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 24, 2018, 9:54 am
#601
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 190
Anyone have trouble picking F class seats for one of the segments? I was able to use the etihad site to select my seats for 3 of my segments. But my first segment (JFK-AUH) doesn't allow me to. When I called in they also werent able to select a seat. Anyone else have similar experiences?
Aug 25, 2018, 3:45 pm
#602
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Canada
Posts: 248
Just want to share a follow up DP - Pays to be persistent. After waiting 3 days, I called the New Zealand number and they mentioned that everything looks and you should wait until tomorrow for it to be ticketed. Waited the 24 hours and still shows as On Request. The following day I called the US number and they were able to fix whatever the issue was through the ticketing department. My award change was ticketed within 30 minutes of the phone call. Emails received and e-tickets are showing up on the Etihad site.
Aug 28, 2018, 8:30 am
#603
Join Date: Apr 2017
Posts: 3
Another post in my JFK to AUH apartments saga. Singapore was able to request seats but apparently didn't include my AAdvantage number so EY wouldn't ticket. US said wait through the weekend and it will go through. Called Singapore again today and they found the missing number and pushed the ticket through. Requested on 8/22 and it was still "On Request" 8/28 before the agent, I'm assuming, called Etihad and made things happen.
Aug 29, 2018, 7:10 pm
#604
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: LAX
Programs: UA Silver, AA, WN, DL
Posts: 4,091
Additional question regarding AA award routing for the experts:
I currently see AUH-LGA-LAX (w/ BOS layover) available. However, my preferred flight would be the JFK-LAX in the lie flat.
If I see award availability open up closer to departure date, could I call in to AA and have them change AUH-LGA-LAX to AUH-JFK-LAX without incurring a penalty/change fee?
I believe changing connection city is allowed without fee, or am I wrong?
TIA
I currently see AUH-LGA-LAX (w/ BOS layover) available. However, my preferred flight would be the JFK-LAX in the lie flat.
If I see award availability open up closer to departure date, could I call in to AA and have them change AUH-LGA-LAX to AUH-JFK-LAX without incurring a penalty/change fee?
I believe changing connection city is allowed without fee, or am I wrong?
TIA
Aug 29, 2018, 7:50 pm
#605
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 event, yes, you should be able to change the LGA-BOS-LAX to JFK-LAX without a fee if award space opened up.
Aug 29, 2018, 8:16 pm
#606
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: LAX
Programs: UA Silver, AA, WN, DL
Posts: 4,091
Good to know. The irony is that the space that I saw available for AUH-JFK has just been taken... finally found a combo that works, only to lose it to inaction. Off to find more dates...
Aug 29, 2018, 11:28 pm
#607
Join Date: Oct 2009
Posts: 58
Thought I should add my data point to this thread...
I've never dealt with EY award bookings and finding this thread just now was my first introduction to the subject. I figured I would have to call a call center in another country, but I decided to start with the US number based on a recent success report. As soon as I was transfered to an agent, I explained I wanted to put BLR-LAX award on hold, and gave the date. After confirming that I was looking for a business class award, her first question was "on Etihad"? She immediately found the itinerary I had in mind, and placed it on hold. The whole call took something like 3 minutes, much of which was spent interacting with the IVR system. It was an astonishly efficient process, especially for someone who's used to calling United (I should add that I don't have any status with AA, but this experience compares extremely favorably to my experiences with United's 1k line).
I've never dealt with EY award bookings and finding this thread just now was my first introduction to the subject. I figured I would have to call a call center in another country, but I decided to start with the US number based on a recent success report. As soon as I was transfered to an agent, I explained I wanted to put BLR-LAX award on hold, and gave the date. After confirming that I was looking for a business class award, her first question was "on Etihad"? She immediately found the itinerary I had in mind, and placed it on hold. The whole call took something like 3 minutes, much of which was spent interacting with the IVR system. It was an astonishly efficient process, especially for someone who's used to calling United (I should add that I don't have any status with AA, but this experience compares extremely favorably to my experiences with United's 1k line).
Aug 31, 2018, 2:39 pm
#608
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: LAX
Programs: UA Silver, AA, WN, DL
Posts: 4,091
First tried AA US call center; surprisingly got ExPlat agent. While she was nice and sounded competent, she said no availability on her screen. She asked if I saw availability somewhere and I responded yes, on EY website. She then proceeded to explain that partner airlines don't give other airlines the same award inventory. Not wanting to go off on a tangent, thanked her and went to Plan B.
Called AA Australia number and was on hold for 8 minutes before mysteriously disconnected; mysterious because I heard hold music, then nothing, all the while I'm asking if someone is there. Then I get the prompt for taking a survey that is associated after the call. Tried calling again was able to connect.
Because I had to book from 2 different AA accounts, this made things a bit weird: my initial attempt resulted in the first booking @ 170K; which made no sense as my routing AUH-JFK/LGA-BOS-LAX was a standard layover under 24 hours and LGA-BOS was in Y and BOS-LAX in F. Agent initially insisted that was what it should be; after my questioning, she looked into it and said that it was booking my BOS-LAX segment @ 55K.
