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This is the first post in an Etihad to Abu Dhabi trip report.
- Etihad To Abu Dhabi – Introduction
- Review: Etihad Business Class Lounge Heathrow T4
- Review: Etihad Business Class A380 (LHR-AUH) – Part 1
- Review: Etihad Business Class A380 (LHR-AUH) – Part 2
- Review: Ritz-Carlton Abu Dhabi Grand Canal
- Review: Etihad Premium Lounge Abu Dhabi T3
- Review: Etihad Business Class 777-300 (AUH-LHR)
For the past few years two of the big “sweet spots” in the AAdvantage program have been the cost of Business and First Class award tickets, on Etihad, for travel between Europe and the Middle East. At a cost of 30,000 miles and 40,000 miles respectively (one-way) they’ve been an absolute bargain – especially when you consider that it costs 30,000 miles to get from Europe to the US in Cargo Economy Class.
I’m writing all of this in the past tense because, as of next year, these sweet spots won’t be quite so sweet any more. From 22 March 2016 the AAdvantage program will be devaluing and the cost of award travel will be going up – substantially in the case of the aspirational awards like those on Etihad. One-way Business Class awards between Europe and the Middle East will cost 42,500 AAdvantage Miles (an increase of 42%) and First Class awards will cost 62,500 (an increase of 56%).
All of this led me to take a long look at the stash of AAdvantage Miles I have in my account and decide to do something with them before they do an impression of the Zimbabwean dollar (ok, I’m exaggerating for effect but you get my point….).
For one reason or another I’ve never flown on Etihad and the upcoming AAdvantage devaluation seemed like a good excuse to do something about it – so I did.
Booking Etihad Awards
The best place to search for Etihad awards is the Etihad loyalty program’s homepage Etihadguest.com. That may seem like a statement of the obvious but, in a lot of cases, the easiest place to search for a given airline’s awards isn’t necessarily that airline’s own website (e.g British Airways’ website is the best place to search for Cathay Pacific awards).
It’s important to remember that not all award seats that are shown on the Etihad Guest website are available to be booked using AAdvantage Miles – Etihad needs to have “Guest Business” awards available for there to be availability for AAdvantage miles redemptions.
In the case of the flights below the only flight that can be booked with AAdvantage Miles is the second flight of the day.
The number of miles that the Etihad Guest website shows is irrelevant as is the cost of the surcharges that is shown – those only apply to bookings being made with Etihad Guest miles. Not only are AAdvantage awards cheaper (30,000 miles one way) but the taxes and fees are lower too.
By following the steps above I found availability for Business Class flights between London and Abu Dhabi on dates just before Christmas (a great time to get a bit of sun before the European winter really sets in).
Having found dates with award availability the next step was to phone American Airlines to get them to grab the seats. Recently a few people have been having issues with American Airlines agents not being able to see the awards that the Etihad Guest website is showing, so I was wondering if I’d encounter the same issue. Luckily all went smoothly and 60,000 miles and $302.40 later I had a round trip booked in Business Class between London and Abu Dhabi.
Not only did I find dates that worked for me but I also managed to book myself on an Airbus A380 (outbound) and a Boeing 777-300 (inbound) so that I could compare the Business Class products on both aircraft – reviews of both will soon be appearing on Traveling For Miles.
An Added Bonus Of Etihad Business Class
If you book into Business Class on Etihad they give you an added perk that you don’t get with most airlines – free chauffeur service to and from the airport at either end of your journey. It’s a great perk to have and, contrary to a report I recently saw posted on another site, award bookings using AAdvantage Miles do qualify for this perk.
This service is not available if you’re just transiting or if you’ve booked a “Business Breaking Deal” but it’s definitely available with AAdvantage award bookings.
In the not too distant past you had to call up Etihad and quote your booking reference if you wanted to book a chauffeur but, as of earlier this year, this has become available on the Etihad website and that makes things a lot easier.
Once you’ve booked your chauffeur you receive a confirmation email for each journey you’ll be making (in my case 4 journeys) and you’re told that you’ll get a text 24 hours before departure informing you of when you’ll be picked up.
An example of the Etihad Chauffeur confirmation
As it happens I got my text confirmation 48 hours before departure….and got a bit of surprise.
My flight to Abu Dhabi was scheduled to depart London Heathrow at 9:15am and, as it happens, I was staying less than 20 minutes away from Heathrow the night before my flight….but Etihad decided I needed to be doubly sure I’d get there on time and booked me a 5:15am pick up! Luckily they provided me with a phone number to call should I wish to change anything in the booking and, after a little negotiation, I got my pickup changed to 6:45am – still too early but a lot better than before.
That was the end of the booking process.
Bottom Line
The Etihad Business Class award was one of those awards that I’d never got around to booking and I’m incredibly happy that I finally did.
The whole process was remarkably simple, the Etihad Guest website was easy to navigate and uncomplicated to use, the American Airlines agents had no trouble finding the award availability and booking it and what direct contact I had with Etihad (their chauffeur booking service) was pleasant and easy (they were exceptionally polite).
The fact is that, if you do your own research and don’t rely on airline agents to find you award space this really isn’t complicated. Yes, it can be frustrating if you don’t find award space on the dates you want but that’s just part and parcel of the miles and points game – you win some, you lose some. This one was a win for me and all that was left was to see if Etihad lived up to the hype.
Featured Image: Abu Dhabi courtesy of Petr Kadlec via Flickr
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