Richmond Savers
  • Reward Credit Cards
  • FREE Course Signup
  • Testimonials
  • About
  • Contact

Booking Award Flights on Etihad Airways with AAdvantage Miles

March 6, 2018 by Dominik Żmuda 15 Comments  Travel Miles 101 has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Travel Miles 101 and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers.

Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities. Disclosures.

Fly Etihad Airways to Sydney!

Fly Etihad Airways to Sydney!

My favourite America Airlines partner airline is Etihad Airways – the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, operating from their home in Abu Dhabi (AUH) – offering destinations all around the world. Etihad Airways is most famous for “flying reimagined” and innovating when it comes to their First Class product. They introduced the First Class “Apartment” on their Airbus A380 a few years ago, and it is arguably the best First Class product in the sky.

Etihad Airways A380 First Class Apartment

Etihad Airways A380 First Class Apartment

Etihad Airways First and Business Class

Etihad Airways features an incredible First and Business Class product on all of their aircraft. Keep in mind, that only the Airbus A380 features the First Class Apartment with a shower – other Etihad aircraft feature First Class, however it will be a more traditional “seat-into-bed” First Class. If you really want to fly the Airbus A380 in First Class to experience the Apartment, you can fly to/from Abu Dhabi to destinations like New York, London, or Sydney – all can be booked using American Airlines miles.

Whether you decide to fly First or Business Class with Etihad, you won’t be disappointed. Etihad Airways offers an incredible product in both cabins, delicious catering, great service, an easy transfer experience in Abu Dhabi, and more.

Etihad Airways Business Class

Etihad Airways Business Class

Searching for Etihad Airways Award Space

To search for Etihad Airways award space, you will need to visit Etihad’s website:

search for EY award space here: etihadguest.com/en/flightbooking.html

One you’ve made it there, simply fill out your route, date, number of passengers, class of service, and make sure to select “Miles”. It is better searching one-way at at time rather than round-trip flights.

Search Etihad Airways Award Flights

Search Etihad Airways Award Flights

 

The next page will bring you a result of flights on that selected date, plus a calendar view above the flights – you can easily switch dates using the calendar located above the results.

Etihad Airways Award Flights

Etihad Airways Award Flights

 

The results page is very easy to analyse. Your desired flight will need to have availability under the “GuestSeat” award category. Etihad’s partners are only able to book an award seat if Etihad releases “GuestSeat” award space. In this case, we can see that there are 2 award seats on both flights in the “GuestSeat” award category. Any of Etihad’s partner airlines will be able to book these flights.

If there’s no availability on your desired date, simply use the calendar above the results to switch dates. Once you have found a flight that works for you, write down the flight number and date as you will provide this information to American Airlines during the booking process.

Booking Etihad Airways Award Flights using American Airlines Miles

You can redeem American Airlines AAdvantage miles for any Etihad Airways flight that has availability (as found above). You can even mix American Airlines or any of their other airline partners on the same ticket. This is an incredible opportunity to fly some great airlines on one, single ticket.

view the American Airlines flight award chart for oneworld and partner airlines.

For example, you can fly from Chicago to New York on American Airlines and fly from New York to Abu Dhabi on Etihad Airways. You could even add on another AA partner airline from Abu Dhabi to elsewhere in the Middle East. To search for American Airlines award space, simply use AA.com.

Etihad Airways First Class service

Etihad Airways First Class service

 

To book Etihad Airways flights using American Airlines miles, your best option is to call American Airlines Australia. The AA Australia agents are much more competent and can see almost all of the award space Etihad Airways releases to partner airlines – something that the U.S. agents can’t for some reason. Once you’ve found the award space on Etihad’s website, you will want to call AA Australia at: +61 2 9101 1948. Simply provide the agent the flight information you have found above on Etihad’s website in the “GuestSeat”award category.

Keep in mind that American Airlines allows 5-day holds for free on award tickets. My recommendation is to place the flight on hold for a few days and view the booking on AA.com to verify if everything matches your desired flights. You can also add and remove more flights to the booking during the time the booking is on hold. Keep in mind that American Airlines allows only four flight segments on a one-way award ticket.

