center if you think you won't be making subsequent routing changes (such as adding AA connecting flights within the USA) that would incur fees. (NOTE: calls may get picked up by the local Brisbane office, or rerouted to Trinidad or the USA. As noted, there are reports that the Fiji call center has closed, but people have still been able to book some of the time, particularly if they reach the Trinidad center since that seems to be the call center that yields the greatest success in late 2017 and 2018 - with the big caveat that there are at least as many failures as successes in calling there, including repeatedly. To increase the chances of success, you may have to call several times, since for some reason a given customer service representative at a given time won't see availability even if it shows at the EY site, but another CSR at the same center may be able to do so even a few minutes later. It's conceivable that this difference is due to some CSRs knowing how to search for award availability better than others do, but that's simply a matter of speculation at this point.)
- Note: EY award holds only last 72 hours...irrespective of what AA reservation hold email states
Booking connections via AUH / Abu Dabhi using one award is now allowed.
Get both AA and EY reservation codes/numbers: Upon booking with AA, make sure to get the EY reservation number as well as that of AA from the AA CSR, as without the EY number it will be difficult or impossible to deal with EY, such as for checking or managing your reservation online. And of course, if there is another airline involved in the reservation as well (such as BA), get its reservation number.
A handy EY route map is here: http://flights.etihad.com/routemap.
The applicable AAdvantage miles award chart is the oneworld and partner airlines award chart.
Award routing rules are in the wikipost of this thread.
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.
WARNING: While this trick is great for new bookings (especially if you have patience to get lucky for call to be routed to Fiji office), modifying booking on partner airlines is always risky especially when an overseas center is involved, Your original seats are immediately released and while new reservation is supposedly confirmed, it may actually not the case until ticket desk actually issues ticket after approval of the partner liaison. Weekend/Holidays/Time-Difference can delay issuance of ticket and if something goes wrong, there is always risk of being SOL. (Mistakes by agents are rare but not unheard of).
SEAT ASSIGNMENTS: You cannot choose seats until after ticketing. Even then, the regular web site will not allow seat assignments to be made for AAdvantage award bookings. The mobile site (which can be reached with either a mobile or a desktop browser) may work in some cases. Calling EY to make seat assignments always works, as long as you can give them the EY record locator, and as long as AA has issued the ticket (which can take a few days, you will get e-mail). Call 1-877-690-0767, press 1 for English, then 2 for First/Business, then 2 for existing bookings, then they will tell you the call is ending - but it's not: they have added "press 1 to speak to an agent", so finally, press 1 to continue the call. After this, you should have someone on the line quickly to help you. They will ask you a series of questions such as "What class are you traveling in?" and "Where are you going?" Alternatively, you can choose your seats on the Etihad website and app by using the EY record locator to find your award itinerary.
Availability: EY award availability using AA miles can be fairly good, including in business and first class - IF you get past the big, aforementioned challenge of actually booking award seats that the EY site shows as available but that AA agents have trouble finding. But it ebbs and flows quite a bit in at least two respects (in addition to the general rule that the further in advance you seek availability, the better, as well as reports that availability is easier to find from one to three weeks before a flight): 1) availability showing at the EY site and 2) even if availability shows at the EY site, the ability of non-US call centers (especially the "least bad" ones for finding availability, which might have been Fiji and might now be Trinidad) to find that availability. So if the EY site is not showing availability for a given day or week, and if you have flexibility, check other dates. And if availability seems to be particularly constrained across many dates, particularly if you are searching many months in advance, check again periodically to see if this has changed (or arrange an alert via ExpertFlyer, if it provides such a service for EY flights).
"Baby-sit" your tickets: Though this advice could apply to many award bookings, EY's systems can be glitchy and the airline apparently is going through some financial challenges. So it makes sense to check online or via phone occasionally with EY to make sure everything remains in order, particularly if there have been even minor changes in things like your flight times. And if there seem to be problems, including with checking in online or other procedures, the EY forum here at FT can be a source of useful advice about whether or not those problems are worth worrying about.
Itinerary: You can use https://www.virtuallythere.com/new/login.html to enter your EY record locator and last name to 1)display your complete itinerary 2)save a pdf 3)add to outlook/ical 4)view ticket # and different times the ticket has been reissued
AA lounge access: If you book a premium cabin itinerary on EY with domestic connections on AA, you will not be able to access the Admiral's Club during your domestic layovers because EY is not a member of OW.

