You Don't Have To Be Rich To Fly Etihad's First Apartments

Yesterday I booked DUB-LHR-AUH-BOM trip in EY A380 F and EY 789 F for 40000 AA miles and about £70 (US$100). Simply unbelievable value!!!!

Just a heads up buying AA miles is now cap at 100,000/year. So you can max out promo at 151,000 (80,000 + 45,000 & 20,000 + 6,000)

Makes getting into 1st easier

Hi Ben. Did you happen to quickly check the new business cabin on the EY 380? If so, any brief thoughts?

With a family of 3, we often have to alternate Biz and F (or even Y!!!) I know it's a tough life. Award space on the EY apartment is my new goal in life though 😉 Congrats on being the first review and for ponying up the cash to do so. KUDOS.

Is it possible to fly to Maldives?

Lucky,
From Europe to Africa, are award tickets allowed to connect via Middle East or no? I know they're allowed from US (only on Qatar if over-water carrier as well), but was looking for clarification on the routing rules for European origination awards. Surprised I don't know this.

Lucky
It seems if you try and book through AA, it defaults to giving you British Airways for flights from London-Abu Dhabi

How do you do it so that you get an Etihad routing?

But it's a great deal-- 20000 points one way economy, but only 30000 and 40000 for Business and First respectively.

@Adi-T, read the article buddy! You have to search on Etihad's website for "Guest First" availability and then you would have to contact AA via phone to book.

@Adi-T
You have to call AA to book this particular partner award. You cannot book it on aa.com.

How can I book a connection in Europe on an AA award? Does it possible to use an BA flight as a connection or is there no published fare?

@Andy, If I were you, I'd book 2 F and 1 business on EY A380. Each apartment can easily accomodate 3 people (there are 3 seat belts in each apartment, after all.)

@ ocm -- Yes, you can book Etihad and BA on a single American award, though you'd have to book by phone and there does need to be a published fare.

@ Adi-T -- You have to use the Etihad website to search space and then call to book.

@ Graham -- You can on Qatar, but not on other partners as far as I know.

@ Mangoceviche -- Yes, you could do LHR-AUH-MLE.

@ Andy -- It was a nighttime flight so didn't get an amazing view of business, though it did look really good. Definitely one of the best hard products out there, in my opinion.

@ TEX277 -- Amazing value indeed. Enjoy!

Ben - Will MLE-AUH-LHR-JTR(Santorini) work? I already booked my one way to MLE, but I'm not sure if MPM will let my go from the maldives to Santorini...it's sort of going backwards once you get to london.

Joey, I hope Etihad prevents anyone who isn't in first class from hanging out in a first class apartment. (I think Ben confirmed that in a comment to his inaugural flight article.) Imagine if 9 people from business hang out in the 9 apartments, all using the first class lavatories, all talking, all moving between the cabins. It would totally downgrade the luxury of the first class cabin.

@Tara, it's really up to the flight cabin manager to make that decision. Your example may be to the extreme given the suggestion I gave to Andy was to book 2 in F and 1 in J on the same EY A380 flight. If Andy is able to persuade the flight cabin manager to let the person in J in the F apartment for a portion of the flight, then kudos to him! If not, then there's always next time! Like Lucky said in the title of this blog post, you don't have to be rich to fly in an EY Apt! 😉

I'd hope that if it was a family member they would allow them in F. I've seen plenty of instances where J and Y pax join F pax for meals in the F cabin, use F lavs and so forth. Generally hasn't been too much of a problem. Of course the space available in these suites definitely changes the potential.

Pavel, which airlines have you been on that allowed Y pax to have meals with friends/relatives in F? I'm not generally one who freaks out over the occasional family member visiting F pax, but access to F food seems a bit surprising.

Lucky, would you I be able to mix classes on a single award? LHR - AUH in F and AUH - MLE in J all for 40,000 miles? I'm having to check each leg separately on Ethiad Guest and it shows up as available with a layover.

