Jan 14, 2016, 5:43 am
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:
Please see the archived threads for previous experiences:
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 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.
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:
- How to: Use AA Miles to Book Award on Etihad / EY (Archive - 2015 and earlier)
- Success stories booking awards on Etihad using AA miles (Archive - 2015 and earlier)
- Booking AA Award travel on Etihad / EY - [2015-17 ARCHIVE]
Booking AA Award travel on Etihad / EY (master thread July 2017 onwards)
Apr 19, 2022, 11:43 pm
#1802
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: DCA
Programs: AA EXP 1MM, WOH Globalist
Posts: 1,160
MLE is considered Indian Subcontinent and SEZ is Africa, per AA's region definitions.
Apr 20, 2022, 3:05 am
#1803
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Tyrone,EU
Programs: Avios Hunter
Posts: 2,812
EUR-AUH-MLE is considered one award, even though there is transit thru a 3rd region AND there is no published exception for EUR-MiddleEast-Indian subcontinent on EY. There is an unpublished exception that allows this route to be price as one award.
So I'm enquiring as to whether there is an unpublished exception for EUR-AUH-SEZ that allows that to be priced as 1 award when booking EY using AA miles.
So I'm enquiring as to whether there is an unpublished exception for EUR-AUH-SEZ that allows that to be priced as 1 award when booking EY using AA miles.
Apr 21, 2022, 6:07 am
#1804
Join Date: Aug 2012
Programs: AA PLT, SPG Gold
Posts: 2,405
EUR-AUH-MLE is considered one award, even though there is transit thru a 3rd region AND there is no published exception for EUR-MiddleEast-Indian subcontinent on EY. There is an unpublished exception that allows this route to be price as one award.
So I'm enquiring as to whether there is an unpublished exception for EUR-AUH-SEZ that allows that to be priced as 1 award when booking EY using AA miles.
So I'm enquiring as to whether there is an unpublished exception for EUR-AUH-SEZ that allows that to be priced as 1 award when booking EY using AA miles.
Apr 21, 2022, 7:23 am
#1805
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Tyrone,EU
Programs: Avios Hunter
Posts: 2,812
My query is will EUR-AUH-SEZ on EY price the same.
Apr 25, 2022, 3:19 pm
#1806
Join Date: Feb 2022
Programs: AM Titanum, Bonvoy Titanium, Hilton Diamond, UA Silver
Posts: 10
I found availability for a MCT-AUH award ticket on Etihad.
AA shows no availability for the same dates.
Should I:
Wait and see if AA has it available on the upcoming days/weeks?
Call AA and ask them to book it?
Transfer MR points to Etihad and book it there instead?
Do none of these, and instead try another alternative (Another flight partner giving me higher value for my hard earned points perhaps?)
TIA
AA shows no availability for the same dates.
Should I:
Wait and see if AA has it available on the upcoming days/weeks?
Call AA and ask them to book it?
Transfer MR points to Etihad and book it there instead?
Do none of these, and instead try another alternative (Another flight partner giving me higher value for my hard earned points perhaps?)
TIA
Apr 25, 2022, 5:41 pm
#1807
Join Date: Aug 2004
Programs: AA (EP), Hilton (Diamond), Marriott Bonvoy (Titanium)
Posts: 8,937
I found availability for a MCT-AUH award ticket on Etihad.
AA shows no availability for the same dates.
Should I:
Wait and see if AA has it available on the upcoming days/weeks?
Call AA and ask them to book it?
Transfer MR points to Etihad and book it there instead?
Do none of these, and instead try another alternative (Another flight partner giving me higher value for my hard earned points perhaps?)
AA shows no availability for the same dates.
Should I:
Wait and see if AA has it available on the upcoming days/weeks?
Call AA and ask them to book it?
Transfer MR points to Etihad and book it there instead?
Do none of these, and instead try another alternative (Another flight partner giving me higher value for my hard earned points perhaps?)
Apr 25, 2022, 5:47 pm
#1808
Join Date: Feb 2022
Programs: AM Titanum, Bonvoy Titanium, Hilton Diamond, UA Silver
Posts: 10
Is this part of a larger award or is it just the one flight? You can call AA and see if an agent can find any award availability for the flight. You might also be able to book it as a connection on RJ, as an example. I'd also suggest comparing the cost to buy the flight against the value you ascribe to AA miles or MR points to see if it's worth booking as an AA award or transferring MR points. Personally, I try to get at least five cents per mile value when using AA miles (typically 7-8 cents). I'm not sure about MR points as I haven't used them yet.
It is just that one leg. Redemption value is ok.
