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)
Aug 4, 2018, 10:56 pm
#571
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: DFW
Programs: UA 1K, HH Diamond, AA PLT, DL Silver
Posts: 427
So, with the new "pay for your seat" on an economy flight with Etihad -- I actually tried to do that, both on the mobile site, the mobile app and calling in the phone agent (Etihad agent). However, the agent said that since we booked with American miles we weren't eligible to reserve a seat?
Does anyone have experience with this? Is this true? That would mean we can only hope to reserve seats 24hr before departure.
Does anyone have experience with this? Is this true? That would mean we can only hope to reserve seats 24hr before departure.
Real bummer. Suspect that will eventually be fixed as it's a source of revenue that they are missing out on. Will see what the seat map looks like when I check in here in a few days.
Aug 8, 2018, 12:50 pm
#574
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: LAX
Programs: UA Silver, AA, WN, DL
Posts: 4,091
There is "no" award space for the 2 months I looked in 2019.
Aug 9, 2018, 2:37 am
#575
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: YYZ
Posts: 68
I have an interesting situation that I could really appreciate some advice on how best to handle please.................
Last night I made my first redemption with AA for 2 flights in Etihad First. SYD-AUH then AUH-LHR.
Called the Australia number and ended up with what sounded like the Trinidad center, but the booking process was very easy and everything was completed within 15 minutes.
I was given my PNR's for AA and EY and everything was in order.
Just received my email confirmations with my tickets and again everything is perfect as it is when I enter my details on virtuallythere.
However when I go on the Etihad website, there is a mistake when I look up my PNR for the AUH-LHR leg under Manage My Booking.
My first SYD-AUH flight is all correct and exactly as the ticket.
The AUH-LHR leg shows me travelling the day before on the 16th June 2019 instead of the 17th June 2019.
The ticket though has been issued correctly, shows the 17th of June. I don't understand how Manage my Booking could show a different travel date from the ticket.
I'm not sure if this is just because the tickets have only just been issued and it will clear up in a day or two or if this indicates some kind of problem that I should deal with. If there's a problem I would rather get it fixed right away than let it linger on and of course the last thing I want to deal with is any issues when it comes to actually flying. I did note the wiki mentions that EY's systems can be glitch. I'm assuming as long as the ticket is correct I should be OK.
Not even sure who I should contact. As far as AA is concerned everything has been done correctly by them so I doubt they can do much. My AA PNR has the correct dates so I guess my best bet would be to contact Etihad directly?
Other than that was really impressed by how quickly and efficiently my bookings were made and even more so by the amount of F availability EY releases to partners. I found both flights I wanted had 2 F seats on almost every day on every flight in and around 2 weeks of when I was looking to travel. Made it really easy to put together a multiple redemption itinerary.
Huge thanks to everyone who has contributed much information in this thread and the wiki which was invaluable in helping me achieve this wonderful redemption for my wife and I.
Last night I made my first redemption with AA for 2 flights in Etihad First. SYD-AUH then AUH-LHR.
Called the Australia number and ended up with what sounded like the Trinidad center, but the booking process was very easy and everything was completed within 15 minutes.
I was given my PNR's for AA and EY and everything was in order.
Just received my email confirmations with my tickets and again everything is perfect as it is when I enter my details on virtuallythere.
However when I go on the Etihad website, there is a mistake when I look up my PNR for the AUH-LHR leg under Manage My Booking.
My first SYD-AUH flight is all correct and exactly as the ticket.
The AUH-LHR leg shows me travelling the day before on the 16th June 2019 instead of the 17th June 2019.
The ticket though has been issued correctly, shows the 17th of June. I don't understand how Manage my Booking could show a different travel date from the ticket.
I'm not sure if this is just because the tickets have only just been issued and it will clear up in a day or two or if this indicates some kind of problem that I should deal with. If there's a problem I would rather get it fixed right away than let it linger on and of course the last thing I want to deal with is any issues when it comes to actually flying. I did note the wiki mentions that EY's systems can be glitch. I'm assuming as long as the ticket is correct I should be OK.
