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)
Jun 23, 2018, 3:04 pm
#497
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,600
Jun 25, 2018, 11:03 pm
#498
Join Date: May 2011
Posts: 193
Hello all,
Couple of questions regarding redeeming AA miles on Etihad
1) Now that there is no codeshare between AA and Etihad, are we out of luck to book award tickets using a single award, from non-gateway Etihad cities ?
For e.g. LAS-DEL on Etihad routes via JFK using Jetblue. Will AA allow me to use 1 award redemption with LAS-LAX-AUH-DEL routing for this?
2) I see pretty high surcharges for Etihad miles redemption to DEL, is the amount same when using AA miles or less ?
Thanks in advance !
Couple of questions regarding redeeming AA miles on Etihad
1) Now that there is no codeshare between AA and Etihad, are we out of luck to book award tickets using a single award, from non-gateway Etihad cities ?
For e.g. LAS-DEL on Etihad routes via JFK using Jetblue. Will AA allow me to use 1 award redemption with LAS-LAX-AUH-DEL routing for this?
2) I see pretty high surcharges for Etihad miles redemption to DEL, is the amount same when using AA miles or less ?
Thanks in advance !
1) Yes, AA is able to route from non-gateway US cities as 1 award even though EY does not ticket that route. e.g. LAS-LAX-AUH-DEL
2) Taxes & surcharges are still a low $16.50 (coach) for the above routing
HTH & Thanks !
Jun 28, 2018, 6:05 am
#499
Join Date: Apr 2011
Posts: 567
Ath-AUH-Del
I am trying to book 2 legs Ath-Auh and Auh-Del. There is availability in both legs separately, with a connection time of 11 hours. However if I search Ath-Del on Etihad Guest website the same flights don't show up together. AA agents tell me they cannot do this connection separately and can only get the flights if they show up in the Ath-Del search. Is this right?
Jun 28, 2018, 6:55 am
#500
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,600
I am trying to book 2 legs Ath-Auh and Auh-Del. There is availability in both legs separately, with a connection time of 11 hours. However if I search Ath-Del on Etihad Guest website the same flights don't show up together. AA agents tell me they cannot do this connection separately and can only get the flights if they show up in the Ath-Del search. Is this right?
ATH-AUH may be available on its own and AUH-DEL may be available on its own, but that does not mean that ATH-DEL via AUH is available.
If EY is using married sectors, then it matters that you can see ATH-DEL
It can also work the other way - there can be availability for a through journey even though there is no availability on sectors individually
Jun 28, 2018, 2:57 pm
#501
Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 519
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 29, 2018, 4:19 am
#503
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: LHR
Programs: BA GGL, KLM Platinum, SQ Silver, HH Diamond, Bonvoy Titanium, IHG Platinum
Posts: 15
Probably the best use of Marriott points. https://www.marriott.co.uk/rewards/u...ts/morepack.mi
Jun 29, 2018, 8:16 am
#504
Join Date: Apr 2017
Posts: 600
I am looking for 3 seats JFK-AUH or AUH-JFK in first. I do see decent availability for 2 seats but not 3 seats. I have a question for those who booked FY First class recently.
Question: Does availability open up at last minute (e.g., 2 weeks within the departure) ?
Question: Does availability open up at last minute (e.g., 2 weeks within the departure) ?
Jun 29, 2018, 9:13 pm
#505
Join Date: Apr 2015
Posts: 66
I'm searching for HKG-AUH or BKK-AUH (in F), between 9 and 11 months out. I have searched date-by-date on etihad.com and am not seeing *any* availability at all. I would have thought these were somewhat easier routes than, say, AUH-JFK or LHR, especially BKK-AUH which has ~4 flights/day ... am I missing something? Searched the thread but couldn't seem to find any references to ease or difficulty in regards to booking these routes. Does anyone have any insight they could share?
Jun 29, 2018, 9:32 pm
#506
Join Date: Apr 2015
Posts: 66
I'm searching for HKG-AUH or BKK-AUH (in F), between 9 and 11 months out. I have searched date-by-date on etihad.com and am not seeing *any* availability at all. I would have thought these were somewhat easier routes than, say, AUH-JFK or LHR, especially BKK-AUH which has ~4 flights/day ... am I missing something? Searched the thread but couldn't seem to find any references to ease or difficulty in regards to booking these routes. Does anyone have any insight they could share?
Jun 29, 2018, 11:22 pm
#507
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: BOS/UTH
Programs: AA LT PLT; QR GLD; Bonvoy LT TIT
Posts: 12,755
Jun 30, 2018, 4:45 am
#508
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: UK
Programs: AA Platinum Pro, HHonors Diamond
Posts: 174
Just wanted to add my ongoing experience to the thread in case it's of benefit to anyone...
booking a mixed cabin award ticket with Etihad from LHR to SYD, with the London <-> Abu Dhabi segments in economy and the Abu Dhabi<-> Sydney segments in First Apparments (couldn't afford the extra miles for first or business on the other segments!). Searched for the award space on the Etihad website
M
booking a mixed cabin award ticket with Etihad from LHR to SYD, with the London <-> Abu Dhabi segments in economy and the Abu Dhabi<-> Sydney segments in First Apparments (couldn't afford the extra miles for first or business on the other segments!). Searched for the award space on the Etihad website
M
Jun 30, 2018, 5:05 am
#509
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: UK
Programs: AA Platinum Pro, HHonors Diamond
Posts: 174
Just wanted to add my ongoing experience to the thread in case it's helpful for anyone...
