Questions and Answers

Has anyone tried to book Etihad first class using AA miles in the last day or so? Etihad’s website is showing Guest First space, but AA agents are not seeing any space. I’ve looked at multiple dates and called AAdvantage several times, trying different agents.

I’ve noticed that American are not able to see First class awards that are available on the Etihad website under the Guest First bracket. Is this a common occurrence or just a glitch? I’ve rung up AA a few times and they can only see coach awards despite me being able to see the first class Guest award on the Etihad website

I’ve noticed the same for Business class awards – There are 3 seats in Guest Business, but AA agents (called twice) say nothing is available, only coach.

It’s a common glitch 😉

I would wait a few hours, it generally resolves itself within a day or two.

Thanks, Tiffany. It seems (from flyertalk) that glitch exists starting yesterday. Let’s see when it would be fixed.

[USER=7]@Tiffany[/USER] I’ve called AA up today again and it seems like something very strange is going on. I asked for FC availability from AUH to MEL, which there is, but then when I ask to change my booking (which I’ve already made from AUH-SYD in J) the availability suddenly disappears. The agent first said that it was due to AA using a live system but when I asked her to check AUH to MEL separately again, the availability was there.
Is this a common thing that occurs? I thought that AA awards can be changed for $150 dollars but for some reason, the availability keeps disappearing when I try to change my booking.

[USER=1070]@Sunil[/USER] — Ah, that’s a slightly different issue. See the experience [USER=595]@Jermyn[/USER] had hereP: [URL]http://asklucky.onemileatatime.com/threads/upgrading-exisiting-aa-award-ticket-from-business-to-first-class.3197/#post-5825[/URL]

[USER=7]@Tiffany[/USER] Thanks for the link – I’ve tried calling them and they aren’t able to understand what I mean by splitting the PNR (to be honest, I don’t really understand it either :P) Thanks for all the help anyway.

[USER=7]@Tiffany[/USER] I’ve now been able to change my AUH-SYD booking to AUH-MEL (still all in business) but now I can’t upgrade it to First despite there being availability on the AA system. I really don’t know what to do anymore

[USER=1070]@Sunil[/USER] — what were you told was the problem?

[USER=79]@Gaurav[/USER] They said that the availability has disappeared when they look to upgrade my existing booking, but when I ask them to look for the AUH-MEL flight in first, the availability shows up again.

[USER=1070]@Sunil[/USER] such a a frustrating situation. You’ll just have to keep calling until you can find an agent who is able to do what Tiffany linked for you.

Might also consider using an award booking service. Might be worth it to have some else deal with the frustration.

Thank you so so so so much for all the help guys! I finally managed to get my booking sorted – never could have done this without your help

[QUOTE=”Sunil, post: 9452, member: 1070″]Thank you so so so so much for all the help guys! I finally managed to get my booking sorted – never could have done this without your help[/QUOTE]
Just curious, how did you get it sorted? I’m been experiencing a similar glitch with Etihad seat selection. The seats are clearly available but when I go to confirm the change, I get an error in the last stage and I’m assigned no seats. Then, when I choose two others, confirm, and log back in again the original ones I wanted open up again. Rinse and repeat. I called Etihad and they see the same strange behaviour – ie: the seats show as available and then disappear when you try and reserve them!

[QUOTE=”Mrs R, post: 9487, member: 970″]Just curious, how did you get it sorted? I’m been experiencing a similar glitch with Etihad seat selection. The seats are clearly available but when I go to confirm the change, I get an error in the last stage and I’m assigned no seats. Then, when I choose two others, confirm, and log back in again the original ones I wanted open up again. Rinse and repeat. I called Etihad and they see the same strange behaviour – ie: the seats show as available and then disappear when you try and reserve them![/QUOTE]
That must be a new issue then – when I booked mine, the space showed up on the Etihad site. When I asked AA, they could see the space if I booked it as a single journey but not if I combined it. Eventually the person on the phone at AA found a solution to add it on to my ticket.

There are apparently 2 different issues here. One has a workaround, one does not. People outside of the US are seeing EY F/J Guest awards on Etihad’s webpage but AA can’t see it to book it. Those awards seem to be successfully booked by calling a foreign AA call center, despite AA tweeting there wasn’t a problem. (Very long thread on Flyertalk.) However, [B]all[/B] Guest availability for flights to/from the US seems to have disappeared. It does NOT show on Etihad’s page and AA also can’t see it, no matter the call center. I have no idea if the 2 issues are related but I was ready to book this weekend for a trip next year and this is incredibly frustrating. JFK/IAD-AUH had previously shown seats several days a week in both F/J. Now there’s nothing from Jan-Oct 2016. Would really like to know if I should give up and look at alternatives or if this is a temporary glitch!

[USER=1127]@Izznt[/USER] It’s quite possible that there is currently no award space on US flights, especially if people are trying to burn AA miles. If it’s not showing on Etihad’s site, its probably not there. I’d check for alternatives but keep checking with Etihad as well, in case something opens up

[QUOTE=”Izznt, post: 9551, member: 1127″]However, [B]all[/B] Guest availability for flights to/from the US seems to have disappeared. It does NOT show on Etihad’s page and AA also can’t see it, no matter the call center. I have no idea if the 2 issues are related but I was ready to book this weekend for a trip next year and this is incredibly frustrating. JFK/IAD-AUH had previously shown seats several days a week in both F/J. Now there’s nothing from Jan-Oct 2016. Would really like to know if I should give up and look at alternatives or if this is a temporary glitch![/QUOTE]

According to Ben/Lucky Etihad is inconsistent with how they present award space and it seems to be a pretty regular occurrence. That might be it as well.

[URL]http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2015/05/19/etihad-first-class-award-availability-trends/[/URL]

[USER=859]@Cal[/USER], thanks. I realy hope that is the case – because it might mean there’s a chance space will free up again. I just found the timing with AA’s announced changes worrying.