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

Old Jan 14, 2016, 5:43 am
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Last edit by: medellinfein
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:

From One Mile at a Time (link)

Bottom Line

For the time being youll have to call American if you want to ticket AAdvantage awards on Etihad & Qatar that arent 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.
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Booking AA Award travel on Etihad / EY (master thread July 2017 onwards)

Old Aug 29, 2020, 12:37 pm
  #1651  
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Originally Posted by bdubs7
Hey guys,

Right now I have a JFK-AUH-CMB-MLE award flight booked in first with EY and SriLanka Airlines (for the latter two segments). I now see guestsaver award availability on etihad's website for AUH-MLE, but when I called the Australian and Singapore offices neither could see the AUH-MLE flights.

1) Is this because EY is running a promotional 30% off, so maybe that guestsaver isn't available to partners? This is for an Oct-2020 flight and the flight schedule appears to have just changed in the last few days, so perhaps it hasn't loaded to AA?

2) Also I read in the wiki, that its risky to modify the awards, is there an alternative so that I don't screw up my award?

3) I booked the award flights originally in Feb-20, I am grandfathered in to the old AA award changes structure whereby I don't get charged if I get keep the origin and destination the same and thus can make unlimited changes, correct?

Thank you!
EY doesn't have to give its partners the same award space as its own members and to be fair, airlines across the board do this.

I have done AUH-MLE many times and often had the entire F cabin to myself so keep checking availability.
fly747first is offline  
Old Aug 29, 2020, 12:45 pm
  #1652  
 
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Originally Posted by fly747first
This isn't correct. If you have a 3-leg itinerary of which 2 are in F, if there is a schedule change and one gets downgraded to J but the other remains in F, AA doesn't have to refund any miles unless none of the legs remain in F.
The issue to which you replied is if an itinerary is eligible for cancellation and full refund without penalty should there be a schedule change such that one flight that was ticketed in first no longer offers first. The discussion was not about the cost in AA miles of a mixed-class itinerary.
anabolism is offline  
Old Aug 29, 2020, 12:49 pm
  #1653  
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
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Originally Posted by bdubs7
Right now I have a JFK-AUH-CMB-MLE award flight booked in first with EY and SriLanka Airlines (for the latter two segments). I now see guestsaver award availability on etihad's website for AUH-MLE, but when I called the Australian and Singapore offices neither could see the AUH-MLE flights.

1) Is this because EY is running a promotional 30% off, so maybe that guestsaver isn't available to partners? This is for an Oct-2020 flight and the flight schedule appears to have just changed in the last few days, so perhaps it hasn't loaded to AA?

2) Also I read in the wiki, that its risky to modify the awards, is there an alternative so that I don't screw up my award?
Check on ExpertFlyer. If EF shows the non-stop available, then keep trying various AA call centers at different times of day. If EF does not show the flights available, then it is more likely that no AA agent will be able to see them. What sorts of screwing up are you concerned with? An AA agent shouldn't cancel your connecting flights out of the record before confirming the nonstop.
bdubs7 likes this.
anabolism is offline  
Old Aug 29, 2020, 3:44 pm
  #1654  
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 2,638
Originally Posted by bdubs7
Hey guys,

Right now I have a JFK-AUH-CMB-MLE award flight booked in first with EY and SriLanka Airlines (for the latter two segments). I now see guestsaver award availability on etihad's website for AUH-MLE, but when I called the Australian and Singapore offices neither could see the AUH-MLE flights.

1) Is this because EY is running a promotional 30% off, so maybe that guestsaver isn't available to partners? This is for an Oct-2020 flight and the flight schedule appears to have just changed in the last few days, so perhaps it hasn't loaded to AA?

2) Also I read in the wiki, that its risky to modify the awards, is there an alternative so that I don't screw up my award?

3) I booked the award flights originally in Feb-20, I am grandfathered in to the old AA award changes structure whereby I don't get charged if I get keep the origin and destination the same and thus can make unlimited changes, correct?

Thank you!
I would HUCA. But at worst case, you could remove AUH-CMB-MLE from the original ticket, and depending on when you purchased it, there may not be a re-ticket fee for changing the destination. Yes, this will force through a re-ticket but you're removing segments, not "canceling" the entire award and hoping it goes back in to saaver inventory. Then you could purchase AUH-MLE as a separate award. You would thru check baggage at JFK and be a transit passenger at AUH.

This would NOT be my preferred method. But it's an option.

