Etihad First Class Award Availability Trends

@ Lucky - thanks for the primer! I -- and others, I'm sure -- also appreciate heads-up posts you do whenever Etihad or some other airline opens up award space in an unusually generous manner 🙂

Thanks for the post. Once again reinforcing your position as the top blogger on Boarding Area. Bar none.

If I need 2 seats, by EY is showing 1 on their website, should I put 1 on hold and hope they release the second one or if it better to keep checking to see if 2 are released? this is for a trip btw 10 and 11 months out. Thanks.

I wish they would start second (or third, etc) daily flight to MLE, right now the connection from the A380 JFK-AUH-MLE requires 20 hr layover.

I thought the 787 was slightly wider than the a340, not enough to make much of a difference, but definitely not narrower. How the hard product compares is a different story, though, as it does seem like the new first class on the 787 is narrower.

@ Adam -- I learn something new every day. You're absolutely right.

@ Lantean -- Agreed, would be nice, and I'm kind of surprised they haven't. That being said, I kind of like the 20 hour overnight, as it breaks up the journey a bit. Keep in mind that when going to the Maldives, your travel day doesn't end at MLE Airport.

@ Tim -- That doesn't increase the odds of the second seat opening. Sorry.

@ Bob -- Thanks for the kind words!

@lucky

so you think it's better to overnight in AUH (immigration, cabs, etc) and then take the morning flight to MLE rather than going thru CMB and arrive MLE at 1am and stay at a cheap-o hotel by MLE airport? If so, where in AUH would you recommend? By the airport or downtown?
thanks.

@ Lantean -- If those are the options, 10000% overnight in Abu Dhabi. I'd stay at the Westin or Hyatt Capital Gate. Both are a ~15 minute drive from the airport. The hotels near Male Airport are *terrible*.

Hi lucky,
Just wanted to let you know that Etihad is offering a 10% discount on top of the quadruple miles using the code MEMBER10 🙂

Lucky, thanks for this summary. I am confused about the First Class on the A380. Is the Apartment the only First Class cabin available on that aircraft or is it offered in addition to the regular First class cabin?

@ Stephen -- Correct, that's the only first class Etihad has on the A380.

@ Chandan -- Awesome, thanks for the heads up!

The London- Abu Dhabi example is wrong?

@ Andrew -- Sloppy work on my part. Fixed!

@ Lucky

Are you still hearing the same thing about the F Lounge opening this summer? I have read some rumblings may not be until October. Don't you see it at the very worst being ready by the A380 NYC launch? Will you expect this lounge once opened to be on par or better than EK?

Lucky,

Does EF or similar service support award space alerts on EY?

@ Alex -- Unfortunately not.

I'm trying to think of a circumstance where a last minute (ie. < 1 week out) award availability would be helpful to me. If I'm going to fly to the Middle East, it's probably en route to the Maldives or the like. In which case it would likely not be something I would be planning in a week. Perhaps last minute award availability is helpful to some, but not for me.

When using AA miles can you book Business and upgrade to First if space opens up by paying the mileage difference? Thanks

Hi Ben,

I also encountered that when I called AA for checking availability, they had more options then stated on Etihad's website.
Etihad was not showing any option 10-12 october, but AA could reserve 1 first on 11th and 2 first on 12th...
That's pretty nasty, so in case you have the miles, I think it won't hurt to call and ask for availability on your desired dates?

Thanks again for the lovely post!

@ Ivo -- Very interesting!

@ Charlie -- Yep, you sure can.

@ Matt S. -- Fair point. Everyone has different travel patterns/desires, and I realize for many people last minute award space isn't useful.

@coins - just curious if any particular EY US routes have better service/crews compared to others? I guess this counts as part of soft product. and I assume the other components of the soft product (food, drinks) are standardized, along with the hard product (apart from minor diff due to plane sizes/refurb/maintenance stage)

I ask this because a few wks ago I remember reading on your blog about how in your exp CX flights exJFK seem to have mostly bad/mediocre locally based crews. esp compared to ORD and perhaps LAX? is that cause certain routes have HKG based crews (on a turnaround) and that was just due to timing of any given flight during the wk that you happened to catch. or were they perhaps permanent that I would find if I were to fly that route tmrw?

anyways, as you know crews in the F cabin (janesis @ SQ) can make a huge difference in your overall exp esp on an ultra long haul. so ya actually same Q for EK flights out of the US as well. are any particular routes better or any ones to avoid etc? I understand this maybe subjective and could even change on an on-going basis due to many variables for the above mentioned airlines. so some general advice would be great if you dont have concrete specifics, thanks!

I just figured you'd be the best person to ask because you fly so damn much and might have exp to compare and contrast on routes.

Unfortunately, Lucky, I don't agree with this current trend of all unsold seats 24 hours out. Look at IAD and JFK for tomorrow's flights. I'm trying to get on a flight tomorrow so I've been studying Etihad award space for the last few months. It definitely appears to open some space near departure, but not currently reliably at day of or day before.

