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)
Jan 7, 2019, 4:54 pm
#751
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 5,632
PS You can try checking in with the EY app. Sometimes that works (it also works for changing seats when the web page doesn't). But if that doesn't work either, relax. It's still fine.
Jan 9, 2019, 5:52 pm
#752
Join Date: May 2017
Posts: 480
So read through some posts trying to find answer, and checked the AAdvantage website, but I feel the wording is a little strange.
I'm looking to book 2 award tickets on the SYD > AUH route in F apartments. The F apartment fly on the EY455 flight. There is also the EY451 flight that is their 777-300ER F cabin. For the dates I'm looking at there is availability on the EY451 (not my preferred flight). Can I book that flight and then when/ if availability opens on the EY455 switch at no additional cost / fee? My understanding is no fee since origin/ destination, date, carrier are all the same.
As a side note, expert flyer showing
EY 455 SYD - AUH P2 F7 A7 R7 J7 C7 D7 W7 Z7 Y7 B7 H7 K7 M7 Q7 L7 V7 U7 E7 T7
As I'm new to expert flyer, this seems to show at least 7 F seats available and 7 A available. Is this a fair indication that more availability might open up in the next coming weeks?
I'm looking to book 2 award tickets on the SYD > AUH route in F apartments. The F apartment fly on the EY455 flight. There is also the EY451 flight that is their 777-300ER F cabin. For the dates I'm looking at there is availability on the EY451 (not my preferred flight). Can I book that flight and then when/ if availability opens on the EY455 switch at no additional cost / fee? My understanding is no fee since origin/ destination, date, carrier are all the same.
As a side note, expert flyer showing
EY 455 SYD - AUH P2 F7 A7 R7 J7 C7 D7 W7 Z7 Y7 B7 H7 K7 M7 Q7 L7 V7 U7 E7 T7
As I'm new to expert flyer, this seems to show at least 7 F seats available and 7 A available. Is this a fair indication that more availability might open up in the next coming weeks?
Jan 9, 2019, 6:39 pm
#753
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Benicia, California, USA
Programs: AA PLT,AS,UA PP,J6,FB,EY,LH,SQ,HH Dmd,Hyatt Glbl,Marriott Plat,IHG Plat,Accor Gold
Posts: 10,820
So I was able to use AA points for two first class tickets on Etihad’s A380 from JFK to Abu Dhabi Nov 2019. Called Australia and Singapore call centers until they found availability. The problem is, even though I see business saver availability for the domestic flights online and have no issue putting them on hold, they can’t see them. They say they can’t be added with the Etihad flight, which I assume is married segment crap. They were able to find economy saver and after HUCA a few times I just had them ticket that. I assumed that since it’s a first class award for ~115k points/person I could get exit row or main cabin extra seats and suck it up but it’s saying I have to pay for seat selection on the domestic flights. I’ve never been charged for seat selection on a mixed cabin award before with AA so that confused me. No AA status to help me there unfortunately.
Does anyone have suggestions on how to move forward? Either with finding business saver availability in the future or at least getting main cabin extra seats? All of these phone calls after the original to get put the Etihad flight on hold have been with the US call center. Would there be any difference if I called Singapore again?
My current routing is ABQ-DFW-JFK-AUH. Because I can’t search Etihad online on AA’s site, I have no way to see when the domestic segments have business saver availability when combined with the Etihad flight. If I search them as ABQ-DFW and DFW-JFK or ABQ-JFK, they do show up with business saver availability
Does anyone have suggestions on how to move forward? Either with finding business saver availability in the future or at least getting main cabin extra seats? All of these phone calls after the original to get put the Etihad flight on hold have been with the US call center. Would there be any difference if I called Singapore again?
My current routing is ABQ-DFW-JFK-AUH. Because I can’t search Etihad online on AA’s site, I have no way to see when the domestic segments have business saver availability when combined with the Etihad flight. If I search them as ABQ-DFW and DFW-JFK or ABQ-JFK, they do show up with business saver availability
I believe I read recently at the blog site View from the Wing (though I can't find the post now) that AA has started playing games with domestic awards for connecting domestic flights: Sometimes, even if two individual flights are available as awards, they can't be tied together under one award. Or that the only connections AA will allow for certain domestic awards are many hours apart. Sorry if I forgot all the details, but I wonder if your problem is related to some new, lousy AA policy.