You could also try a 5 day AA hold on AUH-MLE (I'm assuming this is available through AA as a stand alone segment) and then give an AAgent both PNRs and see if they can swap AUH-CMB-MLE for the AUH-MLE leg you just created.
bdubs7 and ghufy like this.
saaveraward is offline  
Old Aug 29, 2020, 3:59 pm
  #1655  
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 157
Originally Posted by anabolism
Check on ExpertFlyer. If EF shows the non-stop available, then keep trying various AA call centers at different times of day. If EF does not show the flights available, then it is more likely that no AA agent will be able to see them. What sorts of screwing up are you concerned with? An AA agent shouldn't cancel your connecting flights out of the record before confirming the nonstop.
It says this in the wiki "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)."
bdubs7 is offline  
Old Aug 29, 2020, 4:43 pm
  #1656  
 
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Originally Posted by bdubs7
It says this in the wiki "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)."
My experience has been that overseas call centers do changes correctly, and do not end a record unless the new flights came back confirmed. If some call centers do it differently, then that would be cause for concern. Wouldn't hurt to ask the agent first, to be sure.
anabolism is offline  
Old Aug 31, 2020, 10:21 pm
  #1657  
 
Join Date: Aug 2019
Programs: Aeroplan
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More than 2 F award spaces

Hoping this group can provide some insight into Etihad F spaces available (using aeroplan rather than AA). What are the chances of getting more than 2 F seats (eg book the usual 2 that seem to be available + 1 J, then wait for more F space to be released and upgrade J seat to F). I have read that timing of additional F seats is not consistent but wondering if anyone has ever had success booking more than 2 F seats with Etihad (ideally using aeroplan or AA) even if needing to wait.
ourwanderlust is offline  
Old Sep 1, 2020, 1:55 am
  #1658  
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
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Originally Posted by ourwanderlust
Hoping this group can provide some insight into Etihad F spaces available (using aeroplan rather than AA). What are the chances of getting more than 2 F seats (eg book the usual 2 that seem to be available + 1 J, then wait for more F space to be released and upgrade J seat to F). I have read that timing of additional F seats is not consistent but wondering if anyone has ever had success booking more than 2 F seats with Etihad (ideally using aeroplan or AA) even if needing to wait.
This is the aeroplan thread:

Etihad Airways new Aeroplan partner as of May 1, 2019
saaveraward is offline  
Old Oct 5, 2020, 4:20 pm
  #1659  
 
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I guess LAX is not coming back anytime soon. My LAX-AUH-NBO-AUH-LAX F/J flights at Christmas were just canceled with no re-booking options. I had confirmed ticket#s, doesnt Etihad have an obligation to get you to your destination? They are still flying from JFK,ORD,etc but when I pressed AA they said while there is a OneWorld liaison to help in these situations, there is no Etihad liaison, how can that be?
AArdvark0 is offline  
Old Oct 5, 2020, 4:34 pm
  #1660  
 
Join Date: Jul 2015
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Sadly had to cancel my F booking on Dec. 27th AUH to LHR since it doesn't look like the situation is getting any better over there.
phant0m is offline  
Old Oct 7, 2020, 2:55 am
  #1661  
 
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What are the current cancellation rules of AAdvantage awards? I have mixed CX & EY itin booked with AA miles for Feb 2021 which I'd like to cancel. Can this be done free of charge? There is a time change on the itin, but it's not significant (10min only).

Regards,

El Puerco Volante
El Puerco Volante is offline  
Old Oct 7, 2020, 10:27 am
  #1662  
 
Join Date: Jul 2015
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Originally Posted by El Puerco Volante
What are the current cancellation rules of AAdvantage awards? I have mixed CX & EY itin booked with AA miles for Feb 2021 which I'd like to cancel. Can this be done free of charge? There is a time change on the itin, but it's not significant (10min only).

Regards,

El Puerco Volante
No questions asked cancellation for free. You have to call in though to cancel for them to refund the points correctly on partner bookings.
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Old Oct 8, 2020, 4:18 am
  #1663  
 
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Originally Posted by phant0m
No questions asked cancellation for free. You have to call in though to cancel for them to refund the points correctly on partner bookings.
Thanks. That's what I like to hear !

Regards,

El Puerco Volante
El Puerco Volante is offline  
Old Nov 2, 2020, 3:08 pm
  #1664  
 
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 5
Etihad award space

Did Etihad change their website? I can not find the old booking engine to search for "guest" award space.
gdubb33 is offline  
Old Nov 2, 2020, 3:47 pm
  #1665  
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etihadguest.com seems unchanged to me
Dave Noble is offline  

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