A reader emailed me to ask if I could write a tutorial on searching Etihad award space. I wrote a tutorial back in October of 2011 when Etihad’s partnership with American began, though Etihad has redesigned their website since then, so I realize perhaps it’s not self explanatory anymore.

As a refresher, you can most practically redeem American AAdvantage and ANA Mileage Club miles for travel on Etihad. American has a zone based partner award chart and doesn’t levy fuel surcharges for travel on Etihad. ANA, meanwhile, has a distance based partner award chart, and does levy fuel surcharges for travel on Etihad. It’s worth noting that Etihad has embedded fuel surcharges, meaning it’s not always so easy to tell what the fuel surcharges are, since they don’t appear on the “surface” when doing a fare search. The last time I booked a roundtrip business class award ticket through ANA between New York and Abu Dhabi, the taxes and fuel surcharges totaled about $900.

Anyway, the best place to search Etihad award space is on Etihad Airways’ website. You first need to join their Etihad Guest program if you haven’t yet, which is free and can be done here.

Once you’re logged into your account click on “Your Miles” in the left tab and then “How to Redeem.”

From there, on the left of the page click on “Click here to book flight” under the “How to redeem” section.

From there just enter your origin, destination, dates, and desired class of service, and then click “Select Flights.”

When you get to the results page, you’ll want to look for “GuestSeat” availability. If there’s not GuestSeat availability then you won’t be able to book that flight. As you can see below, there’s no first class GuestSeat availability from Washington to Abu Dhabi on June 9.

Meanwhile on June 16 there’s one first class award seat from Abu Dhabi to New York.

You can easily use the calendar function along the top of the page to search multiple days quickly, and then use the arrows to scroll forwards or backwards a week.

Always keep in mind that the mileage costs listed are irrelevant if you’re redeeming through another program. You do need the GuestSeat availability, though the price you’ll be charged is per the respective award chart of the airline you’re redeeming with.

So the redesigned website is actually an improvement over the old website, as it’s now much easier to search for saver award space. And that’s good, because in many cases Etihad is a great option for award travel.

I asked you guys what you’d like to read about, so this post is in response to a question posted there. I’ll address as many of the questions as I can in the coming weeks. Feel free to keep adding to the list and I’ll use it as a basis for future posts.

Reader AJK requested the following:

Your breakdown and opinion of the top 5 *hard* products in F.

Ah, hard products, my favorite! Service and food can vary from flight to flight, while the “hard” product remains the same. I’ll define hard product a bit different than most for the purposes of this post. For me hard product includes the seat, entertainment, and aircraft amenities. Basically everything that’s constant from flight to flight. Service and food can vary, so that’s what I consider to be the “soft” aspect of the flight.

With that in mind, here are my five favorite first class hard products in order:

Singapore Suites Class

This is probably no surprise, but Singapore Suites is my favorite product in the world, which is only found on Singapore’s Airbus A380s. It’s located on the lower deck, making the cabin a bit more spacious than the airlines that put first class on the upper deck, as that cabin is narrower.

Not only is the cabin extremely spacious, but I find the colors and design to be elegant and soothing. Beyond that, the KrisWorld entertainment system offers one of the most extensive in-flight entertainment selections of any airline.

Ironically enough, given how over the top Singapore usually is, the plane lacks amenities other than the seats themselves. There are no onboard showers, bars, or massive lavatories, as some other airlines offer on their Airbus A380s. Then again, Singapore does have the only double bed in the sky, so that more than makes up for any deficiencies.

Etihad First Class

While I have somewhat mixed feelings about Etihad as a whole (their service is hit or miss and lounge isn’t that great), their first class seat is simply phenomenal. It’s a fully enclosed product and I find the design to be surprisingly soothing and low key for a Middle Eastern airline.

Their bedding and entertainment system are top notch as well, so it’s an all around great product.

Emirates First Class

On one hand I feel bad including Emirates on this list, since their product is so uncomfortably blingy that you can’t help but just not feel worthy… and feel like an Arabian Prince and Flavor Flav got together to design it.

Their Airbus A380 first class is on the upper deck, so the cabin isn’t quite as spacious as you’ll find on the airlines offering first class on the lower deck. The first class cabin is also quite large with 14 seats.

And while I don’t find the seat itself to be all that massive or spacious, everything around it sure is an experience, from the vanity mirror staring at you the whole flight, to the in-suite room service phone. Their ICE entertainment system also has one of the most extensive libraries of any airline.

Emirates also deserves some bonus points for their onboard shower and bar, both things that make them totally worthy, even if we aren’t.

Qantas First Class

Qantas has one of the most unique first class seat designs on their Airbus A380. Unlike every other airline they didn’t go for an enclosed suite or the typical forward facing seat design, but instead all their seats are angled towards the windows when in the flat position.

The cabin colors are pleasant, the entertainment system is quite good, and they hands down have the best bedding in the airline industry. It’s indescribably good.

Lufthansa 747-400 First Class

I can’t in good conscience leave out the only airline that has a dedicated seat and bed for first class passengers.

Lufthansa’s 747-400s feature eight first class seats on the upper deck, each of which consists of both a seat and bed right next to it. So not only is it awesome to have your own bed, but you really can’t beat an upper deck cabin with at most seven other passengers.

