Etihad has finally brought their A380s back online. Those planes feature first class apartments that have a seat and a bed, along with a shower to boot.
I enjoyed flying it on my way home from the Maldives in 2017.
There is incredible award availability starting between London and Abu Dhabi, which is the only route that the plane is scheduled to fly for now.
You can book this with 62.5K American miles each way. You can also travel to or from anywhere else in the Middle East, including Israel or the Maldives for the same rate.
You can view the cabin seat map layout here.
Note that AA.com is giving an error when trying to check out, so you’ll have to call American or chat with American online or in the app to hold or book these awards.
The cash price for a one-way flight in first class from London to Abu Dhabi is over $6,000, making this an incredible award redemption at more than 9 cents per point.
Unfortunately, Air Canada is not showing this award space.
Just search on AA.com for nonstop flights in first class between Abu Dhabi and London:
Choose a connection that gives you some time to explore Abu Dhabi!
American allows you to hold awards for 5 days and they have no redeposit/cancellation fees!
You can call American to add on an AA saver first class saver award flight from NYC to London onto the Etihad first class flight from London to the Middle East for 115K miles.
You can confirm AA saver award space by checking for it on the BA site:
You can also book Abu Dhabi-London flights in first class for 140K Etihad miles, plus some $250 in fuel surcharges, each way. If you book direct with Etihad, you can also upgrade to the residence with your own private shower and completely private bedroom for a $2,500 upgrade. You can transfer AMEX, Capital One, and Citi points to Etihad.
You can currently earn 100,000 miles for spending $10,000 on the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® or 65,000 miles for spending $4,000 on the CitiBusiness AAdvantage Platinum World Mastercard.
You can also transfer Marriott points to American at a 3:1 ratio.
Will you take advantage of this award space availability?
HT: @upgradedpoints
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28 Comments On "Wide Open Etihad First/Shower Class Apartments Saver Award Space With Flights To Abu Dhabi And Connections To Tel Aviv, Maldives, And More!"
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They only let you upgrade to residence if you book direct?
140k etihad is one way?
Any plans to bring the a380 to usa?
So it seems.
Yes.
No.
How much is the upgrade on top of the 140k?
$2500 one way on LHR AUH
@dan American changed their award hold policy. It’s now 3 days, not 5. Still the best in the business though! Thanks
It’s still 5 days. 3 days was just a glitch.
Either way it’s probably more worthwhile to just book, considering you can always cancel for a full points redeposit. I recently placed a 48 hour hold on an AA flight thru Cathay Pacific. I transfered the points and called back to complete the booking about 40 hours later, but they apologized and said AA had canceled the reservation and there was nothing they could do. I fought on the phone for an hour asking to speak to a supervisor (somehow always unavailable) and asked them to contact AA to reverse it, or release those seats again. No luck there, so I called Amex and told them what happened and asked them to reverse the transfer, so we’ll see what happens…
Amex does not transfer to AA, so what do they have to do with this???
Read what I wrote
Would be sweet, if only Capital One or Chase miles could be used to transfer to American for these flights!
BILT points are the only bank points transferrable to American.
Any thoughts as to why Aeroplan has not been showing any business/first availability even where there is availability on AA and Etihad? Is this some temporary glitch or have they changed their policy and this will no longer be an option?
Good question. Try calling and see if they see the space?
Did you get it via calling @PG?
Could this be booked as a one from jfk? JFK-LHR-AUH-TLV?
Yes
I tried to booking some flights with Etihad earlier in business. I got the error message and when I called up, they said there was no availability. That’s what the message on the website was. They said it was a glitch that it even shows up online. Any tips?
Definitely HUCA.
And try chatting.
Not all reps know how to book it.
You wrote in previous posts that there was better luck with the Australian call center. Is that still the case?
If you strike out after HUCA, I’d give that a shot.
Has anyone been able to actually book ? Seems to me like it was all a glitch / phantom as most of the availability disappeared from ey and aa a few hours after this post and even the few remaining dates i tried booking thru chat and rep said that ey not accepting the booking and canceling the hold right away… definitely has all the classic signs of a glitch
Yes.
Call to book.
Ill try but i still dont get how it went from wide open availability to basically zero in a few hours…
I’m seeing something on some sites that the rate for the residence is the same for 1 or 2 ppl what does that mean exactly? Can just upgrade 1 and other passenger in apartment can join?
If I booked with American on the phone could I string together an itinerary with extended stops?
JFK – LHR, few nights in London, LHR – AUH, few nights in Abu Dhabi, then finally AUH – MLE
I know this availability is eaten up by now but trying to plan honeymoon!
No, you’d have to book separate tickets if you want to stop more than 24 hours.