Not even sure who I should contact. As far as AA is concerned everything has been done correctly by them so I doubt they can do much. My AA PNR has the correct dates so I guess my best bet would be to contact Etihad directly?
Other than that was really impressed by how quickly and efficiently my bookings were made and even more so by the amount of F availability EY releases to partners. I found both flights I wanted had 2 F seats on almost every day on every flight in and around 2 weeks of when I was looking to travel. Made it really easy to put together a multiple redemption itinerary.
Huge thanks to everyone who has contributed much information in this thread and the wiki which was invaluable in helping me achieve this wonderful redemption for my wife and I.
Aug 9, 2018, 11:08 am
#577
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 5,632
I am not sure what you mean by "The ticket is correct", but if you mean the AA e-mail that contains the ticket number, you do need it to be correct in EY's system or at least in VirtuallyThere, and not just in AA's system.
Aug 9, 2018, 11:15 am
#578
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Live: IWI; Work: DCA/Everywhere; Play: LAS/SJU/MLE
Programs: AA EXP, DL PM, Hyatt Glob, Marriott Ambassador/LTP, Nat'l Exec Elite, LEYE Gold
Posts: 6,675
In any case, availability may look bad but it's there. Probably impossible without EF alerts.
Aug 9, 2018, 11:38 am
#579
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: YYZ
Posts: 68
Just a quick follow up on my post above.
I reached out to Etihad by DM on their Twitter support. The agent I spoke with was absolutely outstanding. Verified my travel dates were correct and that it was a website glitch and has been passed on for follow up. Agent also reserved our seats for both flights, all resolved in a handful of messages in a few minutes.
Very impressed.
I reached out to Etihad by DM on their Twitter support. The agent I spoke with was absolutely outstanding. Verified my travel dates were correct and that it was a website glitch and has been passed on for follow up. Agent also reserved our seats for both flights, all resolved in a handful of messages in a few minutes.
Very impressed.
Aug 9, 2018, 11:42 am
#580
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: YYZ
Posts: 68
If I understand correctly, the connection as displayed is impossible without time travel. If so, it should be easy to explain to EY. But you might as well wait a few days. Also, EY has two different booking displays under "Manage my booking"...Modify Booking and View/print Itinerary (the latter goes to VirtuallyThere). I suggest checking both of them to see if the error is limited to one or the other.
I am not sure what you mean by "The ticket is correct", but if you mean the AA e-mail that contains the ticket number, you do need it to be correct in EY's system or at least in VirtuallyThere, and not just in AA's system.
I am not sure what you mean by "The ticket is correct", but if you mean the AA e-mail that contains the ticket number, you do need it to be correct in EY's system or at least in VirtuallyThere, and not just in AA's system.
Yes everything displayed correctly in VirtuallyThere. The ticket was the one issued on Etihad. Everything appeared correctly everywhere (AA, Ticket, VirtuallyThere even Etihad's mobile site and the main site under 'view/print itinerary') except on Etihad.com under 'modify booking'.
After reaching out to Etihad it was confirmed that the booking was completely in order with the correct date and that there was a strange IT glitch which has been passed on to be corrected.
Aug 12, 2018, 11:53 am
#581
Join Date: Mar 2018
Posts: 139
Not to stir the pot, but is it still slim chances on booking JFK-AUH in F via the AA Australia type phone numbers or had anyone had recent success? ( I am trying to book combo of OW on either EY or QR or CX RT to MLE for March/April 2019. Seeing decent availability for Award flights but really wanna try EY F - will be 3 passengers and 1 infant - and I see availability for 3-6 tickets every now and then on EtihadGuest! ) either way I am going to try calling with a decent amount of HUCA and will post data points in here....
