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)
Mar 14, 2018, 1:32 pm
#241
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
There have been some reports that AA agents have said that Fiji has been closed down. While agents will say the darndest things, in this case there is some evidence that this may be correct---it has been a while since anyone has reported reaching Fiji. However, there have been one or two reports that Trinidad has booked EY flights than the US call center could not.
Also FWIW, I just checked late 2017 into 2018 and found about five reports of successfully booking via Trinidad (along with at least as many of not being able to find availability through that call center). Admittedly, not much of a pattern, but perhaps better than nothing.
Last edited by Thunderroad; Mar 14, 2018 at 1:56 pm
Mar 16, 2018, 7:37 pm
#242
Join Date: Feb 2017
Posts: 15
Trying to book a LHR-AUH-SYD F seat.
Called the Australian line first (am Australian) and they could only see the LHR-AUH portion. Called Singapore and they could see the full route but when they went to issue the ticket, AUH-SYD wouldn't confirm.
Agent suggested they might have been having issues on their end so to just keep calling back to see if they can book it.
Frustrating!
Called the Australian line first (am Australian) and they could only see the LHR-AUH portion. Called Singapore and they could see the full route but when they went to issue the ticket, AUH-SYD wouldn't confirm.
Agent suggested they might have been having issues on their end so to just keep calling back to see if they can book it.
Frustrating!
Mar 16, 2018, 9:18 pm
#243
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,581
Trying to book a LHR-AUH-SYD F seat.
Called the Australian line first (am Australian) and they could only see the LHR-AUH portion. Called Singapore and they could see the full route but when they went to issue the ticket, AUH-SYD wouldn't confirm.
Agent suggested they might have been having issues on their end so to just keep calling back to see if they can book it.
Frustrating!
Called the Australian line first (am Australian) and they could only see the LHR-AUH portion. Called Singapore and they could see the full route but when they went to issue the ticket, AUH-SYD wouldn't confirm.
Agent suggested they might have been having issues on their end so to just keep calling back to see if they can book it.
Frustrating!
Mar 17, 2018, 8:54 am
#244
Join Date: Jun 2015
Posts: 644
I have award ticket using AA miles from hyd-dfw with hyd->auh->ord on etihad and ord->DFW on AA. If I finish immigration at AUH do I have to collect my bags in ORD or will AA handle transfer of bags from EY to AA flight without needing me to do anything?
Mar 17, 2018, 10:16 am
#245
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: MIA
Posts: 498
The only US gateway that allows luggage transfer without collection is MIA and that is only for International to International flights.
Mar 17, 2018, 10:26 am
#246
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Denver • DEN-APA
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In that case, you would arrive ORD as an international flight and clear customs in ORD.
As sgan317 notes, you would have to pick up your bag before leaving customs and then drop it off with AA just outside of customs. You can then retrieve it in DFW.
Mar 17, 2018, 10:27 am
#247
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 5,631
You will arrive as a 'domestic' passenger in ORD. You'll arrive at T5, the international terminal, but will bypass immigration and Customs. You will not have to collect your luggage until DFW.
Yes, I have done this myself, unlike the other posters peddling false information.
Mar 17, 2018, 10:30 am
#248
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 5,631
As your AUH-ORD flight departs at 3:30a, I do not believe that the AUH PreClearance operates that early.
In that case, you would arrive ORD as an international flight and clear customs in ORD.
As sgan317 notes, you would have to pick up your bag before leaving customs and then drop it off with AA just outside of customs. You can then retrieve it in DFW.
In that case, you would arrive ORD as an international flight and clear customs in ORD.
As sgan317 notes, you would have to pick up your bag before leaving customs and then drop it off with AA just outside of customs. You can then retrieve it in DFW.
It's not like this hasn't been discussed in this thread before.
Mar 17, 2018, 10:33 am
#249
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Denver • DEN-APA
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Mar 17, 2018, 11:22 am
#250
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: MLB
Programs: DL DM/2.9M, AA EXP, *A Gold
Posts: 245
And unless it isn't already completely clear, every US-bound flight from AUH on EY participates in US CBP Preclearance, regardless of destination city or time of departure.
