Book awards on EY partner airlines
#407
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: JFK
Programs: AA Platinum
Posts: 325
And now the silver lining: I just booked another segment, this time Flagship First Class (AA's latest 3-cabin transcon redesign atop the A321). Taxes were the same as the economy flight mentioned above: 80 AED.
Remember, Etihad still uses the old pre-2016 AA award chart. In theory, this means 32.5K Etihad miles for P-class tix within North America. My agent misread the chart and only charged 25K -- not the first time Etihad has created a "bank error in my favor", either
Compare that to 50K + $80.60 (close in booking fee) via AA directly. There's still serious value in this program, folks!
edit to add: availability seen by EY was identical to MileSAAver First shown on aa.com. Those seats were NOT visible on BA or Qantas.
Remember, Etihad still uses the old pre-2016 AA award chart. In theory, this means 32.5K Etihad miles for P-class tix within North America. My agent misread the chart and only charged 25K -- not the first time Etihad has created a "bank error in my favor", either
Compare that to 50K + $80.60 (close in booking fee) via AA directly. There's still serious value in this program, folks!
edit to add: availability seen by EY was identical to MileSAAver First shown on aa.com. Those seats were NOT visible on BA or Qantas.
Last edited by Richard Berg; Apr 25, 2018 at 10:17 am Reason: more info
#408
Join Date: Mar 2016
Posts: 12
Hi everyone, I'm considering using EY miles to book AA flights between AUS and CDG (in one direction) and returning from BCN. The reason I'm looking at using EY miles is to take advantage of off-peak rates from October 15 on, which should be 20,000 EY miles each way. As I've never used EY guest miles before, a few questions,
- Are my calculations correct in that this routing would be 20k each way if AA shows saver level availability (for 30K AAdvantage miles each way)? I've heard some rumors that EY will charge 30,000 for the return leg.
- Are off-peak flights only on weekdays?
- Will EY require a passport number at booking? We recently got married and my wife hasn't gotten her new passport yet. Do we need to wait for that just to book the award flight?
- How long does it typically take points to transfer from SPG and Amex MR?
- Is it worth dealing with EY phone agents?
Thanks!
- Are my calculations correct in that this routing would be 20k each way if AA shows saver level availability (for 30K AAdvantage miles each way)? I've heard some rumors that EY will charge 30,000 for the return leg.
- Are off-peak flights only on weekdays?
- Will EY require a passport number at booking? We recently got married and my wife hasn't gotten her new passport yet. Do we need to wait for that just to book the award flight?
- How long does it typically take points to transfer from SPG and Amex MR?
- Is it worth dealing with EY phone agents?
Thanks!
#409
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 4,477
...
- Are my calculations correct in that this routing would be 20k each way if AA shows saver level availability (for 30K AAdvantage miles each way)? I've heard some rumors that EY will charge 30,000 for the return leg.
- Are off-peak flights only on weekdays?
- Will EY require a passport number at booking? We recently got married and my wife hasn't gotten her new passport yet. Do we need to wait for that just to book the award flight?
- How long does it typically take points to transfer from SPG and Amex MR?
- Is it worth dealing with EY phone agents?
- Are my calculations correct in that this routing would be 20k each way if AA shows saver level availability (for 30K AAdvantage miles each way)? I've heard some rumors that EY will charge 30,000 for the return leg.
- Are off-peak flights only on weekdays?
- Will EY require a passport number at booking? We recently got married and my wife hasn't gotten her new passport yet. Do we need to wait for that just to book the award flight?
- How long does it typically take points to transfer from SPG and Amex MR?
- Is it worth dealing with EY phone agents?
The experiences reported in this thread should give you some idea how much effort will be required for booking awards with EY. It may be worth it for you if you have some time to invest in learning the process.
#410
Suspended
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Kan@da
Programs: Anything with sweet spots
Posts: 1,790
Booked ORY-RAK-(stopover)-CMN one-way on Royal Air Maroc. Award chart says stopovers are allowed on Royal Air Maroc so I was expecting it would be priced as one-way priced according to combined distance of the two segments, but agent priced it as two separate one-way awards and it ended up costing more miles. Are they wrong ?
I'm considering contacting Etihad Guest to have the mileage pricing corrected and some miles refunded.
I'm considering contacting Etihad Guest to have the mileage pricing corrected and some miles refunded.
