Closer AA/Etihad agreement.

[drron]

Etihad Airways

Earn miles when flying on Etihad Airways marketed and operated flights for travel on an eligible published fare ticket. Miles are also earned on all Etihad Airways codeshare flights operated by American Airlines.

• Etihad Airways operated and marketed flights between New York (JFK), Chicago (ORD), Toronto (YYZ) and Abu Dhabi are not eligible for mileage accrual*

Apparently later this year you will be able to redeem AA miles on Etihad.
No elite qualifying miles though if an Etihad flight number.

 

[futaris]

AA - 100%:
Y,E,B,H,K,M,Q,L,V,U,T

Same earning as Velocity Rewards - 100%:
Y, B, H, K, M, Q, L, V, U, E, T

Not a bad redemption option for AA miles. Opens up a lot more possibilities to Europe, from BNE, SYD, MEL.

Shame you won't be able to use the lounges if you fly economy and are AA PLT or EXP.

NB, BNE-SIN return on Etihad is often only 850-900 AUD, and earns around ~8k miles. Sometimes can be had for less than that, usually as a companion deal.

 

[samiam]

Arrived today:

Starting June 1, 2011, we have extended our partnership with American Airlines. Now, as a member of Etihad Guest, you can earn miles on eligible American Airlines flights* through our reciprocal Frequent Flyer agreement.

Interesting times where airlines are members of OW or *A, and can have external alliances with competitors to that same network!

 

[futaris]

Shame that Etihad awards aren't bookable using AAdvantage miles, yet...

Needing to book BNE-SIN on Etihad, around Xmas as availability is much better than on QF or even SQ or EK...

35k AA vs 50k Velocity Rewards vs 67.5k Etihad Guest miles...

 

[drron]

Shame that Etihad awards aren't bookable using AAdvantage miles, yet...

Needing to book BNE-SIN on Etihad, around Xmas as availability is much better than on QF or even SQ or EK...

35k AA vs 50k Velocity Rewards vs 67.5k Etihad Guest miles...

You can now.
Etihad Airways

Use AAdvantage miles to book award travel on Etihad with the AAdvantage participating airlines awards. These awards allow travel on any combination of AAdvantage participating carriers.
All awards are valid for one-way travel — unless otherwise specified — and may be combined to create round-trip or multi-city travel. These awards are MileSAAver awards and as such are subject to special seating limitations and to certain travel embargo dates.
To book award travel on one of our AAdvantage participating carriers, contact Reservations at 1-800-882-8880 (or your local American Airlines office). An award service charge applies to AAdvantage award reservations ticketed by our reservations office, Travel Centers or airport agents. View complete details on making award reservations

 

[adrian]

Hmmmm..... AA redemptions SYD-PRG with only one stop, in fully-flat business 60k miles, and presumably none of the dreaded BA-like fuel levys. PRG is for me a several-times-a-year destination. There are also several other Euro destinations, including Athens, which is difficult to get to on One-World.

CX is currently my preferred redemption carrier, but has two stops to PRG. Will have to check out the connections in Abu Dabi on this one.

Also, those FC suites look nice for 80k - anyone know if they are used on the flights to Sydney?

 

[futaris]

I wonder if BNE-SIN-AUH-SEZ or BNE-SIN-AUH-MLE would be a valid redemption routing...

AA & EY / Etihad Airways launch reciprocal miles redemptions - FlyerTalk Forums

 

[futaris]

BNE-SIN:
25,000 AAdavantage (Economy)
29,000 Velocity (Economy)

SIN-AUH:
22,500 AAdavantage (Economy)
30,800 Velocity (Economy)

AUH-LHR:
20,000 AAdvantage (Economy)
25,400 Velocity (Economy)

BNE-SIN-AUH:
30,000 AAdvantage (Economy)
47,000 Velocity (Economy)

SIN-AUH-LHR:
35,000 AAdvantage (Economy)
??,??? Velocity (Economy)

BNE-SIN-AUH-LHR:
45,000 AAdvantage (Economy)
62,500 Velocity (Economy)

 

[futaris]

NB, apparently you can't connect in the Middle East on a South Pacific - Europe award.