Anyway, are you saying that AA couldn't see the domestic awards at all, OR are you saying that they couldn't see them in terms of linking them to your EY award? That could affect advice and strategy going forward.
Also, I assume you're talking about less than a 24 hour NYC connection, right?
As for your being shunted into basic economy on an award flight, not to mention as part of an F award ticket, that's a new one on me. But at least good that you locked down that connection; maybe it will come in handy later if you AA can find J availability.
Thanks.
So, AA said they'd reissue the tickets and I had a confirmation email through from them that they'd done that... But it only lists me on the Itinerary... Called them back and they said they see both of us on there, but only my ticket was reissued so far and apparently my partners was lined up to be done and id get an email once it was completed... That was best part of an hour ago and no email.
I tried Etihad again who said that they show both of our tickets as 'OK' but that we will have to check in at the airport, not online as it's an AA issued ticket... Is this usual? The lady said it was, but it seems strange to me. I'm just not convinced that everything is alright with it and am going to be incredibly nervous about it the next couple of days..! I'd like some better way to confirm everything is alright, or not so that at least then I'd know to ditch my tickets and buy something else.
Thanks again.
So, AA said they'd reissue the tickets and I had a confirmation email through from them that they'd done that... But it only lists me on the Itinerary... Called them back and they said they see both of us on there, but only my ticket was reissued so far and apparently my partners was lined up to be done and id get an email once it was completed... That was best part of an hour ago and no email.
I tried Etihad again who said that they show both of our tickets as 'OK' but that we will have to check in at the airport, not online as it's an AA issued ticket... Is this usual? The lady said it was, but it seems strange to me. I'm just not convinced that everything is alright with it and am going to be incredibly nervous about it the next couple of days..! I'd like some better way to confirm everything is alright, or not so that at least then I'd know to ditch my tickets and buy something else.
Thanks again.
One generally cannot OLCI on etihad.com with AA-issued award tickets. It's a known issue. There is nothing wrong. You'll be fine.
PS You can try checking in with the EY app. Sometimes that works (it also works for changing seats when the web page doesn't). But if that doesn't work either, relax. It's still fine.
PS You can try checking in with the EY app. Sometimes that works (it also works for changing seats when the web page doesn't). But if that doesn't work either, relax. It's still fine.
I'd still try to get confirmation re your partner's ticket, and bring print-outs of all AA and EY documentation of the tix to the airport.
Anyway, DN and SBY are usually very good sources of advice here. I find their reassurances reassuring. But if you're still nervous about this, you might frame this differently in terms of EY policies (to avoid double-posting) and ask a related question at the EY forum.
Jan 9, 2019, 7:12 pm
#754
Join Date: Jan 2019
Location: Albuquerque
Posts: 64
Not sure how much help I can be here, but...
I believe I read recently at the blog site View from the Wing (though I can't find the post now) that AA has started playing games with domestic awards for connecting domestic flights: Sometimes, even if two individual flights are available as awards, they can't be tied together under one award. Or that the only connections AA will allow for certain domestic awards are many hours apart. Sorry if I forgot all the details, but I wonder if your problem is related to some new, lousy AA policy.
Anyway, are you saying that AA couldn't see the domestic awards at all, OR are you saying that they couldn't see them in terms of linking them to your EY award? That could affect advice and strategy going forward.
Also, I assume you're talking about less than a 24 hour NYC connection, right?
As for your being shunted into basic economy on an award flight, not to mention as part of an F award ticket, that's a new one on me. But at least good that you locked down that connection; maybe it will come in handy later if you AA can find J availability.
