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 18, 2019, 7:32 am
#947
Join Date: Apr 2007
Programs: QF, VA, AC, Hyatt, Marriott
Posts: 3,779
Hmmm. Good to know, thank you. However, There is no EY service to ASP but there is to PER which I'm concerned may impact the award pricing and make it two awards. I wouldn't be travelling by the most direct route (albeit PER does not have F service but I don't think that would matter to AA).
Apr 18, 2019, 7:55 am
#948
Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 696
Hmmm. Good to know, thank you. However, There is no EY service to ASP but there is to PER which I'm concerned may impact the award pricing and make it two awards. I wouldn't be travelling by the most direct route (albeit PER does not have F service but I don't think that would matter to AA).
Apr 18, 2019, 11:27 am
#949
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Washington, DC
Posts: 1,309
Sorry - there is no more Etihad service to Perth. They dumped it last year.
The only places Etihad flies to in Australia these days are Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane.
The only places Etihad flies to in Australia these days are Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane.
Hmmm. Good to know, thank you. However, There is no EY service to ASP but there is to PER which I'm concerned may impact the award pricing and make it two awards. I wouldn't be travelling by the most direct route (albeit PER does not have F service but I don't think that would matter to AA).
Apr 18, 2019, 12:48 pm
#950
Join Date: May 2011
Posts: 889
Right now I'm seriously considering doing a pre-emptive booking as far out as I can before the proverbial stuff hits the fan so I can get in one more round.
Apr 18, 2019, 1:08 pm
#951
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Austin
Posts: 4,629
That may or may not be a good idea. Occasionally in the past when a partner dropped there was also a date after which no changes could be made. I have no information that EY will or will not drop but I am confident that if they were going to stop booking in June there would already be an official announcement.
Apr 18, 2019, 1:18 pm
#952
Join Date: May 2011
Posts: 889
The only constant about the game is random unannounced changes. I've accumulated a massive stack of AA miles and was hoping that the grAAvy train would stop before EY bails ...
Or maybe AA could restart service ORD-DEL, that'd be great, but would likely be at a very high mileage cost especially for C.
Right now I'm leaning towards this whole thing just being a rumor as nothing else has come of it.
Apr 20, 2019, 7:35 am
#954
Join Date: Aug 2004
Programs: AA (EP), Hilton (Diamond), Marriott Bonvoy (Titanium)
Posts: 8,937
If you were originally ticketed to fly on your desired dates but have now been moved to different days, first check to see if your flights are no longer operating on your original dates, and if that's the case, see what alternate flights you would like. Then call AA and ask the agent to try and put you on your desired replacement flights (or original flights if they are still operating). The agent likely will have to ask the AA OneWorld liaison to ask EY to move you.
Apr 20, 2019, 7:50 am
#955
Join Date: Apr 2017
Posts: 599
If you were originally ticketed to fly on your desired dates but have now been moved to different days, first check to see if your flights are no longer operating on your original dates, and if that's the case, see what alternate flights you would like. Then call AA and ask the agent to try and put you on your desired replacement flights (or original flights if they are still operating). The agent likely will have to ask the AA OneWorld liaison to ask EY to move you.
If they cancelled the routes all together, I can understand why they moved me to different date but nothing has changed and they stil moved my date. It’s hard to understand what triggered the change.
Apr 20, 2019, 3:44 pm
#956
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Brisbane
Programs: QF gold, HH Diamond, VA plat, Aegean Gold
Posts: 681
I seem to have had a unilateral change too but only to the earlier flight on the same day so can live with it. As an aside how can you book EY seats, website seems to only allow Y seats to be booked online.
Apr 20, 2019, 4:16 pm
#957
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,549
For seat selectiom, make a telephone call to Etihad and an agent will be abke to do it
Apr 20, 2019, 6:11 pm
#959
Join Date: Sep 2005
Programs: AA LT PLAT - BONVOY PLAT
Posts: 206
Routing help needed for best avails..
All help appreciated with routing - can anyone please let me know best option to redeem LAX-AUH in J in November..
Not a problem to stop in JFK if needed, or possibly Europe (If booking through Europe = more availability in November, then which cities are most likely to have avails?)
Not in any way preferred but not opposed to using two separate awards if needed in order to have best chances for two seats in J on same flight..or purchasing LAX-Europe and redeeming Europe-AUH
Routing tips much appreciated..Thank you in advance!
Not a problem to stop in JFK if needed, or possibly Europe (If booking through Europe = more availability in November, then which cities are most likely to have avails?)
Not in any way preferred but not opposed to using two separate awards if needed in order to have best chances for two seats in J on same flight..or purchasing LAX-Europe and redeeming Europe-AUH
Routing tips much appreciated..Thank you in advance!
Apr 21, 2019, 12:38 pm
#960
Join Date: Aug 2004
Programs: AA (EP), Hilton (Diamond), Marriott Bonvoy (Titanium)
Posts: 8,937
All help appreciated with routing - can anyone please let me know best option to redeem LAX-AUH in J in November..
Not a problem to stop in JFK if needed, or possibly Europe (If booking through Europe = more availability in November, then which cities are most likely to have avails?)
Not in any way preferred but not opposed to using two separate awards if needed in order to have best chances for two seats in J on same flight..or purchasing LAX-Europe and redeeming Europe-AUH
Routing tips much appreciated..Thank you in advance!
Not a problem to stop in JFK if needed, or possibly Europe (If booking through Europe = more availability in November, then which cities are most likely to have avails?)
Not in any way preferred but not opposed to using two separate awards if needed in order to have best chances for two seats in J on same flight..or purchasing LAX-Europe and redeeming Europe-AUH
Routing tips much appreciated..Thank you in advance!
Last edited by anabolism; Apr 22, 2019 at 9:41 am