Mar 17, 2018, 4:15 pm
#251
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: MIA
Posts: 498
Not hostility. Frustration. I think what SeeBuyFly was saying is, if you don't know the answer to the question, don't answer it. Just sit back and let someone else answer the question. There are lots of people on this thread that have flown some or all of these EY routes many times and have the answer readily at hand. Spreading "guesses" or "assumptions" dilutes the value of this forum.
And unless it isn't already completely clear, every US-bound flight from AUH on EY participates in US CBP Preclearance, regardless of destination city or time of departure.
And unless it isn't already completely clear, every US-bound flight from AUH on EY participates in US CBP Preclearance, regardless of destination city or time of departure.
Mar 17, 2018, 4:30 pm
#252
Join Date: Jun 2015
Posts: 644
Yes.
You will arrive as a 'domestic' passenger in ORD. You'll arrive at T5, the international terminal, but will bypass immigration and Customs. You will not have to collect your luggage until DFW.
Yes, I have done this myself, unlike the other posters peddling false information.
You will arrive as a 'domestic' passenger in ORD. You'll arrive at T5, the international terminal, but will bypass immigration and Customs. You will not have to collect your luggage until DFW.
Yes, I have done this myself, unlike the other posters peddling false information.
Mar 18, 2018, 6:38 am
#253
Join Date: Apr 2014
Programs: Hilton - Diamond, IHG - Spire Amb
Posts: 901
Success:
Have finished booking, ticketed, and seat assignments for 2 MLE-AUH-JFK in First (O class) end of January 2019.
Thank you to all on this board for the wealth of info, tips shared, phone numbers recommended etc.
I will share a few bulleted items of thoughts and experience:
Given my small sample size/data set I recommend: US based agents can do business class fine (starting fresh without any existing record). For 1st class, just calling Trinidad. 2 calls and each time immediately they were able to see and select 1st class for us.
A possible warning: If you have a CC that gives you a rebated of miles (Aviator red card for instance), when I changed this booking the miles were redeposited, the rebate refunded, and then the miles were taken again. I am unsure if have since canceled your card if you would no longer get that rebate.
This completes our trip: 2 First class suites with Emirates on their A380 SFO-DXB-MLE, 15 nights Conrad Maldives, 2 First class/Apartments Etihad MLE-AUH-JFK. Will have to report back next year when we take it.
Thanks again to the collective wisdom and reports from everyone.
Have finished booking, ticketed, and seat assignments for 2 MLE-AUH-JFK in First (O class) end of January 2019.
Thank you to all on this board for the wealth of info, tips shared, phone numbers recommended etc.
I will share a few bulleted items of thoughts and experience:
- Snag business seats (Booking code I) first as they will be released before 1st class (booking code O). This was successfully done by US based American agents
- After watching things daily for a month, the pattern appears to be 331 for business, 318 for first.
- If all you want are business, even if you take the only 2 being shown, usually within days more will be released.
- For first availability, DO NOT rely on complete trip search. i.e., MLE-AUH-JFK if they span more than one day. Our flights from MLE on 1/30 connects to AUH-JFK on 1/31. A seach on expertflyer for MLE-JFK on EK booking code O would show 2 seats for both legs, the same search on etihadguest showed 2 seats available. However, if you searched segment by segement, only the MLE-AUH had seats, while the AUH-MLE segment was not yet released.
- It is possible to have a mixed class of service itinerary with etihad. US based agents told me it wasn't possible, but was successfully constructed by Trinidad agents and ticketed. This was done 12 hours prior to release of seats on AUH-JFK. We paid the extra miles to go from (I) to (O) and then had a ticket in (O) MLE-AUH and (I) AUH-JFK
- Midnight CST (had to stay up late yawning to see the repeatable behavior) I hit refresh on expertflyer and 2 seats in (O) were now there. A call to US agents resulted "I'm sorry we can't see anything" ... if this was simply because it was 12:01 and the system needed more time, or more like as per usual US agents are unable ... regardless no success with them
- Using google voice, called the trinidad number (country code 868 821-6000) at $0.14 per minute and navigate options of 1 for engligh, then I think option 2 for award questions, then option 1 for award redemptions - within one minute a representative was on the line. I said "I'm currently in business class and want to be moved to first class for a flight segment - I have my record locator number if I may give it to you please" Sure "xxxxxxxxxx, and I'm looking at Etihad flight 103 AUH-JFK, I see 2 seat in booking class O now available".