#411
Join Date: Jul 2012
Programs: Delta Gold, Alaska Gold 75K, LATAM Black
Posts: 3,393
Booked ORY-RAK-(stopover)-CMN one-way on Royal Air Maroc. Award chart says stopovers are allowed on Royal Air Maroc so I was expecting it would be priced as one-way priced according to combined distance of the two segments, but agent priced it as two separate one-way awards and it ended up costing more miles. Are they wrong ?
I'm considering contacting Etihad Guest to have the mileage pricing corrected and some miles refunded.
I'm considering contacting Etihad Guest to have the mileage pricing corrected and some miles refunded.
#412
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2003
Programs: BA Silver, EY Gold, HH Diamond, IHG Plat
Posts: 12,210
Booked ORY-RAK-(stopover)-CMN one-way on Royal Air Maroc. Award chart says stopovers are allowed on Royal Air Maroc so I was expecting it would be priced as one-way priced according to combined distance of the two segments, but agent priced it as two separate one-way awards and it ended up costing more miles. Are they wrong ?
I'm considering contacting Etihad Guest to have the mileage pricing corrected and some miles refunded.
I'm considering contacting Etihad Guest to have the mileage pricing corrected and some miles refunded.
#413
Join Date: Jul 2018
Posts: 10
EY Miles to Burn
Hi all,
I've had a read through a couple of the partner threads here. I've read multiple segments on Oman Air had to be split tickets, can anyone confirm this?
I'm wanting to book DXB-MUC via MCT can they ticket it as one journey so the bags carry on through or is this adding too much to the already lengthy process of finding the availability?
Cheers!
Cs
I've had a read through a couple of the partner threads here. I've read multiple segments on Oman Air had to be split tickets, can anyone confirm this?
I'm wanting to book DXB-MUC via MCT can they ticket it as one journey so the bags carry on through or is this adding too much to the already lengthy process of finding the availability?
Cheers!
Cs
#414
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: DAC & BKK
Programs: TK Elite, EK Gold, ICC Centurion
Posts: 131
Definitely struggling with EY partner redemptions too.
As soon as something out of the ordinary happens, it seems that EY has no clue how to handle situation.
Two redemptions (DAD-BKK on PG and DAC-CMB on UL) on two partner airlines. Agent was able to make a booking (both had availability) and calculate taxes but, because the miles required for those flights were not specifically stated on their websites, they had to put in a request to calculate miles.
I have been told to call back 24 hours later every day for the past six days. Every agent I have spoken to has been super nice but I just don't understand how this is that challenging for someone on their back office team to calculate the required miles?
As soon as something out of the ordinary happens, it seems that EY has no clue how to handle situation.
Two redemptions (DAD-BKK on PG and DAC-CMB on UL) on two partner airlines. Agent was able to make a booking (both had availability) and calculate taxes but, because the miles required for those flights were not specifically stated on their websites, they had to put in a request to calculate miles.
I have been told to call back 24 hours later every day for the past six days. Every agent I have spoken to has been super nice but I just don't understand how this is that challenging for someone on their back office team to calculate the required miles?
#415
Join Date: Jul 2018
Posts: 10
Painless!
Hi all,
Thought I'd give an update to my own question.
Tonight I called Etihad, got a really good Serbian agent who confirmed for me that connecting flights can be ticketed as one. In my case DXB-MCT-MUC.
After giving her my date of travel she told me there were 2 options with availability (seems to reflect award availability shown on Oman airs own site).
I booked 2 one way business class tickets from DXB to MUC for 88,000 miles and 380AED taxes.
Took under half an hour from answering my call to receiving my confirmed tickets in my inbox.
Pleasantly surprised and hope I always get an agent like this!
Hope this helps others out.
Cs
Thought I'd give an update to my own question.
Tonight I called Etihad, got a really good Serbian agent who confirmed for me that connecting flights can be ticketed as one. In my case DXB-MCT-MUC.
After giving her my date of travel she told me there were 2 options with availability (seems to reflect award availability shown on Oman airs own site).
I booked 2 one way business class tickets from DXB to MUC for 88,000 miles and 380AED taxes.
Took under half an hour from answering my call to receiving my confirmed tickets in my inbox.
Pleasantly surprised and hope I always get an agent like this!
Hope this helps others out.
Cs
#417
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: UK
Programs: Etihad Gold, Qatar Gold, flying Blue, Falcon, Lufthansa, Eva
Posts: 1,428
When I was flying with Etihad my experience of booking flights with my miles by phone for complicated trips in that I needed to juggle to find the space on connecting flights in both directions was always truly excellent. It took time but the Manchester and Serbian staff were incredibly helpful and patient