Etihad Guest was as soon as residence to many accomplice candy spots, like American Airlines Flagship First to Australia for 62,500 miles and Brussels Airlines enterprise class to Europe for 44,000 miles.
But on March 10, the loyalty program launched a brand new, consolidated award chart for accomplice flights. With all companions following a single award chart, the candy spots we cherished immediately disappeared.
In idea, Etihad Guest accomplice redemptions ought to comply with this new award chart. In actuality, each Etihad and accomplice airline redemptions usually require many extra miles.
Let’s have a look at what it is advisable to find out about Etihad Guest to resolve if it is a program worthy of your hard-earned transferable factors.
Earning Etihad Guest miles
There are some ways to earn Etihad Guest miles. Here are some widespread choices.
Earn with a bank card
Etihad does not have a U.S.-based cobranded bank card. For a fast inflow of Etihad Guest miles, you’ll be able to switch rewards from the next packages at a 1:1 ratio:
In our assessments, transfers from these packages to Etihad Guest are typically instantaneous.
Remember, for totally transferable Capital One miles and Citi ThankYou Rewards factors, you may have to have choose bank cards, just like the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card, Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card, Citi Premier® Card and Citi Prestige® Card.
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Check out our information to the finest journey bank cards for extra choices.
The data for the Citi Prestige has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card particulars on this web page haven’t been reviewed or supplied by the cardboard issuer.
Earn by flying
You can earn Etihad Guest miles by flying Etihad or any of its 22 accomplice airways. Its North American companions embody Air Canada and American Airlines. If you have chose to earn Etihad Guest miles on a accomplice flight, you will not have the ability to earn different frequent flyer miles for that ticket.
Earn by staying in resorts or renting vehicles
Etihad Guest has its personal lodge and automotive rental portals.
You’ll earn a minimum of 1,000 miles per evening at over 300,000 resorts. A 3-night weekend keep in July on the Kimpton George Hotel earns 8,900 miles.
If you e-book this fashion, be ready to not obtain IHG elite standing advantages or earn factors/elite nights. We typically do not suggest reserving this fashion.
On the automotive rental aspect, you may earn a minimum of 250 miles per rental day, however do not anticipate to earn rental automotive rewards or elite advantages in the event you e-book this fashion. Compare rental automotive costs to make sure you’re getting a aggressive price.
For instance, the least costly rental automotive for a given week at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) comes to only underneath $500. Meanwhile, reserving instantly with Avis saves you round 15%.
You also can convert Marriott Bonvoy factors to Etihad Guest miles at a 3:1 ratio. Marriott offers you 5,000 bonus miles for each 60,000 Marriott factors transferred.
Earn by shopping for miles
You can purchase as much as 100,000 Etihad Guest miles per calendar yr at 2 cents apiece. Platinum members can purchase as much as 150,000 miles per yr. Last yr, Etihad supplied a limited-time promotion on miles purchases, dropping the price to only 1.38 cents apiece.
Related: You can at the moment purchase factors and miles with as much as a 155% bonus — however must you?
Redeeming Etihad Guest miles
Now that we have mentioned methods to earn Etihad Guest miles, let’s discover methods to redeem your miles.
The loyalty program has an award calculator for Eithad, American Airlines and Virgin Australia flights. Often, the award charges proven on the calculator are far lower than what you may truly have to spend for an award flight.
Redeeming on Etihad
Here’s a have a look at Etihad’s printed award chart with introductory charges:
| Distance (in miles) | Miles wanted in economic system | Miles wanted in enterprise class | Miles wanted in top quality |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-500. | 7,000. | 20,000. | 40,000. |
| 501-1,000. | 11,000. | 25,000. | 50,000. |
| 1,001-1,500. | 13,000. | 30,000. | 60,000. |
| 1,501-2,000. | 17,000. | 45,000. | 90,000. |
| 2,001-2,500. | 22,000. | 50,000. | 100,000. |
| 2,501-3,000. | 27,000. | 60,000. | 120,000. |
| 3,001-4,000. | 32,000. | 70,000. | 140,000. |
| 4,001-5,000. | 37,000. | 75,000. | 150,000. |
| 5,001-6,000. | 45,000. | 100,000. | 200,000. |
| 6,001-plus. | 60,000. | 110,000. | 220,000. |
One-way flights from the United States to Abu Dhabi International Airport (AUH) routinely price round 70,000 miles in economic system, practically 500,000 miles in enterprise and over 1 million miles in top quality.
