Thanks for the information. 500 mile stickers can be carried over to future years.

Your stickers will remain valid as long as you have an AAdvantage account. You can use them to upgrade people travelling with you or save them for your own use if your status falls.

Hey guys, I have AA miles & UR points. Flying from OGG to DFW. Saw etihad has fantastic redemption rates at 12,500 eco and 25k biz eti miles flying American Airlines metal. I got real excited and put a reservation on hold. But then it hit me, how do i transfer what i have (AA & UR) to etihad miles to book an AA flight?
What are my quickest options here if any?

You don't: AA miles cannot be transferred to another FFP, and Etihad is not a UR transfer partner.

But don't be too sad: Etihad does not charge 12,500 miles for a flight between OGG and DFW; it charges 17,500 miles off-peak, and 22,500 miles peak -- exactly what it costs if you redeem AA miles.

Bummer, was worth the try.
Actually, i have the reservation in my inbox. Was 50k miles. 4 ppl flying eco OGG-DFW one way.

I'm not sure it would actually ticket at that price. If you look at the Etihad redemption chart for AA, you'll see that, under domestic region redemptions, there's a separate line for domestic redemptions to/from Hawaii. Etihad generally mirrors AA's redemption rates for award travel on AA.

Consider buying BA basic economy tickets. It does not allow standard carry on but no checked bags. I believe I will be AA gold by the time the trip occurs. Would AA gold allow an extra checked bag on BA? If not, I will have to spend a little more for the economy standard.

I usually drink cocktails. Should I just ask the bartender for any complementary cocktail offerings? SFO snack offerings is such a joke...

Yes. As mentioned above it is perfectly fine to ask what liquor they have as complimentary, or just ask for whatever drink you want with the house/complimentary liquor, etc. etc.

No need to ask. Only "well" spirits are complimentary, and they are usually private label/generic options. Just say what cocktail (and by cocktail I mean simple mixed drink) you want and the bartender will generally ask if "well" is OK or whether you want a specific brand. 99% chance there will be a charge for any brand name you've ever ordered by name before.

What route and what class of service?

LAX-RDU, coach.