I believe I read recently at the blog site View from the Wing (though I can't find the post now) that AA has started playing games with domestic awards for connecting domestic flights: Sometimes, even if two individual flights are available as awards, they can't be tied together under one award. Or that the only connections AA will allow for certain domestic awards are many hours apart. Sorry if I forgot all the details, but I wonder if your problem is related to some new, lousy AA policy.
Anyway, are you saying that AA couldn't see the domestic awards at all, OR are you saying that they couldn't see them in terms of linking them to your EY award? That could affect advice and strategy going forward.
Also, I assume you're talking about less than a 24 hour NYC connection, right?
As for your being shunted into basic economy on an award flight, not to mention as part of an F award ticket, that's a new one on me. But at least good that you locked down that connection; maybe it will come in handy later if you AA can find J availability.
Fortunately the person who picked up was an AA call center trainer. Initially she went through all the routings available from ABQ to JFK and was receiving errors anytime she tried to swap in the available business saver space. She could see the business saver space but none of it was considered to be a valid flight to pair with the EY F segment. The night before I had put an ABQ to JFK routing in biz saver space on hold and called in twice, both reps contacted the help desk which said that they couldn’t use those flights in a J itinerary. I mentioned this segment I had on hold to the trainer, she opened it up, confirmed the fare class was valid on all of it but rather than calling the help desk, she called her supervisor. They reviewed the biz saver seats to confirm they were valid award saver space and the supervisor said there shouldn’t be any reason other than a glitch which is preventing them from being added to the EY flight. The supervisor authorized a ticket exchange without releasing the EY segment and manually rebuilt it with the business saver domestic seats. Not sure what kind of voodoo magic they did but it worked. Everything was confirmed and ticketed about 30 minutes later.
I have to call tonight to book a AUH-MLE segment and a return from MLE to ABQ once the domestic saver space opens. I’m hoping I don’t have an issue. I’ll give Etihad a call after I get this flight booked to pick seats on all their flights and confirm it’s ticketed properly.
One thing I do need to double check with AA about is that there was a misspelling in my name. Before purchasing the tickets, I had them fix it. When I view the itinerary on “my trips” on the AA site, it shows up correct but when I click on “passenger details” it is still misspelt. I had no issue adding my KTN or adding my AA number to the reservation so I think the name is okay but I’m paranoid and don’t want to show up next November and be handed a ticket with a misspelt name.
Jan 9, 2019, 7:19 pm
#755
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Benicia, California, USA
Programs: AA PLT,AS,UA PP,J6,FB,EY,LH,SQ,HH Dmd,Hyatt Glbl,Marriott Plat,IHG Plat,Accor Gold
Posts: 10,820
So on the sixth HUCA I was able to resolve the issue.
Fortunately the person who picked up was an AA call center trainer. Initially she went through all the routings available from ABQ to JFK and was receiving errors anytime she tried to swap in the available business saver space. She could see the business saver space but none of it was considered to be a valid flight to pair with the EY F segment. The night before I had put an ABQ to JFK routing in biz saver space on hold and called in twice, both reps contacted the help desk which said that they couldn’t use those flights in a J itinerary. I mentioned this segment I had on hold to the trainer, she opened it up, confirmed the fare class was valid on all of it but rather than calling the help desk, she called her supervisor. They reviewed the biz saver seats to confirm they were valid award saver space and the supervisor said there shouldn’t be any reason other than a glitch which is preventing them from being added to the EY flight. The supervisor authorized a ticket exchange without releasing the EY segment and manually rebuilt it with the business saver domestic seats. Not sure what kind of voodoo magic they did but it worked. Everything was confirmed and ticketed about 30 minutes later.
I have to call tonight to book a AUH-MLE segment and a return from MLE to ABQ once the domestic saver space opens. I’m hoping I don’t have an issue. I’ll give Etihad a call after I get this flight booked to pick seats on all their flights and confirm it’s ticketed properly.
One thing I do need to double check with AA about is that there was a misspelling in my name. Before purchasing the tickets, I had them fix it. When I view the itinerary on “my trips” on the AA site, it shows up correct but when I click on “passenger details” it is still misspelt. I had no issue adding my KTN or adding my AA number to the reservation so I think the name is okay but I’m paranoid and don’t want to show up next November and be handed a ticket with a misspelt name.
