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 15, 2020, 7:56 am
#1471
Join Date: Aug 2018
Programs: AA Plat Pro
Posts: 105
I have an apartment flight on hold for April on EY100 (JFK-AUH). The AA mobile app is showing aircraft type of 777-300ER now, although the AA website, EF, and Etihad website all show A380. Has anyone else noticed this behavior? Don't want to gamble paying for first and not getting the apartment, and I know Etihad has toyed in the past with removing A380 capacity from JFK..
Jan 15, 2020, 9:46 pm
#1472
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Bay area, CA
Programs: SW, AS, UA, AA, Delta, Hilton, Hyatt, Club Carlson, SPG, IHG, Choice
Posts: 183
Etihad shows award space available in Guest business but when I try to login and book through AA web site, it errors saying one of more flight is not available.
What to do? How do I book Etihad flight with AA miles now?
What to do? How do I book Etihad flight with AA miles now?
Jan 15, 2020, 9:58 pm
#1473
Join Date: Jan 2019
Location: Albuquerque
Posts: 64
The wiki has a good explanation on how to book J and F with Etihad that both AA online and AA US phone reps cannot book.
Jan 20, 2020, 10:24 am
#1474
Join Date: Dec 2017
Posts: 137
Is there a specific time (EST) that EY releases award space, at the 330-day mark? A post here from several months ago suggests there isn’t (at say midnight EST), but I’m wondering if this has changed. Would I be better off setting an EF alert instead of waiting right at the booking window opening?
Jan 20, 2020, 10:19 pm
#1475
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: DFW
Programs: AA EXP, Marriott Gold, Hilton Diamond, Hyatt Plat, CC Gold, IHG Plat Amb, Choice Plat
Posts: 306
is Etihad now releasing only two seats in biz class in advance? trying book in June/July for 3 people and all availability is max two pax
Jan 21, 2020, 3:02 pm
#1477
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 39
Jan 22, 2020, 4:14 pm
#1479
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Sacramento
Programs: Hyatt Globalist, HH Diamond, Marriott Platinum, Amtrak Select
Posts: 1,341
Jan 22, 2020, 4:15 pm
#1480
Join Date: Apr 2011
Posts: 181
Not sure how many times you've tried to call but yesterday I saw an award on AA.com, confirmed the space on the Etihad website and ExpertFlyer and it took me 6 calls to get an agent that could see (or, less charitably, was willing to look for) the space. I know the call routing is somewhat random but it was the NZ number that I used that finally got me directed to the agent willing to help.
Jan 22, 2020, 5:46 pm
#1481
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 4,970
Not sure how many times you've tried to call but yesterday I saw an award on AA.com, confirmed the space on the Etihad website and ExpertFlyer and it took me 6 calls to get an agent that could see (or, less charitably, was willing to look for) the space. I know the call routing is somewhat random but it was the NZ number that I used that finally got me directed to the agent willing to help.
Jan 22, 2020, 6:17 pm
#1482
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,600
Did the Etihad guest site show journey as available if searched simply from origin to destination
Jan 22, 2020, 6:51 pm
#1483
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 4,970
Yes Etihad guest showed entire journey as available with simple origin to destination (SEZ to LAX).
Jan 23, 2020, 11:06 am
#1484
Join Date: Apr 2011
Posts: 181
I can just add one more datapoint here about the ticket I referenced above. The ticket sat "on request" for a day before the miles got deducted from my account but remained "on request" so I waited until this morning and called to check if there was an issue with the credit card or if EY was just being slow responding and the rep said "this was booked in New Zealand, originates in Rome, and was paid in the US" and she needed to work with web support to sort out the currency. I don't know if the "booked in New Zealand" just means that's the number I called or if that was indeed the location of the call centre that I got transferred to. Not sure if this helps, but maybe someone will find it useful, especially maybe using the NZ number as first choice for these bookings.
Jan 24, 2020, 4:33 am
#1485
Join Date: Aug 2007
Programs: AA EXP, Amex Plat
Posts: 572
Yet another data point: AA.com showed MLE-AUH-JFK availability in F, but I couldn't book it online. US EXP agents could not find the seats. It took two calls to NZ (routing to Trinidad) to get an agent that could find the availability and book it. It's now on request (presumably) while EY confirms. Keeping my fingers crossed!! Really want to experience the Apartment!
UPDATE: It took two days, but the tickets are now confirmed. Miles were deducted from my account and a charge for NZ dollars showed up on my credit card.
UPDATE: It took two days, but the tickets are now confirmed. Miles were deducted from my account and a charge for NZ dollars showed up on my credit card.
Last edited by tacostuff; Jan 27, 2020 at 6:26 am