Aug 12, 2018, 8:56 pm
#582
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Live: IWI; Work: DCA/Everywhere; Play: LAS/SJU/MLE
Programs: AA EXP, DL PM, Hyatt Glob, Marriott Ambassador/LTP, Nat'l Exec Elite, LEYE Gold
Posts: 6,675
Not to stir the pot, but is it still slim chances on booking JFK-AUH in F via the AA Australia type phone numbers or had anyone had recent success? ( I am trying to book combo of OW on either EY or QR or CX RT to MLE for March/April 2019. Seeing decent availability for Award flights but really wanna try EY F - will be 3 passengers and 1 infant - and I see availability for 3-6 tickets every now and then on EtihadGuest! ) either way I am going to try calling with a decent amount of HUCA and will post data points in here....
But then my ExpertFlyer alerts went off for EY F (A380 Apartments) for DCA-JFK-AUH-MLE (AA J/EY F/EY J), so I booked that and canceled the QR flights, both via the US (EXP) line. EXP desk had to go through some hoops to cancel the Australia-booked QR flights because they were showing as though they were booked at an airport, but with ~10-15 minutes they were canceled. EXP desk had absolutely no trouble seeing EY's F availability and booking that. So I'd try calling US AA first, just to save yourself trouble in the event you need to make changes down the road; if they can't see the availability, then call Australia, etc.
Also, I had EF alerts set for each of the JFK-AUH flights September 6 through 11, and each day I've gotten a notice that there are 2 F seats on each of the flights, 30 days in advance, except for one flight that had only 1 seat and one flight that had none. It's really surprisingly good availability, and only $7 and 115,000 miles for JFK-AUH, for example.
Aug 13, 2018, 3:23 pm
#583
Join Date: Mar 2018
Posts: 139
I recently had an AA agent who couldn't see QR J availability on IAD-DOH-MLE, so I called AA Australia to book, they saw it, and it was ticketed promptly.
But then my ExpertFlyer alerts went off for EY F (A380 Apartments) for DCA-JFK-AUH-MLE (AA J/EY F/EY J), so I booked that and canceled the QR flights, both via the US (EXP) line. EXP desk had to go through some hoops to cancel the Australia-booked QR flights because they were showing as though they were booked at an airport, but with ~10-15 minutes they were canceled. EXP desk had absolutely no trouble seeing EY's F availability and booking that. So I'd try calling US AA first, just to save yourself trouble in the event you need to make changes down the road; if they can't see the availability, then call Australia, etc.
Also, I had EF alerts set for each of the JFK-AUH flights September 6 through 11, and each day I've gotten a notice that there are 2 F seats on each of the flights, 30 days in advance, except for one flight that had only 1 seat and one flight that had none. It's really surprisingly good availability, and only $7 and 115,000 miles for JFK-AUH, for example.
But then my ExpertFlyer alerts went off for EY F (A380 Apartments) for DCA-JFK-AUH-MLE (AA J/EY F/EY J), so I booked that and canceled the QR flights, both via the US (EXP) line. EXP desk had to go through some hoops to cancel the Australia-booked QR flights because they were showing as though they were booked at an airport, but with ~10-15 minutes they were canceled. EXP desk had absolutely no trouble seeing EY's F availability and booking that. So I'd try calling US AA first, just to save yourself trouble in the event you need to make changes down the road; if they can't see the availability, then call Australia, etc.
Also, I had EF alerts set for each of the JFK-AUH flights September 6 through 11, and each day I've gotten a notice that there are 2 F seats on each of the flights, 30 days in advance, except for one flight that had only 1 seat and one flight that had none. It's really surprisingly good availability, and only $7 and 115,000 miles for JFK-AUH, for example.
Also, now knowing your data points, I will probably just book some of the tickets in EY J in advance and set multiple EF alerts to scoop up whatever opens up in F when the date gets closer...
Aug 13, 2018, 10:01 pm
#584
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Canada
Posts: 248
I currently have a EY F booking from LHR-AUH-MLE. I would like change the LHR-AUG leg to an earlier flight time. Do I risk not being able to get a new ticket with the AUH-MLE leg intact as they will have to release my existing seats and make a new reservation?
Aug 13, 2018, 11:08 pm
#585
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 5,632
No, it is normally possible to make such a change. Only thing is, EY does not fly to Augusta, Maine.