Now, at times I feel the execution of the product isn’t perfect. For example, the TV doesn’t swivel towards the bed, so it’s tough to watch TV from bed. Similarly I wish the seat reclined a bit more. But this is a revolutionary product and unbeatable for getting a good night of sleep.

What are your favorite first class products?

Introduction
British Airways Terraces Lounge Seattle
British Airways First Class Seattle to London Heathrow
Emirates Lounge London Heathrow (after a surprise!)
Emirates First Class London Heathrow to Dubai
Grosvenor House Dubai
Afternoon tea in the Skyview Bar at Burj Al Arab
Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi Saadiyat Island
St. Regis Abu Dhabi Saadiyat Island
Qasr Al Sarab
Etihad Airways First Class Lounge Abu Dhabi
Etihad Airways First Class Abu Dhabi to New York JFK
British Airways Galleries Lounge New York JFK
Cathay Pacific First Class New York JFK to Vancouver

One of the great things about Etihad is that they offer complimentary chauffeur service on arrival or departure to all first and business class passengers. This isn’t just within the city limits of Abu Dhabi, but rather anywhere within the UAE. It’s a way both Emirates and Etihad try to stay competitive, since both airlines are trying to market to both passengers in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

Naturally we took full advantage of this by making our last stop of the trip the stay at Qasr Al Sarab, which is about two hours from Abu Dhabi Airport. After we issued our Etihad ticket I called them up to schedule the chauffeur service. Our flight was at 10:30AM, and after giving the agent the address we’d like to be picked up from, he suggested an 8AM pick-up. The funny thing about Qasr Al Sarab is that it’s address is technically in Abu Dhabi, so I think the agent assumed it wasn’t that far. I instead suggested a 6AM pick-up, which the agent agreed with, though he warned me we would be arriving early for our flight. Not so much!

I was thrilled to find that the driver arrived at our hotel early, unlike during my last trip when I used the service, when the driver was 40 minutes late. The stakes were much higher here, and was I was worried the driver would look at the address and assume it’s in Abu Dhabi, and only leave 30 minutes before the scheduled pick-up time.

Anyway, we began the two hour drive to the airport, where we arrived at around 8AM. The car was an older generation Audi with 100,000+ miles on it, though it was in good condition. The driver asked to make one stop on the way, for a tea and tinkle break. Fair enough, since I can only imagine at what time he woke up.

We were dropped off at the first and business class side of the terminal, where we were promptly helped by a bellman.

Terminal exterior

He asked whether we were flying first or business class, and directed us towards the first class check-in section, which is on the far left of the terminal. The first class check-in facility is “sit down,” though unfortunately there was a wait of about 10 minutes, so we were invited to take a seat on the couch till they were ready for us.

First class check-in

First class check-in

Once we were actually helped the process took only a couple of minutes, and we were directed towards the priority immigration and security queue. As is the norm in the UAE, the immigration guy couldn’t be bothered to get off his cell phone, and at the security queue the agents didn’t even glance at the x-ray machine screen.

Etihad’s lounge is located just as you enter the airside, on the second level.

Terminal Read More…

Hello from New York, where I’m in the midst of a circle trip of sorts (I need to be in Florida by tomorrow yet I’m flying to the west coast tonight – I have no clue what I’m doing).

I just flew Etihad Airways Diamond First from Abu Dhabi to New York, the same exact route I flew last November, as some of you may recall from my trip report.

Map to New York

Last time I wasn’t terribly impressed by Etihad. While the seat was among my favorite in the sky, the service and food left a bit to be desired.

Diamond First suite

In a way today’s flight was like déjà vu. The flight left from exactly the gate as last time, and in many ways the flight was very similar.

Etihad A340-500 bound for New York

I will say the service and food were a bit better then last year. There was an onboard chef who was pretty knowledgeable about the menu and great at making recommendations, though I can’t say the same for most of the rest of the crew. They were friendly in a distant way, if that makes any sense.

Arabic mezze

Beef tenderloin

Dessert

Nonetheless it was a very pleasant flight – I got some sleep, watched a few movies, and had a couple of good meals. I’ll have more on the flight with the trip report, though there’s one other thing I have to mention that drives me bonkers.

Bed mode

Why do non-US airlines keep their cabins so uncomfortably warm? You can always layer and use a blanket, though there’s only so much clothes you can take off. Foreign airlines consistently keep their planes at sauna-like temperatures, made even worse by the fact that they typically don’t have individual air nozzles. I’m almost tempted to fly US airlines longhaul simply for access to an air nozzle and a cool cabin, as it’s really tough to sleep if you’re sweating, no matter how comfortable the seat is.

Introduction
Etihad Check-in & The Lounge JFK
Etihad Airways First Class New York to Abu Dhabi
Park Hyatt Dubai
Exploring Dubai
Afternoon Tea at the Burj Al Arab
InterContinental Abu Dhabi
Touring the Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi
Etihad Check-in & First Class Lounge Abu Dhabi
Etihad Airways First Class Abu Dhabi to New York
Conclusion

Little did I know my flight was leaving from gate 35, which is the furthest gate from the lounge.

After walking past what must have been a hundred duty free shops I found myself in the gate area, where I started the long hike towards gate 35.

Duty free shops

Gates

Read More…