Always a fan of flying, Spencer wanted to find ways to upgrade his travel experience. Over the years, Spencer has been a guest speaker on multiple YouTube shows as well as podcasts on maximizing point...
Edited by: Keri Stooksbury
With years of experience in corporate marketing and as the Executive Director of the American Chamber of Commerce in Qatar, Keri is now Editor-in-Chief at UP, overseeing daily content operations and r...
& Juan Ruiz
Juan has been involved in credit cards, loyalty, travel, and personal finance for more than 10 years. He has worked for several outlets including The Points Guy and Forbes and was previously Editor-in...
37 comments
TM
June 12, 2018
How far in advance do you need to book etihad 1st class?
Michael McHugh
June 12, 2018
Hi TM
I would look close-in (JFK to get the award inventory to from JFK>AUH to show up.
Nash D
December 28, 2018
I was wondering if it’s possible to add a lap infant to an Asiana airlines award ticket for travel on Etihad First? I just had a ton of trouble trying to do this through Asiana miles, and Etihad refused to add our son to the ticket as it was not issued by them. Wouldn’t they have the same problem with a ticket issued by Asiana too? Or is their problem only with Asiana-issued award tickets? Any ideas?
Christine Krzyszton
December 31, 2018
Hello Nash. Although you are traveling on an Etihad-operated flight, Asiana is the carrier that issued the award ticket so they would be the airline to add the infant and reissue the ticket, if necessary. Your best bet is to contact Asiana. Expect to pay 10% of adult mileage cost plus taxes/fees.
Jackson
January 11, 2019
Hi, Do you know how the routing works for connecting flights?
Like say if I wanted to go from SYD –> AUH –> MLE. Would that be considered 100k AA miles? Or would I have to break it up to 2 segments? Thanks!
Stephen Au
January 11, 2019
Hey Jackson,
As long as you are not making a stopover, it will be priced at 100,000 AA miles. If you want to stop over in Abu Dhabi, you will need to pay for two separate segments, which is 100,000 + 40,000 for a total of 140,000 AA miles.
Jackson
January 12, 2019
Awesome, Thanks!
Do you know if there has been any success calling the American line +1-(800)-882-8880 ?
Stephen Au
January 15, 2019
Hey Jackson,
That’s the AAdvantage hotline. I find it convenient to call them, feed in some automated information about routes, number of passengers, etc. Thanks for reading!
MillionMilerMan
March 04, 2019
It seems the trick of calling the AA Australian Call Center is dead. They were apparently the only call center that regularly showed EY F (from AUH to the US) availability when the US, UK and other AA Call Centers showed no availability. I’ve been trying to contact the AA Australian Call Center for 3 days at all times of the day. Every time, I get forwarded to the Call Center in the Caribbean (usually Trinidad)–and they do not show availability. This morning I was told by an agent in the Caribbean that they now get 100% of the calls to the Australian Call Center. So, anyone that finds a new trick for unlocking EY F via AA, do let us know.
James Larounis
March 05, 2019
Hi Jeff – I was able to call just the other evening and had no issues getting through to the Australian call center. It is my understanding that the Australian call center is still up and running and fully functional.
maxraxstax
June 18, 2019
It didn’t work with Australia. I called New Zealand instead and they had no issue, found availability and were able to book. Worked great. It seems some Aus agents can’t see it anymore, but all NZ can.
Gene
July 12, 2019
maxraxstax – what is the New Zealand call center number? Thanks!
Gene
July 17, 2019
DP:
Called the New Zealand call center via Skype at +64 09-308-4014 and they were able to easily and quickly find the availability and put it on hold for me. Booking the flight now!
Stephen Au
July 17, 2019
Great! I myself held an Etihad First Class flight yesterday via the NZ call center on Skype (WeChat Out). Thanks for reading!
Rion
March 29, 2019
I heard booking etihad Apartment JFK to AUH with AA miles is no longer available. NO?
Alex Miller
March 30, 2019
Hey Rion – that’s incorrect, you can still use AA miles for EY Apartment. Finding availability is very tough from JFK > AUH, but the other way around is a lot easier!
Juan
April 12, 2019
I’m planning on visiting the following cities in the the middle east and Africa (Amman, Tel Aviv, El Cairo) and I want to fly back to NY on Etihad’s apartment AUH-JFK with a final destination being Miami.