Please see the archived threads for previous experiences:

NOTE: From AUH to the USA you will receive full USCBP Pre-Clearance in Abu Dhabi and will arrive in the USA as a domestic flight. However, AA and at least some other airlines (AS) will still demand International to Domestic MCT be met for ticketing purposes.

Booking AA Award travel on Etihad / EY (master thread July 2017 onwards)

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Feb 25, 2020, 8:37 am

#1531

bdubs7

Join Date: Dec 2012

Posts: 159

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave Noble

I wouldnt worry - once 2 days passes, I would call and follow up and the agent will probably then be happ to follow up and find out what caused it not to ticket automatically - my experience is that it is common not to happen automatically like it should, but easy to get fixed

Just to provide an update for those who may be in a similar situation in the future:

The reason why my ticket was slower was because I used her CC to pay for fees for both (hitting min. spend!), and apparently if you're booking from separate accounts, the CC must match the account holder. So now mine has been deducted once I called and just waiting to be finally ticketed!

Feb 25, 2020, 11:50 am

#1532

bdubs7

Join Date: Dec 2012

Posts: 159

Am I allowed to route JFK-AUH-CMB-MLE? Via Etihad and then Srilanka from AUH-CMB-MLE? I was just told by an agent that the AUH-CMB-MLE is not possible because while it is operated by Sri Lanka, it is a code share flight between Etihad and Sri Lanka. She said if it was Sri Lanka only or Etihad only I could do it. But not a codeshare. Does this make sense given that both are American partners?

HUCA?

Update: Called back, and yes they were able to ticket it. Not sure what the other agent was referencing.

Last edited by bdubs7; Feb 25, 2020 at 12:59 pm

Feb 26, 2020, 10:55 am

#1533

bdubs7

Join Date: Dec 2012

Posts: 159

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave Noble

You cannot select seats on the Etihad website for an AA award ticket

If you download the mobile application, you should be able to do it there

I was able to get seats on etihad's website when I entered the etihad confirmation number the AA agent gave me, does that mean that the seats aren't actually selected? thanks!

Perdita and MCIUnitedGuy like this.

Last edited by bdubs7; Feb 26, 2020 at 12:26 pm

Feb 26, 2020, 12:53 pm

#1534

Dave Noble

A FlyerTalk Posting Legend

Join Date: Jan 2002

Posts: 44,605

Quote:

Originally Posted by bdubs7

I was able to get seats on etihad's website when I entered the etihad confirmation number the AA agent gave me, does that mean that the seats aren't actually selected? thanks!

If you were able to get to the seat selection screen and select seats on the EY website, then maybe EY has changed its restrictions on seat selection

bdubs7 likes this.

Feb 26, 2020, 3:32 pm

#1535

bdubs7

Join Date: Dec 2012

Posts: 159

Something else interesting that I noticed: so for both my outbound and inbound I was able to get 2 F seats on etihad. And both times when I went to make seat selections, the only seats that were open were 1K, 2K, 3A, 3K, 4A, and 4K. The residence is still open to being booked on etihad's website. So my guess is that the whole first class was empty (Oct-2020 for both), but they're blocking off 2A and both row 5 seats. I wonder why? (Not that I'm complaining as we're getting our ideal seats (3/4), but I'm just curious. Anyways, thanks again to this thread and especially Dave Noble!

