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Etihad has perhaps the most aspirational First Class product in their A380 “First Apartment”. They only fly their A380 to one destination in the U.S. (New York JFK) so space can be hard to find.
According to View from the Wing, Etihad has opened up a bunch of space from Abu Dhabi to New York JFK starting in June. The additional space is most likely coming online because they will begin flying a second A380 on that route as of then.
Searching & Booking
Etihad Guest space can be found directly on their website. Etihad partners with American Airlines, ANA and Korean Air. Any award that shows up in the “Guest Seat” category should be bookable via their partners. You can also transfer Citi ThankYou and American Express Membership Rewards points to directly to Etihad.
For more info and analysis: see, this View from the Wing post.
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THANK YOU!!! I’ve been obsessively checking availability with no luck. Today I called AA and nailed an Etihad apartment from AUH-JFK in Zoctober, with connections from BOM and on to SFO. All in first. Amazing. So glad I read your posts!!!
So what’s the AA cost? Hopefully less than 2.4mil
115,000 AA miles award, FC from India to USA. Same for the Etihad Apartment as any “ordinary” first class so if you can get it, far more bang for the miles.
Care to go a little more indepth on how you booked these segments. I would love to do the same and have 500k AA miles
Sure! I checked Etihad website under “book with miles” to see availability, then I called AA. The main thing to look for is the AUH-JFK leg on the A380. Then you can fill in the less important connections. After ticketing get the Etihad PNR from AA, then you can log into the Etihad site to book your forward-facing window Apartment
THANK YOU!!! I’ve been obsessively checking availability with no luck. Today I called AA and nailed an Etihad apartment from AUH-JFK in Zoctober, with connections from BOM and on to SFO. All in first. Amazing. So glad I read your posts!!!