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)
Jul 19, 2018, 7:23 pm
#541
Join Date: Jun 2013
Posts: 308
QF Space is interesting. Its hard to get it to show on AA's site. If you search a route like DFW-MEL it will show QF 7/8 as an option if you look for DFW-SYD it will only show AA flights as options. Theres some, probably intentional, glitch there. Use QF to find QF flights if its available on their site its available via AA as long as your within 331 days. QF shows space up to 365.
For CX awards look at BA. If its on BA its bookable via AA. Not all CX flights are bookable with AS miles.
For CX awards look at BA. If its on BA its bookable via AA. Not all CX flights are bookable with AS miles.
Jul 23, 2018, 3:33 pm
#542
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 106
I called Etihad on 1-877-690-0767 for seat assignments after getting EY reservation code from AA.
CSR said that their policy had changed and they no longer allow seat assignment except prior to 24 hours before flight on flights booked through AA.
I tried mobile site and the only seats available are paid seats for $30 - $40 per seat.
I am tempted to pay for these seats using one of the credit card which reimburses airline fees but not sure which one will work. I am assuming Citi AAdv cards won't work but BoA Premier Reward card might?
Any suggestions ?
CSR said that their policy had changed and they no longer allow seat assignment except prior to 24 hours before flight on flights booked through AA.
I tried mobile site and the only seats available are paid seats for $30 - $40 per seat.
I am tempted to pay for these seats using one of the credit card which reimburses airline fees but not sure which one will work. I am assuming Citi AAdv cards won't work but BoA Premier Reward card might?
Any suggestions ?
Jul 23, 2018, 4:01 pm
#543
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
Sorry to hear about this development. Maybe try calling again a couple more times to be sure?
Jul 23, 2018, 7:24 pm
#544
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 5,631
Jul 23, 2018, 9:02 pm
#545
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 15
Data point:
upgraded two economy class ticket to business, called the australia number, picked up on first ring and finishd within 10 minutes. -- they found the seats no problem and did the booking. They needed to refund the original ticket and then book it again, but it wasn't an issue.
second data point: the above came after 2 hours of hell with the singapore and american number (australia had an undefined hold period yesterday so I gave up on them -- foolish me). singapore picked up right away but they could not find the seats, or they could finally (if I asked them to double check) then they put me on hold for 30 minutes and eventually the phone just went silent. It magically went silent both times at the 30 minute mark on the call.
So.. TL : DR australia center = good, singapore = bad
at least yesterday.
the USA number had me on hold for 1 hour and when I got them, they said "wrong department" and asked to transfer me to another line, for another 30 minute hold.
upgraded two economy class ticket to business, called the australia number, picked up on first ring and finishd within 10 minutes. -- they found the seats no problem and did the booking. They needed to refund the original ticket and then book it again, but it wasn't an issue.
second data point: the above came after 2 hours of hell with the singapore and american number (australia had an undefined hold period yesterday so I gave up on them -- foolish me). singapore picked up right away but they could not find the seats, or they could finally (if I asked them to double check) then they put me on hold for 30 minutes and eventually the phone just went silent. It magically went silent both times at the 30 minute mark on the call.
So.. TL : DR australia center = good, singapore = bad
at least yesterday.
the USA number had me on hold for 1 hour and when I got them, they said "wrong department" and asked to transfer me to another line, for another 30 minute hold.
Jul 23, 2018, 9:21 pm
#546
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 106
It would be a waste of time to call again. This 'development' is well known: EY Charging for most Y seat allocations from 15th July!
Jul 23, 2018, 10:12 pm
#548
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: NYC
Programs: Marriott Plat, Hilton Gold, UA Silver
Posts: 2,272
Not sure this is even possible about if I book Etihad in first with AA miles to get to India from JFK I would route through AUH. Would I be able to build a stopover in for AUH? Looking at the AA partner chart it looks like the redemption price would be the same?
Jul 24, 2018, 1:36 am
#549
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,572
No stopovers are permitted on awards - if you spend 24 hours or longer between flights, you will need 2 awards
Jul 24, 2018, 12:27 pm
#550
Join Date: Aug 2010
Posts: 26
Hello All,
I am trying to redeem AAdvantage miles on Qatar Airways for business class. The US segment to Doha is available but not DOH-HYD or DOH-BOM. I have read few messages on it but I would appreciate those who are current on this aspect and can guide me how to proceed to get it. I am planning to fly mid August.
Thanks
Arvind
I am trying to redeem AAdvantage miles on Qatar Airways for business class. The US segment to Doha is available but not DOH-HYD or DOH-BOM. I have read few messages on it but I would appreciate those who are current on this aspect and can guide me how to proceed to get it. I am planning to fly mid August.
Thanks
Arvind
Jul 24, 2018, 12:35 pm
#551
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 5,631
Hello All,
I am trying to redeem AAdvantage miles on Qatar Airways for business class. The US segment to Doha is available but not DOH-HYD or DOH-BOM. I have read few messages on it but I would appreciate those who are current on this aspect and can guide me how to proceed to get it. I am planning to fly mid August.
I am trying to redeem AAdvantage miles on Qatar Airways for business class. The US segment to Doha is available but not DOH-HYD or DOH-BOM. I have read few messages on it but I would appreciate those who are current on this aspect and can guide me how to proceed to get it. I am planning to fly mid August.
Last edited by SeeBuyFly; Jul 24, 2018 at 12:48 pm
Jul 27, 2018, 11:27 am
#554
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: UK
Programs: AA Platinum Pro, HHonors Diamond
Posts: 174
Well... It was all going swimmingly... I was ticketed and received confirmation from AA for EY20 (and others) chose my seats etc. The other day the itinerary disappeared from the AA website (the reservation reference still showed but the detail of the flights had gone). Then I went to check my seats to find that the seat reservations had disappeared. A day or so later I get another confirmation email from AA and after a while realised that I was now booked on a different outbound flight - EY18... This still works as a connection, but means I wont get the same time in the lounge at AUH that I wanted and also means that the seats I wanted (3 + 4) aren't available. Has this happened to other people and is there any advice on how to reinstate my previous flight??
Jul 28, 2018, 5:02 am
#555
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: IAH
Posts: 418
Well... It was all going swimmingly... I was ticketed and received confirmation from AA for EY20 (and others) chose my seats etc. The other day the itinerary disappeared from the AA website (the reservation reference still showed but the detail of the flights had gone). Then I went to check my seats to find that the seat reservations had disappeared. A day or so later I get another confirmation email from AA and after a while realised that I was now booked on a different outbound flight - EY18... This still works as a connection, but means I wont get the same time in the lounge at AUH that I wanted and also means that the seats I wanted (3 + 4) aren't available. Has this happened to other people and is there any advice on how to reinstate my previous flight??
I was also moved a few days ago to a different flight CDG to AUH although still an A380. Oddly enough the flight I was moved from still shows with award availability in F on the Etihad site and is still an A380.