Last edited by bdubs7; Feb 27, 2020 at 8:09 am

Feb 26, 2020, 8:39 pm

#1536

Chgo2AD

Join Date: Jun 2012

Location: Chicago & AUH

Programs: AA PLT Pro, EY Gold, Hilton Gold, Marriott Gold, Hyatt Globalist

Posts: 172

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave Noble

If you were able to get to the seat selection screen and select seats on the EY website, then maybe EY has changed its restrictions on seat selection

i was able to pick my seats on etihad.com a few weeks ago for my award travel booked via AA (biz class)

Feb 27, 2020, 6:19 am

#1537

mapboyPHL

Join Date: May 2013

Location: PHL

Programs: AA Gold, AF apologist

Posts: 207

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave Noble

If you were able to get to the seat selection screen and select seats on the EY website, then maybe EY has changed its restrictions on seat selection

they must have changed them as I was able to select my F seats (reserved via AA.com) there as well

Feb 27, 2020, 9:49 am

#1538

UA Fan

FlyerTalk Evangelist

Join Date: Mar 2006

Location: DFW

Programs: AA 1M

Posts: 31,475

Quote:

Originally Posted by jlb3

Just booked IAD-AUH rt for 80,000 miles in mid-November for the Dubai 2020 Expo! Sucks that I don't get the 10% miles back anymore but still a worthwhile use of miles (I had almost 150k). My first time flying EY.

Looks like pretty open Y availability on this route anytime. I have never seen anything in J or F.

EY seems to have best award availability. I hope nothing happens to this partnership due to the closer partnership with QR.

Feb 27, 2020, 11:50 am

#1539

Perdita

Join Date: Jun 2008

Programs: AA EXP, National Exec

Posts: 86

A nice change to the positive on the EY website! I wasn't able to book seats on the website previously, and only 1 of 2 seats via the app (a known issue). I kept forgetting to call Etihad, but I just went on the website and easily reserved that second seat.

Interestingly, I mistakenly input my AA PNR on the EY website, but it took it and automatically connected to my EY PNR. Nice!

Feb 27, 2020, 5:46 pm

#1540

phant0m

Join Date: Jul 2015

Posts: 1,028

I will also confirm that I was able to book seats with an AA award with the EY PNR a few weeks ago.

Mar 1, 2020, 11:27 am

#1541

ecgz88

Join Date: May 2009

Posts: 821

My AUH-ICN May flight change from A380 TO 787 overnight, change from First to Business, so what to do next? will AA automatically refund me the difference?

since I book BCN-AUH on a separate ticket, call AA will they waive the cancel/change fee for both or it's YMMV? or just wait hope Etihad will switch back the plane again?

Thanks!

Last edited by ecgz88; Mar 1, 2020 at 11:34 am

Mar 1, 2020, 12:26 pm

#1542

Perdita

Join Date: Jun 2008

Programs: AA EXP, National Exec

Posts: 86

This is sort of an EY-related tourism question so posting here.

If we (US citizens on AA award flight in J) arrive EY AMM-AUH on a November Sunday at 6:45pm with short checked bags, would it be reasonable to try to visit the Grand Mosque that closes at 10pm? Even if for an hour or so? We are overnighting at the airport Premier Inn before an onward flight the next morning. Any insight/experience/advice is appreciated! Thanks.

Mar 1, 2020, 5:37 pm

#1543

anabolism

Join Date: Aug 2004

Programs: AA (EP), Hilton (Diamond), Marriott Bonvoy (Titanium)

Posts: 8,937

Quote:

Originally Posted by ecgz88

Because South Korea is hard-hit by the novel coronavirus, travel to/from there is markedly down, which explains why EY downguaged the flight.

I wouldn't expect AA to automatically refund the mileage difference between a first class and a business class award, but you can call in and have an agent process it. Likely the agent will need to cancel your current first class award (just the award, not the flight) to reinstate the miles, then reclaim a business class award for the itinerary. The agent should waive the reinstate fee.

I'm not clear what change you want to make to your separate BCN-AUH itinerary.

Mar 2, 2020, 11:10 am

#1544

ecgz88

Join Date: May 2009

Posts: 821

Quote:

Originally Posted by anabolism

oh, I booked BCN-AUH(J) Stop, then AUH-ICN(F) full intend to take A380 F, if the A380 F drops there's not much motivation for me to take the whole flight. (cost 85K to book separate vs 75k for none.stop J)