I would not want to leave unused miles on EY Guest, that's the reason why I'd be interested in redeeming through a partner airline, any comments or sugestions besides booking through AA?
Apr 25, 2022, 6:02 pm
#1809
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2015
Location: BOS, YVR, ZRH
Programs: *G
Posts: 17,408
I found availability for a MCT-AUH award ticket on Etihad.
AA shows no availability for the same dates.
Should I:
Wait and see if AA has it available on the upcoming days/weeks?
Call AA and ask them to book it?
Transfer MR points to Etihad and book it there instead?
Do none of these, and instead try another alternative (Another flight partner giving me higher value for my hard earned points perhaps?)
TIA
AA shows no availability for the same dates.
Should I:
Wait and see if AA has it available on the upcoming days/weeks?
Call AA and ask them to book it?
Transfer MR points to Etihad and book it there instead?
Do none of these, and instead try another alternative (Another flight partner giving me higher value for my hard earned points perhaps?)
TIA
May 8, 2022, 7:07 am
#1810
Join Date: Jun 2002
Posts: 553
As an added data point, I was able to successfully see availability through the Air Canada web site and then book a return trip for the Maldives on Ethiad using AA miles.
When I first called the EXP line, the rep could not see the availability. I did not have time to call back that day, and instead was hopeful that I would find availability on QR. That did not pan out, and the next morning I called the EXP line again. The EXP rep immediately saw the availability and booked my return -- 2 in business, 2 in economy.
Anyone have any experience with Ethiad making additional business class seats available? I plan on checking periodically since Expert Flyer does not support Ethiad.
Jun 4, 2022, 6:21 pm
#1812
Join Date: Oct 2004
Programs: DL Gold
Posts: 880
I have 2 J seats booked JNB-AUH-JFK in July. JNB-AUH is on Saturday, AUH-JFK on Sunday.
I just noticed that EY appears to have changed their JNB-AUH scheduled in July, and is not flying the route on Saturday. I have not received any notification of a schedule change from AA or EY. On EY.com, Manage My Booking still shows me flying JNB-AUH on Saturday.
Should I be doing something proactive here? I don't want to later be forced to fly a day earlier, which is going to be very difficult given non-refundable bookings while in South Africa. Flying a day later is not ideal, but would be preferred if I have to switch. I just find it odd that I have not been contacted yet, and figured this community would know what to do and what not to do.
I just noticed that EY appears to have changed their JNB-AUH scheduled in July, and is not flying the route on Saturday. I have not received any notification of a schedule change from AA or EY. On EY.com, Manage My Booking still shows me flying JNB-AUH on Saturday.
Should I be doing something proactive here? I don't want to later be forced to fly a day earlier, which is going to be very difficult given non-refundable bookings while in South Africa. Flying a day later is not ideal, but would be preferred if I have to switch. I just find it odd that I have not been contacted yet, and figured this community would know what to do and what not to do.
Jun 4, 2022, 6:23 pm
#1813
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 2,652
I have 2 J seats booked JNB-AUH-JFK in July. JNB-AUH is on Saturday, AUH-JFK on Sunday.
I just noticed that EY appears to have changed their JNB-AUH scheduled in July, and is not flying the route on Saturday. I have not received any notification of a schedule change from AA or EY. On EY.com, Manage My Booking still shows me flying JNB-AUH on Saturday.
Should I be doing something proactive here? I don't want to later be forced to fly a day earlier, which is going to be very difficult given non-refundable bookings while in South Africa. Flying a day later is not ideal, but would be preferred if I have to switch. I just find it odd that I have not been contacted yet, and figured this community would know what to do and what not to do.
I just noticed that EY appears to have changed their JNB-AUH scheduled in July, and is not flying the route on Saturday. I have not received any notification of a schedule change from AA or EY. On EY.com, Manage My Booking still shows me flying JNB-AUH on Saturday.
Should I be doing something proactive here? I don't want to later be forced to fly a day earlier, which is going to be very difficult given non-refundable bookings while in South Africa. Flying a day later is not ideal, but would be preferred if I have to switch. I just find it odd that I have not been contacted yet, and figured this community would know what to do and what not to do.
Jun 4, 2022, 6:34 pm
#1814
Join Date: Oct 2004
Programs: DL Gold
Posts: 880
Thanks - any recs on what my expectations should be? There's no award availability on EY the following day, nothing available through QR or BA either. So not sure what I should be asking AA for.
Jun 4, 2022, 7:59 pm
#1815
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 2,652
You can ask AA to ask EY to open a seat, but I don't see that happening.
Sorry to be a downer.