How To Redeem American AAdvantage Miles On Etihad

I recently wrote about the best uses of American AAdvantage miles. You’ll typically find the most value with AAdvantage miles when redeeming on partner airlines, and in particular it can be a great deal to redeem AAdvantage miles on Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways, given these carriers’ huge networks and great inflight products.

In this post I wanted to take a closer look at all the things you need to know about redeeming AAdvantage miles for travel on Etihad.

Etihad award space has historically been the hardest for AAdvantage members to figure out, given that the award space hasn’t shown on aa.com. Fortunately that has recently changed, and you can now redeem AAdvantage miles for travel on Etihad through American’s website… in some cases.

Even if you’re not loyal to American Airlines, there are lots of rewarding co-branded AAdvantage cards, which can help you rack up miles quickly. This includes cards like the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® (review), Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard® (review), and CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® Mastercard® (review).

Why you might want to fly with Etihad

Etihad Airways has been an American AAdvantage partner for over a decade. There are two main reasons you’d want to consider flying with Etihad — the carrier’s route network, as well as the carrier’s inflight product.

Etihad is based in Abu Dhabi, and offers great connectivity across the Middle East, India, Africa, etc. Etihad isn’t nearly as big as Emirates Airline or Qatar Airways, but is still a great option.

In North America, the airline flies to Chicago (ORD), New York (JFK), Toronto (YYZ), and Washington (IAD). So whether you’re looking to travel to the Maldives, India, Sri Lanka, or South Africa, Etihad can potentially get you there.

The other reason to consider flying Etihad is that the airline has a great inflight product.

Etihad’s new flagship aircraft is the Airbus A350-1000, and the airline has an excellent business class product on these jets, with reverse herringbone seats and doors.

The airline also has a lot of Boeing 787s, featuring a solid fully flat staggered business class product.

Perhaps most exciting of all, Etihad will soon bring back its Airbus A380s, and they’ll fly from Abu Dhabi to London (LHR) as of July 2023. These planes feature a phenomenal first class product.

How many AAdvantage miles you need for Etihad awards

If you’re trying to redeem AAdvantage miles on Etihad Airways, award pricing follows the standard AAdvantage partner award chart.

Just to give some examples of one-way business class pricing:

• You can fly from the United States to the Middle East and India for 70,000 miles
• You can fly from the United States to Africa for 75,000 miles
• You can fly from Asia to the Middle East and India for 40,000 miles
• You can fly from Europe to the Middle East and India for 42,500 miles

If you want to fly first class between Abu Dhabi and London, that will cost you 62,500 miles. Those are all excellent uses of miles, if you ask me.

How to search Etihad award space

As of recently, American Airlines’ website once again displays Etihad award availability. However, the website only displays a subset of the availability that’s actually bookable through AAdvantage. So you can by all means search Etihad award space on aa.com, and if you see availability that’s bookable, great. Go ahead and book it.

But don’t assume that something isn’t bookable simply because aa.com doesn’t show it.

I think the easiest way to accurately search Etihad award space is through aircanada.com, as Air Canada’s website shows the space, and Aeroplan is also an Etihad partner.

On the homepage, just enter the origin and destination you’re searching for, and then if Etihad is available, it will show up in the search results. For example, I searched an award from Chicago to Abu Dhabi…

…and that showed as available in both economy class and business class.

Alternatively, if you prefer, you can search award availability through Etihad’s website here. Just enter the origin and destination, dates, class of service, etc.

When you get to the search results, a flight will only be bookable with partner miles if GuestSeat availability shows. The Choice and Choice Plus awards are only bookable through the Etihad Guest program, and are bookable at a much higher cost.

How to book Etihad awards with AAdvantage miles

Now this is where things potentially get complicated. Once you’ve figured out the Etihad flights you want to book, what’s the next step? It’s not necessarily as simple as it sounds… but it could be.

Assuming the Etihad award availability doesn’t show up on aa.com, you’ll want to call up AAdvantage reservations at 800-882-8880. Just tell the agent the flights you’re trying to book, and hopefully they can help you with that.

As a test, I called American and asked about availability on three different Etihad flights that I found on Air Canada’s website. I specifically chose flights between different regions at different times, and I was pleasantly surprised when the agent could see all of the availability that was showing on Air Canada’s website.

That’s actually significantly better than it used to be, because historically American’s US reservations couldn’t see most Etihad award space. Maybe I just got lucky, or maybe things have improved, with Etihad having recently transitioned some of its systems?

What happens if the agent can’t find Etihad award availability? Well, then you should call one of American’s foreign call centers. Why is this necessary? Etihad awards seem to have some point of sale restrictions at times, meaning that different agents can see different availability based on the systems they’re using.

The best call centers to use are in the United Kingdom, Germany, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, or New Zealand. Here are those phone numbers:

• American Airlines UK: +44 207 660 2300
• American Airlines Germany: +49 69 2999 3234
• American Airlines Singapore: +65 6349 8444
• American Airlines Hong Kong: +852 3057 9197
• American Airlines Australia: +61 2 9101 1948
• American Airlines New Zealand: +64 9 308 4014

I’d of course recommend using a service like Google Voice, to avoid paying exorbitant costs for your calls. Usually these agents have better luck with finding Etihad award space, but if you call one call center and find that they don’t see space, try calling another country’s number.

It’s really random at times, but you might find different access to awards with each call center day to day.

Since I’ve recently had luck with using American’s US call center for this, I can’t help but wonder if Etihad’s recent transition to a new system might have finally solved this issue, so I’m curious if anyone has any recent data points from booking Etihad awards via the US call center (beyond the ones I just shared).

A few further things to note if redeeming AAdvantage miles on Etihad:

• There are no fuel surcharges for awards on Etihad
• When redeeming American miles, you can combine segments on Etihad with segments on American or any of its oneworld partners, assuming they also have saver award space
• If you’re booking at least two weeks in advance, you should be able to place a ticket on a five day hold; otherwise a one day hold is possible

Bottom line

Redeeming American AAdvantage miles on Etihad can be an incredible value, though there’s also a bit of nuance to booking these awards. Some Etihad award space shows on American’s website, though most doesn’t.

If you’re not finding what you want on American’s website, I recommend using the Air Canada or Etihad websites to search award space on Etihad. Once you’ve found availability, phone up AAdvantage to try to book your award. If agents in the US can’t see the flights you’re looking for, try one of Etihad’s foreign call centers. This can be a great use of American miles.

If you’ve recently tried to redeem American miles on Etihad, what was your experience like?