danielswiss

Help!!!! What to do? We got a one world award ticket from American on Ethiad from Johannesburg to Paris. In June. It sounds like Ethiad has closed offices in JNB and there are rumors it won’t open again. What will happen if this is the case? Whose responsibility will it be to rebook us? If Ethiad no longer flies the route, will American have to issue a similar award ticket on a different carrier? We got the business class ticket for 55000 miles. Will we be accommodated on either British or Qatar at the same point level? What should I do?

aaupgrade

Etihad is not part of oneworld, but that aside... If Etihad no longer flies ex-JNB then your miles, taxes and fees will be refunded and you can rebook on another AA partner from Africa to Europe for 55,000 if there is availability and pay the applicable taxes and fees, where BA will run around 319 USD and QR around 42.50 USD. I checked a couple arbitrary June dates and there seems to be plenty of availability. If it were me I would cancel the Etihad flights and book QR if there is award availability. No, I do not believe American will not have to issue a ticket on another airline. AA may be proactive and rebook you on another partner airline, but I wouldn't count on it. It would be your responsibility to rebook. You can always complain, but a wasted effort in my personal opinion when you can easiliy rebook yourself; of course an AAgent would probably be happy to assist in that effort but do your research before by searching for awards on AA.com (as I just did) prior to calling so you know what award flights are available. Of course you can always call AA and let them do the work too, but you may not get the best itineraries as you would by doing the research on your own.