I'm booking 2 passengers from LHR to SYD return. I've ended up with LHR <--> AUH in economy and AUH <--> SYD in First Apparments as I couldn't afford the extra points at this stage for the whole thing to be in first and Apparments has been my goal for a while (was going to go on my own originally but the girlfriend disagrees with that idea so I had to buy some more AAdvantage miles in the sale which ends today).
I found the availability through the Etihad website (which I did have to search a few times as a few times it showed sold out but then I found that leaving it a while would result in the availability returning) - I searched for the economy and first space seperately. Then called the AAdvantage desk using the Australian number and told them I wanted to make a mixed cabin award booking and gave them the flight numbers and dates etc. The assistant went away for a few moments then came back on the phone having confirmed all the availability. I asked the out the reservation on hold for 5 days and was given both the AA and EY record locator references. It was as simple as that! Not a complete one off as I had already done the same thing last week to hold a complete LHR to SYD return in first whilst I mulled over whether I spend the extra money or not.
i checked the itinerary on both the AA App and EY website using the reford locators and then purchased the necessary additional miles which posted to my account within 30 mins. Called back the AA call centre in Australia, quotes the AA ref and said I'd like to confirm the reservation... paid the necessary taxes and fees (circa 511 Australian dollars per pax or about £570 GBP total) and went through that process paying by card. Within an hour I had the confirmation email through. Just waiting on ticketing now, but so far so good - not an overly stressful experience (aside from the cost being quite a lot more than I'd have liked due to booking for the girlfriend too!!)
The only mistake I'd made was not originally realising the routing rules meaning it was effectively 2 awards both ways - I'd originally expected the tickets to be 115k miles in each direction for first all the way, which obviously they weren't (it would have been 325k per pax return iirc, instead of what I though of 230k).
Thanks to the contributors to this thread and the blogs which made it so painless!
I'm booking 2 passengers from LHR to SYD return. I've ended up with LHR <--> AUH in economy and AUH <--> SYD in First Apparments as I couldn't afford the extra points at this stage for the whole thing to be in first and Apparments has been my goal for a while (was going to go on my own originally but the girlfriend disagrees with that idea so I had to buy some more AAdvantage miles in the sale which ends today).
I found the availability through the Etihad website (which I did have to search a few times as a few times it showed sold out but then I found that leaving it a while would result in the availability returning) - I searched for the economy and first space seperately. Then called the AAdvantage desk using the Australian number and told them I wanted to make a mixed cabin award booking and gave them the flight numbers and dates etc. The assistant went away for a few moments then came back on the phone having confirmed all the availability. I asked the out the reservation on hold for 5 days and was given both the AA and EY record locator references. It was as simple as that! Not a complete one off as I had already done the same thing last week to hold a complete LHR to SYD return in first whilst I mulled over whether I spend the extra money or not.
i checked the itinerary on both the AA App and EY website using the reford locators and then purchased the necessary additional miles which posted to my account within 30 mins. Called back the AA call centre in Australia, quotes the AA ref and said I'd like to confirm the reservation... paid the necessary taxes and fees (circa 511 Australian dollars per pax or about £570 GBP total) and went through that process paying by card. Within an hour I had the confirmation email through. Just waiting on ticketing now, but so far so good - not an overly stressful experience (aside from the cost being quite a lot more than I'd have liked due to booking for the girlfriend too!!)
The only mistake I'd made was not originally realising the routing rules meaning it was effectively 2 awards both ways - I'd originally expected the tickets to be 115k miles in each direction for first all the way, which obviously they weren't (it would have been 325k per pax return iirc, instead of what I though of 230k).
Thanks to the contributors to this thread and the blogs which made it so painless!
Jul 1, 2018, 6:15 pm
#510
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Austin, TX
Programs: AA Plat Pro, Marriott Ambassador, Hyatt Globalist, United Platinum
Posts: 24
Help please!! Anyone have experience with Etihad making drastic changes to flight itineraries unprovoked? I checked my reservation for 5 months out JFK to AUH to MLE earlier today and the reservation displayed "We couldn't display trip details". Called American EXP desk to learn that they re-booked me on flights two days later. All the AA agent could tell me was Etihad revoked the availability on my originally booked flights and re-booked me on these.
I spent about 30 minutes on the phone with the agent while she reviewed alternative routes and options in J for my original dates but she could find none. She put in a note with the AA Etihad partner liaison to review and request my original itinerary be re-instated. However, she did not seem optimistic that anything could be done.
This throws a serious wrench in my honeymoon plans since I've literally made all all reservations for the trip. How can they just completely change a booked and confirmed reservation?
So my question is has anyone else had a similar experience? Any advice? Any luck on having the AA agents talk to the Etihad partner liaison and get your original trip reinstated?
I spent about 30 minutes on the phone with the agent while she reviewed alternative routes and options in J for my original dates but she could find none. She put in a note with the AA Etihad partner liaison to review and request my original itinerary be re-instated. However, she did not seem optimistic that anything could be done.
This throws a serious wrench in my honeymoon plans since I've literally made all all reservations for the trip. How can they just completely change a booked and confirmed reservation?
So my question is has anyone else had a similar experience? Any advice? Any luck on having the AA agents talk to the Etihad partner liaison and get your original trip reinstated?
Last edited by ATX1989; Jul 1, 2018 at 6:21 pm