In Conclusion

My favourite use of American Airlines miles is exactly on Etihad Airways in First or Business Class – on any A380 route. American Airlines will only charge you the taxes/fees on any Etihad award ticket and therefore you usually won’t be paying more than $100 USD per passenger as no fuel surcharges are charged.

Etihad Airways is incredible. The airline features a great First and Business Class product on all aircraft, as well as amazing lounges at their hub in Abu Dhabi. My favourite “trick” is to have a layover in Abu Dhabi of up to 23h 59m on the same ticket (it is then considered a connection and not a stopover) and therefore I can spend a night and explore the city.

Happy Booking!

Travel Miles 101 has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Travel Miles 101 and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers.

Filed Under: Travel Rewards

Never Miss a Post

Sign up to get an email when a new Travel Miles 101 post is published.

Thanks for signing up! You'll get an email from Travel Miles 101 each time we post.

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

Powered by ConvertKit

Comments

  1. Leon says

    March 17, 2018 at 11:43 pm

    Awesome! I concur, Etihad is incredible! Thanks for the post and Keep it up.

    Reply
  2. jordan says

    November 19, 2018 at 4:03 am

    is there a trick to finding an open seat? I’ve tried multiple searches and they’re all sold out!

    Reply
    • Dominik Żmuda says

      December 28, 2018 at 9:42 am

      What are you looking for?

      Reply
  3. Laura Stargel says

    January 2, 2019 at 1:00 am

    How do you know how many miles it will cost?

    Reply
    • Dominik Żmuda says

      January 3, 2019 at 7:51 am

      You look at the AA partner award chart.

      Reply
  4. Rebecca m Cooper says

    January 29, 2019 at 12:06 pm

    is first class for the apartment seating?

    Reply
    • Dominik Żmuda says

      January 29, 2019 at 7:53 pm

      First Class on the EY A380 is the Apartment.

      Reply
  5. D. Sullivan says

    January 30, 2019 at 12:47 am

    Found the “Guest Seat” availability in Business class for AUH to LAX but when I call American to use my miles, they state that those seats are not available to AA award partners. I’ve tried several days in a row. Your website states that if the “Guest Seats” that show avail are available to ANY partner rewards program. Apparently this is NOT true.

    Reply
    • Dominik Żmuda says

      February 4, 2019 at 5:40 pm

      You might have to hang up, call again. What the article states is 100% accurate.

      Reply
  6. emily says

    February 13, 2019 at 3:04 pm

    I am flying SYD to AUH to JFK. I have the SYD to AUH on hold with AA for 100k miles. How can I add the AUH to JFK portion on to that ticket? Thank you!

    Reply
    • Dominik Żmuda says

      March 8, 2019 at 11:22 pm

      Find a date that is available and add it on. However, you will pay for two awards.

      Reply
  7. Julian says

    March 1, 2019 at 4:38 am

    How do you get a layover of 23h59m in Abu Dhabi? Do you just need to find a flight that already has that layover built in? Thanks for the tip, btw!

    Reply
    • Dominik Żmuda says

      March 8, 2019 at 11:19 pm

      You search for each flight separately – first to AUH, and then from AUH.

      Reply
  8. RAMKUMAR MUTHUPALANIAPPAN says

    April 23, 2019 at 9:35 pm

    Does the AA australia team see the Economy Guest seat availability ?

    Reply
    • Dominik Żmuda says

      April 24, 2019 at 3:08 pm

      Yes

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

CommentLuv badgeShow more posts

Our Top Recommended Card

Chase Sapphire Preferred

csp sidebar

Earn 80,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points when you spend $4,000 in the first 3 months.  $95 annual fee.

top cards sidebar

Disclaimer

This content is not provided or commissioned by the credit card issuer. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of the credit card issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuer. This site may be compensated through the credit card issuer Affiliate Program. TravelMiles101.com makes no representations as to accuracy, completeness, currentness, suitability, or validity of any information on this site and will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in this information or any losses, injuries, or damages arising from its display or use. All information is provided on an as-is basis. TravelMiles101.com does not include the entire universe of available financial or credit offers.

Copyright © 2021 TravelMiles101.com | Privacy & Terms | Contact