@ Michael A -- It could still happen! The IAD flight tonight still has two seats for sale and both are awards. I'd check again tomorrow morning.

@ Adam -- All of Etihad's crews are based in Abu Dhabi, so I can't say there's really a difference. The way they "roster" works differently than in the US, since it's not strictly seniority based. So it really is luck of the draw.

Regarding the Jet Airways metal 777 from SFO to AUH, it could not have been nicer. Yes, the interior is a little different, perhaps more subdued, but it definitely wasn't worn or dirty (at least on the two planes used on my itinerary).

And they have these totally fun LED mood lights in the ceiling that creates a gradually changing starry night experience. The staff were quite proud of this and it is a fun feature.

The food was simply over the top. It's Indian-themed, as one might expect, and the catering was superb. While the food on the LAX Etihad metal is very good, my tastes run more towards South Indian, and they really did an excellent job, even with sea bass, which is hard to cook on board.

@ Nicholas -- Happy to hear you had such a good experience!

Hi Ben,

I have a booking for early next year from AUH-JFK. Since the flight time is at 2:55 am, my question to you is regarding hotel. My flight is leaving on a Saturday at 2:55 am. I'm arriving in AUH on a Wednesday. Do I book my hotel stay for 4 nights (i.e., Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday) or 3 nights (Wednesday, Thursday and Friday)? If 3 nights, I obviously have to ask for a late check-out on Friday (i.e., check-out at 11 pm Friday or midnight Saturday). Would the hotel allow that? I'm planning to stay at the Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi. I'm also a Diamond member.

Thanks.

@ John -- Technically you'll get 4PM check-out at best (that's not even guaranteed since this is a resort). That being said, if you ask nicely they might be able to extend that a bit further. If you want to check out much later than that they might have some sort of supplement you can pay to extend further. Or if you really want to be guaranteed a stay for as long as you'd like then you'll just want to pay for the following night as well.

Hi Ben,

We are a family of four traveling from DFW to India in early August. I was able to book 2 seats in first and two seats in business using AA miles. I am hoping that they would open at least 2 more first seats for AA awards so that whole family can be in first. Currently there are still 5 first seats unsold.

For our return, we have 2 first and 2 business seats in British Airways using AA miles and $830 fee for each person. I plan to change to Etihad if premium award seats open up for AA miles at least 24 hours prior to the BA departure (this is the time needed to cancel the BA tickets). Even with the change fees, I would save a bunch if we could get Etihad. What is the pattern for Etihad to release first or business award seats from AUH to DFW or any other US destination?

Thanks.

when referring to the Etihad F seats being for sale and the corresponding probability of those seats opening up as GuestSeat awards, does it make a difference if the revenue tickets are listed as 'Saver' or 'Freedom' ? thanks for your post; it's great help.

@ SLAB -- In general you have better odds if there's saver space, since it probably means there are more seats left for sale. But it's not really conclusive.

For the last 4 months I have been closely watching AUH-IAD and AUH-LHR for Guest F availability in August. Not one seat has opened up on either route on the A380 or B787. Even looking at close-in flights, and even within 24 hours - nothing at all. Looks like ex-AUH they are not releasing ANY F seats in the months of July and August on these premium aircraft (I looked briefly at AUH-SYD as well).

@ ML -- That's not quite true. For example, July 12 was the first date for which I pulled up availability, and the first A380 flight has first class award space. I agree space isn't great, but it's certainly not non-existent.

Okay, you are kind of right about the A380. They must have opened those up literally in the last couple days. I have been checking at least 3 times a week (often daily) for several months. On AUH-LHR they just opened up some availability. Total of 9 seats until end of August. Still seems like a determined effort to withhold availability out of AUH. It's more generous into AUH.
On the B787, however, there are 0 seats until the end of August. Even flights that have ALL 8 F seats (on a wide variety of dates) available for non-Guest redemption, have 0 for Guest redemption. I have been checking this for months and it's not like I missed an opportunity and they got booked. They simply are not releasing these seats.
I would love to be wrong on this.

Ben,

do you still keep an eye on last minute award space on AUH-LHR flights?
I do and it's almost gone for august, september the last few weeks...

Let's hope they start releasing last minute award space again in september.
I guess it also has to do with the end of the ramadan, a lot of people are travelling outside UAE now...

Hi Ben, a question regarding aircraft model on Etihad. How do the versions you have described above map against the references used on the Etihad award booking page? For example, I see "77W" on a number of flights from Europe, is this the Jet Airways 777 or not? Thanks!

I have a F award seat on a 77W from JFK-AUH using OZ miles in 3 weeks. Any chance EY would allow me on an earlier flight out of JFK which is A380 in a F Apartment either in advance or at the airport if I arrive on a paid connecting flight early enough? Or would I still have to go through OZ? Of course it seems that such seats rarely if ever appear under Etihad Guest as open on that A380 out of JFK...so I do not know if OZ would even see such a seat at the last minute. Do you have any thoughts or advice? Thanks.