Then the explanation was that it was because there was no award saver available; again no sense as I was seeing it in front of my live searches. She tried again and was successfully able to book my 1st ticket. When she tried to book the 2nd one, she informed me that there was no more saver space on BOS-LAX in F, yet again I could see award space on the website while doing a real time search. Suspecting a glitch, I said to put the first reservation on hold and I'll try again later for the second one.
Waited a few minutes, called AA Australia again for 3rd time and got another agent who was able to process the whole thing with no issue or difficulty and was wrapped up in a few minutes. Had the second reservation put on hold. Later called AA US call center to pay for the 2 reservations; agent was initially confused because it was 75 AUD, which she had to convert to USD. Agent then gave me EY's record locator. I waited less than a day before seeing AA's email confirming my ticket. I initially tried the EY record locator before and EY website was not able to pull anything up. After the AA email, EY's website was able to show the reservation.
Called EY to assign seats; fairly straightforward. Don't bother trying to do any of the online loopholes to assign your own seats, they don't work anymore.
Couple things to note (as others already have): EY's website was near real time with the inventory. The moment my first reservation went through with the agent, I tried running another query and it showed 1 seat remaining. After the 2nd booking, there were no more "saver" seats. The other thing is about the call center overflow; I suspect I was actually speaking to the Trinidad call center, because despite Skyping Australia's number, I heard a slight Trinidadian accent instead of the usual Aussie accent.
Thanks to everyone who contributed to making this process well understood and replicable.
Sep 1, 2018, 8:57 pm
#609
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Canada
Posts: 248
Sep 2, 2018, 12:17 am
#610
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: LAX
Programs: UA Silver, AA, WN, DL
Posts: 4,091
Sep 4, 2018, 7:57 am
#611
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Phuket Thailand
Posts: 223
F award availability JFK AUH
I use to see awards open up 30 days out, now nothing has opened, last avail F award I see if Sept 24, I was looking around Oct 10 so now if seems 40 days out and nothing new opened
Do you think they are done with F awards now that they are down to 1 flight a day?
Thanks
I use to see awards open up 30 days out, now nothing has opened, last avail F award I see if Sept 24, I was looking around Oct 10 so now if seems 40 days out and nothing new opened
Do you think they are done with F awards now that they are down to 1 flight a day?
Thanks
Sep 6, 2018, 10:38 am
#613
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Florida
Programs: US CP, MR Gold, SPG Gold, Hyatt Plat
Posts: 441
Been awhile since I've posted in FT, good to be back.
Another data point...Called into the AA US number yesterday trying to book an EY J award. Thought it was a fool's errand based on the wiki above and the posts in here. But figured I'd give it shot before creating a Skype account. Saw J3 on EY Guest website for the desired date and route from the US to AUH. When I called in, the AA US agent saw J1 on her screen. I needed 2 seats but I told her to go ahead and ticket the 1 anyway. No problems so far, phone call took about 3 minutes, 70k miles and $7 in taxes. The AA agent gave me both the AA and EY PNRs.
Trying my luck further I told her to check the return which showed J1 on EY Guest website. She couldn't see any availability. Had her check F as well which was F2 on the EY site, no availability either on her screen.
Perhaps it's an AS/CX situation where e.g. CX shows 5 F seats available for award and AS only sees 2? Otherwise, I really don't understand how/why AA Aussie/NZ/Fiji agents have better success than AA US agents?
Go Gators
Another data point...Called into the AA US number yesterday trying to book an EY J award. Thought it was a fool's errand based on the wiki above and the posts in here. But figured I'd give it shot before creating a Skype account. Saw J3 on EY Guest website for the desired date and route from the US to AUH. When I called in, the AA US agent saw J1 on her screen. I needed 2 seats but I told her to go ahead and ticket the 1 anyway. No problems so far, phone call took about 3 minutes, 70k miles and $7 in taxes. The AA agent gave me both the AA and EY PNRs.
Trying my luck further I told her to check the return which showed J1 on EY Guest website. She couldn't see any availability. Had her check F as well which was F2 on the EY site, no availability either on her screen.
Perhaps it's an AS/CX situation where e.g. CX shows 5 F seats available for award and AS only sees 2? Otherwise, I really don't understand how/why AA Aussie/NZ/Fiji agents have better success than AA US agents?
Go Gators
Last edited by GNVGator; Sep 6, 2018 at 10:39 am Reason: typo
Sep 7, 2018, 8:21 am
#614
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 190
I'm a bit confused on the warning for modifying bookings in the wiki. I have a round trip JFK-AUH F class trip and plan to change the date on my return ticket. Since the JFK-AUH date isnt changing will they still release my JFK-AUH booking and rebook it? My new return flight has all 8 F class seats open so I'm not worried about that. But my JFK-AUH segment is sold out and I wonder if they release my seats just to confirm it again that there may no longer be award seats available? It seems like that would be pretty unlikely but I just wanted to see if anyone has experience doing this.