It looks as though the longstanding workaround to booking American Airlines awards flying Etihad--calling the Australia/New Zealand reservations office--is no longer a workaround. I hope this isn't the case, as redeeming AAdvantage miles to book premium Etihad cabins to the Middle East and on to the Indian Sub-continent region is/was one of the best uses of AAdvantage miles.
Background
Booking Etihad premium cabin award space with American Airlines miles has always been a bit tricky.

The Citi /AAdvantage Platinum Select MasterCard and the CitiBusiness / AAdvantage Platinum Select World MasterCard bonus are now each offering 30,000 American Airlines for spending $1,000 the card within three months of account opening.

Historically that is not a very high sign up bonus for either. Periodically Citi will raise the bonuses to 50k AAdvantage miles for spending $3,000 in three months, and not that long ago the public bonuses were 60,000 miles for each of the personal and business cards.

If you missed out on the public offers, there's no need to fret.

It appears American Airlines has released batches of Business Class award space to Europe, South America, and Asia.

I am updating this post in light of the fact that American Airlines has added a new award rule: International awards are now limited to four segments per one-way and domestic to three per one-way. While it's never a great thing when further restrictions are put in place, this one probably won't affect tons of you--but those that redeem AAdvantage miles often should be aware. 

Let's talk about constructing American Airlines awards.

Let's start your week off with a little travel inspiration to help fight the Monday blues.

Below are three destinations with astounding beauty I can attest to as I've personally traveled to all of them.

We've been wondering when the shoe would drop with the limited time 60k sign up offers for Citi's AAdvantage co-branded credit cards.

Since April, both the Citi / AAdvantage Platinum Select MasterCard and the CitiBusiness / AAdvantage Platinum Select World MasterCard have had 60,000 mile sign up bonuses for spending $3,000 on each within three months of opening them. The marketing for the cards reads limited time, but no end date was actually published.

The Points Guy broke the news yesterday that the 60k offer for the personal card would end as off July 13 (tomorrow).

Recently I updated "You Can Still Book on the Old American Airlines with Alaska or Etihad Miles" with the amazing news that 16 months after American Airlines devalued its award chart, Etihad and Alaska still let you book American Airlines flights at the old rates.

The best rates on the old American Airlines chart were off peak awards.

Still alive 16 months later. How long will it last?

On March 22, 2016, the American Airlines devaluation struck.

American Airlines DevAAluation is Live :(https://t.co/rBcWMHUvbz pic.twitter.com/2rYyEghhwV

— MileValue (@MileValue) March 22, 2016

However, you can still book American Airlines flight at the old prices if you use Alaska or Etihad miles.

American Airlines is offering up to 100,000 bonus miles + a 10% discount when you purchase American Airlines miles through July 31, 2017. If you buy the largest amount possible, you can get them for as little as 1.72 cents each. That’s the cheapest I’ve ever seen American Airlines miles for sale (we also saw them on sale for 1.72 cents each this time last year).

Bonus miles are tiered based on how many miles you purchase.