I would like to know how could I book with miles the route, starting on either of the three cities, then AUH-JFK, miami. I know it’s ambitious but I want to know if it’s possible with miles. Or what could be the closest to my wish. I appreciate the help.
Stephen Au
April 17, 2019
Hey Juan, of course it’s possible. It just depends on what miles and points you have!
If you book using AA miles, you’ll be able to book Etihad apartments. Availability is very tough, but it’s possible.
If flying out of Tel Aviv, look to Star Alliance carriers such as Air Canada Aeroplan or Avianca LifeMiles.
Keep searching and you’ll be able to find something that works!
Tania
April 14, 2019
Once you have booked a F flight (via AA Advantage) how do you choose your seat – the Ethiad website appears to only give you an option to choose economy seats
Stephen Au
April 17, 2019
Tania,
You’ll need your Etihad Guest record locator or confirmation number. You can either refer to your ticket receipt or look at your AA reservation to get it.
After that, you can either go to Etihad website or call them to choose seats. Keep in mind sometimes they’ll block seats off so you can’t select them in advance. Thanks for reading.
Richard Winters
May 15, 2019
I have not been able to find this out ANYWHERE. Is it possible to book two first class flights? If not, and one person gets first class and the other gets business or something can they join up and experience some of this together? I have no idea how this is so hard to find. Of course, many of us travel with spouses! And for a trip like this where we want to fly first class we want to be able to do so together! Any thoughts?
Stephen Au
May 16, 2019
Richard,
It’s possible, but as is the case with any top of the line first class product, you’ll have to be tremendously flexible and willing to sit down for hours to look for flights that cost $30,000+ otherwise.. Just keep looking!
Christopher Ardalan
January 16, 2020
Is it possible to use Asiana mileage to fly from Seoul to Jfk flying Etihad for 80000 miles? It allows flying the apartment to Abu Dhabi and then again to jfk. And if so will it allow a stop over in Abu Dhabi?
Jarrod West
January 17, 2020
Hi Christopher,
Yes, it is possible to book that ticket for 80k Asiana miles and you would have a stopover in Abu Dhabi.
Thanks for reading!
MMA
January 17, 2020
I keep asking how to find availability as you stated when there isn’t a Guest First seat showing on EY with only the regular massive price does Asiana use a different inventory finding availability or availability is any open seat for them?
Stephen Au
January 22, 2020
MMA,
You need to find Guest First seat availability. Etihad also has been restricting much of their inventory to Etihad Guest members.
Nithin Chakravarthy
May 17, 2020
There are many routes where 1st class is not offered. Is there a way to fly business+first on EY using AA miles?
Stephen Au
May 19, 2020
Hi Nithin,
You can book mixed cabin awards, but you’ll pay the first class award price. For example, if you fly from JFK-AUH-JNB in Etihad First Class Apartments and then in Etihad business class, you’ll pay the first class price from the U.S. to Africa, which is 120,000 AA miles.
Ian Weaver
May 22, 2021
Has anyone pointed out to you that the Air Canada Award Chart that you have published in this article was replaced on November 8, 2020?
Jarrod West
May 28, 2021
Hi Ian,
Thanks for bringing that to my attention. I just updated that!
TheBigEasy
June 15, 2021
Sadly it appears the EY has retired the A380 post pandemic.
txtraveler
December 03, 2021
Can you add some graphics of what it looks like when “Guest” availability is shown on the Etihad website? They changed their interface recently and I’m not sure if I’m not seeing because there aren’t any award seats available or because I’m not looking in the right place.
Stephen Au
December 28, 2021
Hi txtraveler,
Unfortunately, the online search engine’s autofill/autocomplete fields for airport codes is not functioning properly as of now. We recommend using Aeroplan to check for availability.
Chris
August 25, 2022
Thanks for the article. One specific question I haven’t been able to find the answer to online:
Can you book EY business class using Aeroplan, and then be able to upgrade to first through EY?
Thanks!
Jarrod West
September 06, 2022
Hi Chris,
Unfortunately not. If you book through one airline program, you cannot then upgrade via another program.
FoxtrotMikeLima
March 14, 2023
Any idea on how to book etihad award seats specifically using AA miles given that the new changes have completely eradicated the award spaces AA usually has access to.
Chris Jensen
June 30, 2023
Just a note, that with Asiana miles you cannot book the JFK – AUH F route. From their site… ” Asiana Club Members may use flight awards to enjoy flights on Asiana Airlines partners.
The AUH-JFK round-trip route will not be available from January 1, 2019. “.
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