gottaluvNW

I made several attempts today with both US and Australia based agents to have them find availability on JFK-AUH flights on days that etihad.com is showing good availability. Neither could find anything ...

JHIN

WAIT...are you saying for any award searches one must search as a RT vs. a OW award to find availability?

I thought the WIKI noted you could do either?

Is there no search engines like Expertflyer for Ethiad awards where we can set up alerts to find award space using AA miles? Thx

rdurlabhji

I found that availability showed up much better searching as a RT with the first leg being the leg I actually wanted.

extremeromance

Need some more data points, sounds concerning

Paulchili

It is shameful, embarrassing, inexplicable, inexcusable and unacceptable (and many other things).
Called AA for 2 J awards AUH-LAX which showed as available on Etihad.
AA couldn't see it but Australia had no trouble seeing it and booking it.
Why in the H**l can AA not fix this for once and for all?
Why do we have to call Australia to make a simple booking like this?
Shame on whoever at AA is responsible for this mess!

Dave Noble

I wouldn't be shouting too loudly. It could be that EY is limiting access to Sabre for AA but has not limited access to Amadeus which is ( what I believe ) that AA Australia uses

The fix could well be that the Australia work around is closed

Paulchili

Would that in effect mean that one could no longer use AA miles for EY awards (since AA can't see them)?
That would be some fix
Also, if AA Australia uses Amadeus, why can't US AA use it as well - not only for EY access but also for the ability to book QF, BA & CX at T-355 just like their own members can?

singal3

Just a data point. ANA (Another EY redemption partner) Singapore can see EY availability but ANA USA can't.

Very similar to AA issue.

I have to think this is some form of Etihad blocking.

Dave Noble

It would limit some EY awards - it is only certain routes where the issue occurs - it is not that all EY awards are unable to be booked through the USA

If there is a deliberate blocking going on from either EY or AA, then would seem that fxing the issue would not be a benefit

I am not sure why AA uses Amadeus in some countries and not in others

aktchi

Let's cool off a little. Nobody is going to spell it out for us, but consider this:

US carriers have made and continue to make a lot of money by issuing huge number of miles (look at those credit card bonuses).

When it comes to redeeming those miles, they provide very little good award space in their own flights. It has gotten so bad that blogs go hyper when a few seats become visible. Even when the seats are made available, and that is rare, the flying experience is nowhere near what Etihad, Qatar, etc offer.

So, those partner airlines either cannot get any seats on AA or, if they do, their flyers don't like the experience.

OTOH we love the experience that those partners offer at considerable effort and expense to themselves, and we are eager to flood their flights with our inflated miles. Just see the discussion in blogs like OMAT and VFTW.

As a result, those carriers are blocking us in different ways. They need to have their space available for their own elites and for other more responsible partners. They can't afford to have their award and loyalty program destroyed by US flyers with inflated bonus and MS miles and by US carriers who don't even reciprocate in award availability.

To summarize, we (US carriers and flyers) don't welcome others into our house and we are bad guests in theirs. In disgust, they have closed the front door. Instead of getting the message and improving ourselves, we are busy figuring out the back entry and even windows to their house. I guess that after a brief interval of disbelief, they will shut those too.

Got it? Now you decide what is shameful here.

louie-m

What is shameful is Etihad agreeing to make space available for AA flyers and then not doing so. No-one forces them to have an association with AA.

Dave Noble

It does make space available. The issue seems to exist only for certain situations

omaralt

But wait. They do block us. Because they have regular award space that is only available for their customers using etihad guest miles and then there is the guest award space which is for partners. So if they decide to limit the amount of guest space then they have every right to do that. However, don't make it available and then not allow it to be booked. That doesn't make sense IMO

SeeBuyFly

Yes, if that were true, it wouldn't make sense. But you are confusing "they don't allow YOU (AAdvantage member) to book it" with "they don't allow it to be booked".

omaralt

in my experience it's not even if they allow it to be booked. it's just recently the system has been plagued with errors. for example; USA to india should be one award. however recently it cannot be booked as one award. once they grab the USA to AUH award then suddenly the AUH to DEL award goes away. they acknowledge it should work but they cant do anything about it. my issue has been is that i have an existing USA to DEL award ticket; however when i booked it the only availability has me getting there at 3 am. however there is now availability on an earlier flight but they cant change me to it. if they search for a new award, they see it available, but cant do a change. it's frustrating because it gets me into delhi at 7pm, which is a lot nicer than 3am. either way, i just wish they would make the rules clear so we can actually plan around them. i've wasted so much time calling them to try to change and i've given up at this point. i'll probably try one week before departure (if there is any availability at that point) since some have reported it works then. while i appreciate that it may not be AA's fault, they should fix it with etihad asap IMO