- A minute or two of anxiety while she inaudibly mutters to her self and then "I now have you in first class." She indicated that booking to a higher class of service waives award mile redeposit fees, (each call they redeposited then rewithdrew the miles), she indicated that I had already paid the 110,000 miles (1st class Indian subcontinent to AUH was 40k, 70k business onward) and that it was now 115,000 (1st class Indian subcontinent all the way to continental US)
- Went to bed and see within 1.5 hours emails came through showing ticketing
- Used iphone to go to mobile website to select adjoining 1st class apartments on AUH-JFK for my wife and I.
Given my small sample size/data set I recommend: US based agents can do business class fine (starting fresh without any existing record). For 1st class, just calling Trinidad. 2 calls and each time immediately they were able to see and select 1st class for us.
A possible warning: If you have a CC that gives you a rebated of miles (Aviator red card for instance), when I changed this booking the miles were redeposited, the rebate refunded, and then the miles were taken again. I am unsure if have since canceled your card if you would no longer get that rebate.
This completes our trip: 2 First class suites with Emirates on their A380 SFO-DXB-MLE, 15 nights Conrad Maldives, 2 First class/Apartments Etihad MLE-AUH-JFK. Will have to report back next year when we take it.
Thanks again to the collective wisdom and reports from everyone.
Mar 18, 2018, 8:30 am
#254
Join Date: Apr 2014
Programs: Hilton - Diamond, IHG - Spire Amb
Posts: 901
Modified the wiki to add section on using https://www.virtuallythere.com/new/login.html to view your reservation/ticket number etc.
Mar 18, 2018, 8:58 am
#255
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: MLB
Programs: DL DM/2.9M, AA EXP, *A Gold
Posts: 245
Success:
Have finished booking, ticketed, and seat assignments for 2 MLE-AUH-JFK in First (O class) end of January 2019.
A possible warning: If you have a CC that gives you a rebated of miles (Aviator red card for instance), when I changed this booking the miles were redeposited, the rebate refunded, and then the miles were taken again. I am unsure if have since canceled your card if you would no longer get that rebate.
This completes our trip: 2 First class suites with Emirates on their A380 SFO-DXB-MLE, 15 nights Conrad Maldives, 2 First class/Apartments Etihad MLE-AUH-JFK. Will have to report back next year when we take it.
Thanks again to the collective wisdom and reports from everyone.
Have finished booking, ticketed, and seat assignments for 2 MLE-AUH-JFK in First (O class) end of January 2019.
A possible warning: If you have a CC that gives you a rebated of miles (Aviator red card for instance), when I changed this booking the miles were redeposited, the rebate refunded, and then the miles were taken again. I am unsure if have since canceled your card if you would no longer get that rebate.
This completes our trip: 2 First class suites with Emirates on their A380 SFO-DXB-MLE, 15 nights Conrad Maldives, 2 First class/Apartments Etihad MLE-AUH-JFK. Will have to report back next year when we take it.
Thanks again to the collective wisdom and reports from everyone.
Regarding the bolded paragraph above, IME this is exactly what happens. For minor routing changes (lately, anyway), they are reissuing the tickets without the redeposit cycle. But for class of service changes, it's easy to kind of get screwed in the process. A rookie mistake I made a few years ago was upgrading a segment during the last week of December. The ticket went "pending" on Dec 27th and didn't finish re-ticketing until Jan 4th. They took back the 10K miles that had been rebated when initially ticketed in 2015 and then gave me the 10K miles back again on Jan 4th.
So, basically, my 2015 mileage-rebate benefit went unused, and the re-ticketing process used up my 2016 mileage rebate benefit, rendering it useless for new 2016 bookings.
I didn't take the time to challenge this, so others may be able to comment on whether this would have been successful or not. In any case, it was a good lesson learned the hard way.