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. The catch is actually finding availability for premium cabin travel on these airlines.
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. A lot here has changed in recent times, as Etihad has increasingly been trying to push redemptions through its own Etihad Guest program, by restricting partner award availability.
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 Legend Mastercard® (review) and Citi® / AAdvantage Business™ World Elite 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 Boston (BOS), 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, which I rank among the best business class experiences in the world.
The airline also has a lot of Boeing 787s, featuring a solid fully flat staggered business class product. The airline even has a new 787 business class product, which is now being offered on select flights to the United States.
Perhaps most exciting of all, Etihad has brought back its Airbus A380s. They’re currently flying from Abu Dhabi to London (LHR), and as of April 2024, will also fly from Abu Dhabi to New York (JFK). These planes feature a phenomenal first class product, among the best first class experiences out there.
With Etihad also having moved to the new terminal at Abu Dhabi Airport, the ground experience has improved nicely, with an impressive new Etihad First Lounge and Etihad Business Lounge.
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
When it comes to one-way first class pricing:
- You can fly from Abu Dhabi to London for 62,500 miles
- You can fly from Abu Dhabi to New York for 115,000 miles
Those are all excellent uses of miles, if you ask me.
How to search & book Etihad awards
Etihad’s current management team is trying to increasingly engage people in the Etihad Guest program. As part of that, Etihad currently only makes first and business class award seats available to partner frequent flyer programs within 30 days of departure. If you want to book further out than that, you need to redeem Etihad Guest miles.
So before you even start searching for award availability, make sure you understand those basics, because more than a month out, Etihad Guest will be your only option.
The good news is that within 30 days of departure, you’ll generally find that American has access to the same award space as Etihad Guest’s own GuestSeat availability. You should generally find that aa.com displays accurate award availability for Etihad within that timeframe, and I also like how American has a calendar feature, whereby you can search availability across a variety of dates.
If you do see GuestSeat availability within 30 days of departure and it doesn’t show through American’s website, it could be worth calling American to see if they have access to the availability, as it could be a tech glitch. However, sometimes there are just going to be discrepancies.
You’ll find that availability between Abu Dhabi and London in Etihad’s A380 first class is generally pretty readily available in the weeks leading up to departure, including for multiple seats, which is awesome.
Also, now that we’re within 30 days of Etihad launching A380 flights to New York, I’m starting to see first class award availability there as well, which is perhaps the most interesting opportunity for AAdvantage members.
While availability on Etihad is more restrictive than in the past, at least the booking process is pretty straightforward, unlike back in the day (when you often had to call foreign American call centers to unlock the right availability).
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
- American AAdvantage has no change or redeposit fees on awards, so you can always lock in an award and then change it later
Bottom line
Redeeming American AAdvantage miles on Etihad can be an incredible value, though there are also quite a few restrictions associated with these awards. Most significantly, Etihad premium cabin award space is only available to AAdvantage members up to 30 days before departure.
The good news is that within 30 days of departure, Etihad premium cabin award space is often quite good, especially in first class. Being able to redeem AAdvantage miles for Etihad first class is an amazing opportunity.
Have you redeemed American AAdvantage miles on Etihad?
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