I've had colleagues who have flown Y and joined clients or coworkers of ours in F. IIRC, my friend did it as well. Mostly on SQ as that's the carrier we use predominantly but it's also been done on CX. Now, I can't verify the Y pax had F food but I'd be mildly surprised if they enforced strict culinary segregation. 😀

@ JC -- That's more than 25% over the MPM, so wouldn't be allowed. Sorry.

Btw, your trick of starting in Colombo may not work anymore, thanks to this: http://www.engadget.com/2014/12/30/united-airlines-sues-cheap-tickets/?ncid=rss_truncated

Thanks for such an inspiring blog, Lucky!
I finally pulled the trigger and booked this amazing "seat" for my first First experience!

@ Travelista -- So happy to hear! Enjoy!

@ rs -- The Colombo fare isn't using any throwaway ticketing. No rules are violated when you fly all segments.

Lucky, what do you think the best way of getting from Amex reward points to booking Etihad is? I've got time on my side, so would you think points.com to turn amex rewards -> US airways points? Or amex rewards -> ANA? Alitalia?

@ Alex -- ANA is definitely your best bet. US Airways doesn't partner with Etihad, so you'd have to wait till they merge with AAdvantage.

@ Lucky, would you be able to mix classes on a single award? LHR – AUH in F and AUH – MLE in J all for 40,000 AA miles? I’m having to check each leg separately on Ethiad Guest and it shows up as available with a layover.

@ Abby -- Yes, you sure can.

@lucky, agreed, but my point is that the airlines are looking at increasing these fares (as websites are discovering/publishing these "loopholes"

Hey,

Can I fly Geneva - Abu Dhabi - Maldives on the 40'000 AA miles award or is the stop in the middle east too much?

Also, do you know how long in advance do the First Class awards on Etihad open up?

Thanks for your help.

Philippe

@ Philippe -- Yep, you sure can. They open space about 11 months out.

Great, but I don't seem to find any open seats for October...

Should I book an award on available flights (not a380) and change if it opens up? Are changes free with AA miles?

@ Philippe -- There's no fee as long as the origin and destination remains the same, so if you have dates you have to travel, that's what I'd do.

Good news, Etihad has opened up award seats on the A380 in October and November.

Yes I saw that and grabbed 2 seats.

Yay, Philippe! It's a truly amazing deal.

[…] todays more grandiose first class offerings like Suites aboard a Singapore Airlines A380 or Etihad Airlines Apartment, we were plenty impressed with the space provided our Cathay Pacific First seat. A small extension […]

Lucky, I'm seeing F space on the A380 in July when I search DEL-LHR, but when I search for just the AUH-LHR leg, it's coming up sold out. Same flight, same day - there's availability if connecting from DEL, but none if originating in AUH. Any rationale to this? Am I likely to have trouble booking this via AA?

@ James -- Some airlines do use married segment logic when it comes to awards, though in my experience Etihad doesn't, so that is odd. Unfortunately I'm guessing the individual segment wouldn't be bookable in this case.

Any guesses as to which AUH-JFK flight will be switched over to the A380? I'm thinking of an advance booking in F...

There's the current EK 103 02:40 departure from AUH currently operated with the Jet Airways aircraft, and then EK 101 with the 10:45 departure. I'm guessing it'll be 101, but would appreciate views.

@ H -- I'd say EY101 with near certainty.

Thanks! 🙂

Ben,

Booked on Apartments later this year. It seems I can't choose the meal or seats online? Have you found a way to do this? Thanks!

James

@ James -- You have to call Etihad to select seats or order special meals.

Know where I can access the pre-order menu?

@ James -- It's just for dietary restrictions, they don't have a "Book the Cook" menu or anything.

Hi

Just need to understand.
When you run the search on EY website it's stated that you need hundreds thousand miles to get an award ticket. But with AA you just need 40k miles each way to fly in F?

Is it working also with other ff programs?

Thanks in advance
Kite

@ KiteM -- You need whatever AAdvantage would charge. Though there needs to be "Guest" seat availability, and not just any availability. Here's the tutorial on that:
https://onemileatatime.com/search-etihad-award-space/