Jan 14, 2016, 5:43 am

FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides

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:

Quote:

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.

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:

NOTE: From AUH to the USA you will receive full USCBP Pre-Clearance in Abu Dhabi and will arrive in the USA as a domestic flight. However, AA and at least some other airlines (AS) will still demand International to Domestic MCT be met for ticketing purposes.

Booking AA Award travel on Etihad / EY (master thread July 2017 onwards)

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Jun 2, 2018, 2:53 pm

#466

metaphoreus

Join Date: Nov 2012

Posts: 41

Quote:

Originally Posted by dgsupersonic

As I am waiting for the Marriott package miles to arrive into my AA account, is it possible to hold the seats for a couple of days until the transfer is complete?

I waited 8 days for Marriott package miles to arrive and at most you can hold for 5 days. I monitored for a month how Etihad releases F awards. I calculated exactly when they might release awards for my desired date before getting the package. Three days ago my miles arrived into AA account. This morning I called AA (American office!) and booked 2 x F tickets ( AUH-LHR) without a problem for next April. and it was ticketed this evening. Taxes were $32.70 per person. Very happy and it will be my first time flying with Etihad.

Jun 2, 2018, 3:11 pm

#467

SeeBuyFly

Join Date: Dec 2004

Posts: 5,631

Quote:

Originally Posted by rp88

So to clarify... You saw the space on EY website. Then you "held" it and then you called NZ line to book. Can you explain how you "held" it before calling AA?

No, he probably just listed the events at random, rather than in chronological order.

Jun 3, 2018, 8:02 am

#468

icec

Join Date: May 2013

Posts: 39

Quote:

Originally Posted by rp88

So to clarify... You saw the space on EY website. Then you "held" it and then you called NZ line to book. Can you explain how you "held" it before calling AA?

Quote:

Originally Posted by SeeBuyFly

No, he probably just listed the events at random, rather than in chronological order.

Sorry for the confusion. I had to call NZ line to place the hold on the seats, and later called the US line to finalize the booking.

Jun 4, 2018, 9:29 pm

#469

jayoxd

Join Date: Jan 2015

Location: DC

Posts: 189

Ugh! i called the US call center and they couldn't see one leg (AUH > JFK) but they could see the SYD > AUH. Then I called the NZ call center and they couldn't see the leg that the US call center could see.

I'm sure this has something to do with the fact that I called 5 minutes prior. I'm going to head to bed and call in the AM and hope everything is "reset" and call direct to NZ.

Jun 5, 2018, 12:59 am

#470

starmie

Join Date: May 2018

Posts: 26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave Noble

AA is not listed in EY's routing rules, but would ( if going to Canada via USA gets permitted as an award) think that AA would have a chance of being accepted

I saw someone on OMAAT did AUH-JFK-YVR with 90k AA miles in 2016. I guess the end of codeshare between AA and EY killed this deal

Last edited by starmie; Jun 5, 2018 at 1:20 am

Jun 5, 2018, 1:27 am

#471

Dave Noble

A FlyerTalk Posting Legend

Join Date: Jan 2002

Posts: 44,580

Quote:

Originally Posted by starmie

I saw someone on OMAAT did AUH-JFK-YVR with 90k AA miles in 2016. I guess the end of codeshare between AA and EY killed this deal

Dunno - how did you go booking AA ? was it still 2 awards

Jun 5, 2018, 6:22 am

#472

MisterMechE

Join Date: Mar 2015

Posts: 32

I about had a heart attack this morning thanks to this over-blown, alarmist headline: Abu Dhabi's Etihad to suspend New York service - Gulf Business

Yes, Etihad is cutting *one* of their *two* daily AUH-JFK a380 flights. Thankfully, my booking reported a few posts ago AKL-SYD-AUH-JFK is fully intact. Panic slowly subsiding...

Jun 5, 2018, 6:28 am

#473

ukinny2000

Join Date: Mar 2011

Location: NY, NY

Posts: 695

Quote:

Originally Posted by MisterMechE

it's still fairly significant as the one flight they have left remaining out of JFK, EY100, has of late been a lot harder for AAgents to see than EY102. It is also a reduction of 70 Apartment seats out of JFK per week (actually more than that as EY100 will be A380 6x and 777 1x per week)

Jun 5, 2018, 6:31 am

#474

ATX1989

Join Date: Jan 2018

Location: Austin, TX

Programs: AA Plat Pro, Marriott Ambassador, Hyatt Globalist, United Platinum

Posts: 24

Anyone else notice that EY 102 (JFK to AUH) is not showing up past September of this year anymore.

I called up AA and they got me moved over to EY 100 ( I've got a flight in December). The agent confirmed that EY had already had be switched and it appears there is only one JFK to AUH flight moving forward. This sucks, since we were looking forward to a 21 hour layover in Abu Dhabi but I guess it could be much worse.

I would recommend anyone with an EY102 reservation to check their reservation and give AA a call.

Jun 5, 2018, 6:31 am

#475

MisterMechE

Join Date: Mar 2015

Posts: 32

Quote:

Originally Posted by ukinny2000

Oh, no arguments on the fact that it's big, but that headline is clearly constructed in a way to make it seem like Etihad is pulling out of JFK entirely. It's very bad, a disaster for some, but the headline is still purposefully phrased to make it seem even WORSE than the reality (which again, I agree is super bad).

Jun 5, 2018, 6:35 am

#476

ukinny2000

Join Date: Mar 2011

Location: NY, NY

Posts: 695

Quote:

Originally Posted by ATX1989

And EY103 on the way back, you should confirm that you have been rebooked into EY101

Jun 5, 2018, 12:54 pm

#477

fedechat

Join Date: Dec 2005

Location: South Florida

Programs: AA EXP, HH Diamond, Marriott Platinium

Posts: 1,334

I have a 3hs layover in AUH before continuing to JFK and now I will leave AUH early in the morning... the only issue is the last flight out of JFK to MIA is at 5pm which it became an illegal connection per AA MCT rules. I guess I will have to take my luggage and go to LGA, 3.5hs I think is enough time.

Jun 5, 2018, 1:32 pm

#478

NecessaryIndulgences

Join Date: Sep 2011

Location: MLB

Programs: DL DM/2.9M, AA EXP, *A Gold

Posts: 245

Quote:

Originally Posted by fedechat

Yes, they continue to enforce an absurd 2h15m MCT for EY to AA connections despite the fact that it is a domestic arrival. In April, we were at the AA gate in T8 25 minutes from the time EY103 set the brakes at the gate in T4 (not from the time we deplaned). AA is blaming it on the FAA.

You can hope for schedule changes that could make the JFK flight legal...

Jun 6, 2018, 4:22 pm

#479

dgsupersonic

Join Date: Mar 2014

Location: LHR

Programs: BA GGL, KLM Platinum, SQ Silver, HH Diamond, Bonvoy Titanium, IHG Platinum

Posts: 15

Quote:

Originally Posted by metaphoreus

Just an update. Miles arrived in my AA account 2 days after ordering the package. Flying F LHR-AUH-MLE return in J MLE-AUH-LHR for 105000 AA miles and £254 of taxes/fees. (UK APD is about £154 on its own I believe). Still excited to fly Etihad to the Maldives this coming December.

Jun 6, 2018, 7:07 pm

#480

captainamerica

Join Date: May 2013

Posts: 190

Anyone else notice some of the JFK-AUH routes now have 6 saver award spots? This is the case on dates that have the reduced 1 flight per day schedule.