Last edited by Thunderroad; Jan 10, 2019 at 2:00 am
Jan 9, 2019, 11:07 pm
#756
Join Date: May 2017
Posts: 480
Just thought I'd post my experience.
I was a bit worried about booking this award after reading all the stories of having to call Australia or Singapore or or or....
But..I called the USA Aadvantage number, they were able to see the flight I wanted and book me in F with no real problems. It is a 4 leg award booking. 2 QF flights and 2 EY flights. All premium awards and 1 1st class Apartment award. The only problem I ran into was... originally I was booked on a connection in SYD that only allowed for 50 min between flights. About 1 hour after booking the award I was called buy AA and asked to switch to a different flight since the minimum connection time was 75 min. Glad they called me and it was easy to get switched around. I recieved an email with confirmation and recipt and also was provided with the QF & EY RL numbers. I have yet to get seat assignments but will do so soon.
Thanks for all the advice and help.
For all those trying to book EY award ticket try calling the USA line 1st, you never know what might conspire.
I was a bit worried about booking this award after reading all the stories of having to call Australia or Singapore or or or....
But..I called the USA Aadvantage number, they were able to see the flight I wanted and book me in F with no real problems. It is a 4 leg award booking. 2 QF flights and 2 EY flights. All premium awards and 1 1st class Apartment award. The only problem I ran into was... originally I was booked on a connection in SYD that only allowed for 50 min between flights. About 1 hour after booking the award I was called buy AA and asked to switch to a different flight since the minimum connection time was 75 min. Glad they called me and it was easy to get switched around. I recieved an email with confirmation and recipt and also was provided with the QF & EY RL numbers. I have yet to get seat assignments but will do so soon.
Thanks for all the advice and help.
For all those trying to book EY award ticket try calling the USA line 1st, you never know what might conspire.
Jan 10, 2019, 5:28 pm
#757
Join Date: Feb 2010
Posts: 112
Etihad AA Award Discrepancy?
Hi everyone,
I’ve read on multiple websites that any award seats listed as opeb in the “Guest” category on Etihad’s Award Travel search are the same seats that are released to Etihad partners (incl. AA) for booking by those agents. Same flights, same quantity of seats.
This has only proved to be partially true for me so far, and I’m wondering if I or the agent I spoke with is doing something wrong.
Last night I called to book two tickets on EY 130 from IAD-AUH on 2/28/19 connecting to EY 278 AUH-MLE on 3/2/19. Etihad website was showing 2 available J seats on each leg. When I called AA, they were able to grab the 2 seats on the first leg for me as expected, but they said they only had coach availability on the second leg, despite what I was seeing. So I took the two coach seats for now.
I checked the Etihad site again today, and the two J seats were still showing as available in the “Guest Business” category for that second leg (EY 278), so I called again and spoke to a different agent. But again I was told no J availability on that leg.
So is what I’ve read about the parity between “Guest” seats on the Etihad website and partner availability just plain incorrect? Or is the agent looking in the wrong place? What’s a good strategy here to try and move up from coach?
Many thanks as always for any advice!
I’ve read on multiple websites that any award seats listed as opeb in the “Guest” category on Etihad’s Award Travel search are the same seats that are released to Etihad partners (incl. AA) for booking by those agents. Same flights, same quantity of seats.
This has only proved to be partially true for me so far, and I’m wondering if I or the agent I spoke with is doing something wrong.
Last night I called to book two tickets on EY 130 from IAD-AUH on 2/28/19 connecting to EY 278 AUH-MLE on 3/2/19. Etihad website was showing 2 available J seats on each leg. When I called AA, they were able to grab the 2 seats on the first leg for me as expected, but they said they only had coach availability on the second leg, despite what I was seeing. So I took the two coach seats for now.
I checked the Etihad site again today, and the two J seats were still showing as available in the “Guest Business” category for that second leg (EY 278), so I called again and spoke to a different agent. But again I was told no J availability on that leg.