On Etihad’s much less widespread routes, you’ll be able to typically discover extra cheap award charges, like this flight from Rome Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci Airport (FCO) to Abu Dhabi for 27,002 miles in economic system class and 60,003 miles in enterprise class.
That mentioned, you possibly can additionally e-book this flight for 20,000 AAdvantage miles and round $50 in taxes and costs in economic system, or 42,500 miles in enterprise class. You would wish to name American’s AAdvantage customer support line to e-book it.
Redeeming on accomplice airways
Etihad now makes use of a single accomplice chart for all accomplice flight redemptions. Here’s a have a look at the beginning award charges for accomplice redemptions:
| Distance (in miles) | Miles wanted in economic system | Miles wanted in premium economic system | Miles wanted in enterprise class | Miles wanted in top quality |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0-500. | 6,000. | 7,500. | 10,000. | 14,000. |
| 501-1,000. | 12,000. | 13,000. | 20,000. | 27,000. |
| 1,001-1,500. | 15,000. | 19,000. | 30,000. | 40,000. |
| 1,501-2,000. | 23,000. | 25,000. | 40,000. | 54,000. |
| 2,001-2,500. | 28,000. | 31,000. | 50,000. | 67,000. |
| 2,501-3,000. | 34,000. | 37,000. | 60,000. | 80,000. |
| 3,001-4,000. | 45,000. | 49,000. | 80,000. | 107,000. |
| 4,001-5,000. | 60,000. | 62,000. | 100,000. | 134,000. |
| 5,001-6,000. | 67,000. | 74,000. | 120,000. | 160,000. |
| 6,001-plus. | 75,000. | 90,000. | 140,000 | 200,000. |
You can e-book American Airlines and Virgin Australia redemptions on Etihad’s web site. For all different accomplice award bookings, you may have to name Etihad at 877-690-0767.
Again, the charges above are simply beginning charges. A 2,586-mile American Airlines first-class ticket from San Francisco to New York requires 90,001 miles on a given day in May.
You’ll wish to affirm award house and pricing earlier than transferring factors to Etihad Guest.
Other redemption actions
You can redeem Etihad miles for resorts and automotive leases. While your redemption price might differ, anticipate round 0.7 cents per mile in the event you use this feature. That’s considerably under TPG’s valuation of Etihad miles at 1.4 cents apiece.
For occasion, The Westin St. Francis San Francisco on Union Square goes for 32,800 miles on the Etihad lodge portal. If you pay with money, it could price round $227. In this situation, you’ll get simply 0.69 cents per mile.
Other makes use of of Etihad Guest miles embody on-line raffles and Pointspay. Pointspay permits you to redeem miles for on-line purchasing. Many of the taking part retailers are situated in Abu Dhabi.
Depending on the day of journey, you’ll be able to redeem your miles for entry to the Etihad business-class or first-class lounge at Abu Dhabi International Airport, although you may have to talk with the lounge workers for pricing and availability.
Lastly, you could possibly pool as much as 50,000 miles annually for free of charge. This could be useful when you might have a number of members of the family with Etihad Guest miles and wish to consolidate miles into one account for an award ticket.
Related: Ultimate information to looking out award availability for the foremost airways
Bottom line
With the adjustments Etihad made to its program earlier this month, many accomplice flights price considerably extra miles than they used to. Unfortunately, this makes it more durable to maximise Etihad miles.
Still, Etihad’s dynamic pricing mannequin could also be helpful for vacationers with giant sums of bank card factors throughout peak journey. Put otherwise: Be able to spend numerous Etihad Guest miles for its world-famous product and hospitality.
Additional reporting by Richard Kerr and Sarah Hostetler.