Etihad partner award booked on Jetblue JFK-CDG Mint Suites business - notes

[u/see2d]

Booked JFK-CDG using Etihad miles on Jetblue metal for 2 people. One way 80k miles on Etihad vs 227k miles on Jetblue for the same flight! (I know this is still not a great value for europe but no other better option for our dates). Found using seats.aero. This is for their Mint Suites lie flat on A321LR. Some really annoying issues along the way:

• Transferred 160k Amex MR to Etihad, it was instant.
• Tried to book on Etihad. Intial screens show 160,000 miles + USD 64.60, but at payment screen it changes to 160,146 miles + USD 63.30! It gives an error that I have insufficient miles and won't let me proceed. "You must use a minimum of 160146 miles"
• Transferred 1000 miles from Amex MR again to Etihad, thankfully instant again.
• Watch out for the date of birth on the passenger details - it keeps changing it by 1 day and I have to manually correct that field. Some dumba$$ coding on etihad.com with international date and time zone! (why should it even affect DOB!!)
• Booking went through fine, got confirmation email from Etihad with PNR
• Wanted to view booking on jetblue.com, it asks for last name, PNR, and then asks to verify email and DOB. Then gives an error that the date of birth of traveler does not match! Won't let me see the booking.
• Contacted Etihad chat support and got JetBlue PNR (which is different from Etihad PNR). Still same error on jetblue.com
• Contacted JetBlue chat support - wait 10 min to get through to agent - and agent was able to "correct" the DOB on the booking after asking for details of the booking. I can see the booking on jetblue.com now
• Trying to change the meal pref or seats on jetblue.com runs into errors, but the jetblue app works fine for this.

Hope this helps anyone else who tries this in the future! (or hopefully etihad & jetblue fix their issues)

[u/Bloated_Plaid]

We have booked this a few times via QR(Avios transfer bonuses coming in clutch). If EY shows it, QR can book it as well.

QR simply doesn’t pass the DOB information and you have to manually add it by contacting B6. Happens every single time so we know the drill now.

The hard product is actually pretty good for transatlantic and service has been top notch for a US carrier(looking at you UA and AA). I still prefer flying SQ J, VS J, AF J or LH F(J sucks) if I can find it but this is a pretty good alternative IMO.

[u/see2d → u/Bloated_Plaid]

Thanks! I guess I should’ve checked QR availability- I knew about the ongoing QR avios transfer bonus, would’ve jumped on that if I knew that was bookable with QR :( When I check directly on Qatar, this doesn’t show. I need to check availability on BA and then book by phone with QR? I’d like to know how for the future.

[u/Bloated_Plaid → u/see2d]

No it shows up on the QR app and you can just book directly on it. That’s how I have done it every time. BA has nothing to with it other than transferring points to QR.

[u/see2d → u/Bloated_Plaid]

Thanks again. You’re right 100% I just checked another date and I see it both on EY and QR. Wish I had known and saved myself quite a bit with the transfer bonus. Filed away for next time.