So is what I’ve read about the parity between “Guest” seats on the Etihad website and partner availability just plain incorrect? Or is the agent looking in the wrong place? What’s a good strategy here to try and move up from coach?
Many thanks as always for any advice!
Jan 10, 2019, 5:33 pm
#758
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 5,632
The "good strategy" starts with reading before posting. There is already a thread and wiki on this subject: Booking AA Award travel on Etihad / EY (master thread July 2017 onwards)
Jan 11, 2019, 11:29 am
#760
Join Date: Jan 2019
Location: Albuquerque
Posts: 64
Yesterday I called to book my return flight from the Maldives to Albuquerque with the route MLE-AUH-LAX-ABQ in J. The tickets were showing as "on request" as usual. In the middle of the night I received a confirmation email with the ticket numbers and showing my card was charged. The AA site is still showing them as "on request" rather than "ticketed". I'm not sure if this is a website glitch or they are not actually ticketed all the way through.
Looking at the receipt, I'm pretty sure the phone agent in Singapore charged me the phone booking fee even though we can't book Etihad online. I'm going to call later today to see if they will refund it. Hopefully they don't screw anything up.
Looking at the receipt, I'm pretty sure the phone agent in Singapore charged me the phone booking fee even though we can't book Etihad online. I'm going to call later today to see if they will refund it. Hopefully they don't screw anything up.
Jan 11, 2019, 3:50 pm
#761
Join Date: Jun 2015
Posts: 20
Hi everyone,
I’ve read on multiple websites that any award seats listed as opeb in the “Guest” category on Etihad’s Award Travel search are the same seats that are released to Etihad partners (incl. AA) for booking by those agents. Same flights, same quantity of seats.
This has only proved to be partially true for me so far, and I’m wondering if I or the agent I spoke with is doing something wrong.
Last night I called to book two tickets on EY 130 from IAD-AUH on 2/28/19 connecting to EY 278 AUH-MLE on 3/2/19. Etihad website was showing 2 available J seats on each leg. When I called AA, they were able to grab the 2 seats on the first leg for me as expected, but they said they only had coach availability on the second leg, despite what I was seeing. So I took the two coach seats for now.
I checked the Etihad site again today, and the two J seats were still showing as available in the “Guest Business” category for that second leg (EY 278), so I called again and spoke to a different agent. But again I was told no J availability on that leg.
So is what I’ve read about the parity between “Guest” seats on the Etihad website and partner availability just plain incorrect? Or is the agent looking in the wrong place? What’s a good strategy here to try and move up from coach?
Many thanks as always for any advice!
I’ve read on multiple websites that any award seats listed as opeb in the “Guest” category on Etihad’s Award Travel search are the same seats that are released to Etihad partners (incl. AA) for booking by those agents. Same flights, same quantity of seats.
This has only proved to be partially true for me so far, and I’m wondering if I or the agent I spoke with is doing something wrong.
Last night I called to book two tickets on EY 130 from IAD-AUH on 2/28/19 connecting to EY 278 AUH-MLE on 3/2/19. Etihad website was showing 2 available J seats on each leg. When I called AA, they were able to grab the 2 seats on the first leg for me as expected, but they said they only had coach availability on the second leg, despite what I was seeing. So I took the two coach seats for now.
I checked the Etihad site again today, and the two J seats were still showing as available in the “Guest Business” category for that second leg (EY 278), so I called again and spoke to a different agent. But again I was told no J availability on that leg.
So is what I’ve read about the parity between “Guest” seats on the Etihad website and partner availability just plain incorrect? Or is the agent looking in the wrong place? What’s a good strategy here to try and move up from coach?
Many thanks as always for any advice!
I have a similar itinerary to MLE from JFK - AUH - MLE leaving on March 30.
I was originally on the EY 278 flight from AUH - MLE in first.
Recently, I was bumped to the earlier EY260 flight from AUH - MLE in business (no first class cabin).
I've called all the help desks (Australia, NZ, Singapore, etc.) and they all claim to be unable to see the two first class award seats that I can see on the Etihad guest site.
I wonder if there is something strange going on with that 278 flight...
Jan 11, 2019, 4:11 pm
#762
Join Date: Jan 2019
Location: Albuquerque
Posts: 64
That's interesting.
I have a similar itinerary to MLE from JFK - AUH - MLE leaving on March 30.
I was originally on the EY 278 flight from AUH - MLE in first.
Recently, I was bumped to the earlier EY260 flight from AUH - MLE in business (no first class cabin).
I've called all the help desks (Australia, NZ, Singapore, etc.) and they all claim to be unable to see the two first class award seats that I can see on the Etihad guest site.
I wonder if there is something strange going on with that 278 flight...
I have a similar itinerary to MLE from JFK - AUH - MLE leaving on March 30.
I was originally on the EY 278 flight from AUH - MLE in first.
Recently, I was bumped to the earlier EY260 flight from AUH - MLE in business (no first class cabin).
I've called all the help desks (Australia, NZ, Singapore, etc.) and they all claim to be unable to see the two first class award seats that I can see on the Etihad guest site.
I wonder if there is something strange going on with that 278 flight...
Are you asking the help desk to search 3/30?
I assume you are on EY 100 which departs 23:00 on 3/30 and arrives 19:45 on 3/31. You would need the EY 278 flight departing 8:40 on 4/1 which should be available?
Your post was a bit unclear on the dates so I'm just confirming what you are searching.
Last edited by Lobonomnom; Jan 11, 2019 at 4:15 pm Reason: Screwed up dates.
Jan 11, 2019, 4:13 pm
#763
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: LAX
Programs: UA Silver, AA, WN, DL
Posts: 4,091
Adding data point re booking via US call center Was successful in booking MLE - AUH in business. Few months ago while booking F AUH - JFK had no luck getting US agents to see or book seats, even though clearly available on EY site. Was only able to get that segment by calling Australia.
Not sure if this is a permanent change in viewing/booking EY with US call center, but it would be nice not to play call center roulette.
Not sure if this is a permanent change in viewing/booking EY with US call center, but it would be nice not to play call center roulette.
Jan 11, 2019, 4:19 pm
#764
Join Date: Jan 2019
Location: Albuquerque
Posts: 64
Adding data point re booking via US call center Was successful in booking MLE - AUH in business. Few months ago while booking F AUH - JFK had no luck getting US agents to see or book seats, even though clearly available on EY site. Was only able to get that segment by calling Australia.
Not sure if this is a permanent change in viewing/booking EY with US call center, but it would be nice not to play call center roulette.
Not sure if this is a permanent change in viewing/booking EY with US call center, but it would be nice not to play call center roulette.
Neither US or Australia was able to see JFK-AUH in F availability when I called a few days ago but Singapore was able to see it. I also had to call Singapore to book the return MLE-AUH-LAX in J because neither US or Australia could see the AUH-LAX J availability.
Jan 11, 2019, 4:23 pm
#765
Join Date: Jun 2015
Posts: 20
When I search 3/30 there is no guest first availability on 278. I do see 2 F availability on 4/1.
Are you asking the help desk to search 3/30?
I assume you are on EY 100 which departs 23:00 on 3/30 and arrives 19:45 on 3/31. You would need the EY 278 flight departing 8:40 on 4/1 which should be available?
Your post was a bit unclear on the dates so I'm just confirming what you are searching.
Are you asking the help desk to search 3/30?
I assume you are on EY 100 which departs 23:00 on 3/30 and arrives 19:45 on 3/31. You would need the EY 278 flight departing 8:40 on 4/1 which should be available?
Your post was a bit unclear on the dates so I'm just confirming what you are searching.
I see the first seats as well. AA was able to see to see them when i asked them to start a new award booking for AUH-MLE. THen when I asked them to swap out my flight on my original booking, they can no longer see it.
Currently on hold with the US line to sort it out.
One interesting thing I notice is that when I search that itinerary as a cash flight on Etihad they don't display it. However, I can generate it in google flights and continue to book on Etihad.