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Frequent Flyers Programs
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Etihad Guest
Program overview
Etihad Guest is the frequent flyer program of Etihad, the national airline of Emirates of Abu Dhabi. Despite the fact that the airline does not belong to any alliance, their frequent flyer program has agreements with many other airlines and presents many opportunities to redeem the miles.
There are generally plenty more opportunities to redeem Etihad points for partner airlines than for Etihad. However, surprisingly they require purchasing 14 days in advance for partner awards.
Alliance | None |
Program website | |
Approximate miles value | 1.3 cents per mile |
Miles validity | 18 months plus an additional 18 months with any eligible miles transaction. Miles never expire for Platinum members |
Program accrual | Based on distance + bonus |
Limit on amount of miles you can purchase | You can buy up to 100,000 miles every year, or 150,000 miles if you're a Platinum member. |
Waitlist option | No |
Courtesy Hold for award reservation | Not allowed |
Do you need to open an account to check availability? | No |
Stopover option | Yes for Etihad and some partners |
Family account | Yes |
Upgrade option | Yes |
Online booking | Yes for Etihad flights. Partners flights should be booked over the phone |
Airline partners | Air New Zealand, Air Serbia, Air Canada, Air Europa, Alitalia, ANA, American Airlines, Asiana Airlines, Bangkok Airways, Brussels Airlines, Czech Airlines, Garuda Indonesia, GOL, Gulf Air, Hainan Airlines, Korean Air, Malaysia Airlines, Oman Air, Royal Air Maroc, Scandinavian Airlines, Sri Lankan Airlines, Virgin Australia |
Credit card partners | American Express (1:1, instant transfer), Citi ThankYou (1:1, instant transfer), Capital One (1:1, 24 hours transfer) |
Hotel partners | IHG Rewards (5:1, 6 weeks transfer), Marriott Bonvoy (3:1, 3 days transfer), Hilton Honors (10:1, up to 30 days transfer), World of Hyatt (5:2, 6-8 weeks transfer), Radisson Rewards (10:1, 4-6 weeks transfer), Accor Live Limitless (2:1,4-6 weeks transfer) |
Co-Branded credit card in the US | None |
Point/Miles Conversion Chart
Pros
- One of the better airlines, Business and First Class
- Offers good value for classic award redemptions on both Etihad Airways and Virgin Australia
- Families can pool miles
Cons
- No online search for partner awards
- Partner awards must be booked 14 days in advance
- 10% of your miles award will be charged for cancellation
- Clunky website, better availability when calling, especially for connections
Excellent for
- American Airlines flights from the US to Europe or Asia start from 50,000 miles in Business and 62,500 miles in First Class.
- Direct flights from the US to Brussel for 44,000 miles in Business Class one way using Brussels Airlines.
- Air Serbia Business Class for approximately 64,000 miles in Business Class one way.
Insider Tip
- If you don't have enough miles, you can use the Miles + Cash option. In this case, Etihad allows you to purchase up to 25% of the miles needed for an award. However, this option is available for Etihad flights only.
- In most cases, the price to upgrade a flight for miles is almost the same as an award ticket. Therefore, it is better to book a flight for miles in a higher class instead of upgrading sometimes.
- If you have American AAdvantage miles, many awards on Etihad flights are cheaper than using Etihad Guest Miles.
- The programs are best deals for American and Brussels Airlines operated flights between the US and Europe and American Airlines awards to Asia and South America. Etihad operated flights tend to be too expensive. Use partner programs or “book travel with points” options through Chase or AmEx to get a better deal for Etihad operated flights.
- Abu Dhabi is the only airport that has US Customs and Immigration inside the airport. When travelling to the US from/via Abu Dhabi, allow extra time to clear immigration and customs for the US flights (at least an extra hour). When in Abu Dhabi on the way to the US, proceed to the US section of the airport and wait in the lounge inside the US section of the airport and not in the general transit area. On arrival to the US, there will be no Immigration or Customs.
- Consider Abu Dhabi as an alternative to Dubai when travelling to the UAE as they are only 2 hours drive apart.
- The Homebase Stopover Strategy works well for Abu Dhabi based travelers.
- The only airline partner frequent flyer program with which you can redeem awards for Oman Air flights.
Do you use this program? Share your experience and tips in the comments below. Your thoughts would be very valuable to us!
Choose where you are going from and to by selecting the respective zones. There are two ways to choose your origin and destination - you can either select the zones they fall into on the map or by clicking on the bars above the map and entering the city name or airport code into the search fields.
- Choose one of the three point combination options which is applicable to you. If you don't have any miles in any airline accounts you can leave those fields blank.
- Input all of the different points you have on the credit cards you are planning to use. You can enter as many as you like. If you have multiple cards on one name from the same bank you can combine and enter the total amount of points between all of your cards.
- Enter all the miles you have in airlines frequent flyer programs on the left hand side following the airlines name.
- Once you input the information, click on the analyze button at the bottom of the page.
- The analyzer will offer you the optimal transfer combinations to explore as well as pros and cons of each.
- Review analyzer recommendations. Total number of miles is not the only consideration you should take into account. Analyzer will give you additional information about each program to make the right decision. You can also download results to a pdf and even send them to others if you like.
- Proceed to check availability with respective airlines. Do not transfer any miles until you confirm the desired option is available on the airline’s website. Note the transfer time and hold the reservation if possible before transferring any miles.
- Remember all transfers are final as you would not be able to send the points back to your credit card. If your trip is cancelled your miles will go back to the respective airline account.
- Transferring points to airline's frequent flyer programs is not the only way to obtain the award ticket. You can also redeem the points through your credit card directly by using the Book Travel option. You can find out more by checking out our Credit card reward tab on Wikimiles home page.
- WikiMiles Crew is always here to answer any questions. For an additional fee we can also assist you with the bookings. Use the Contact us section to reach out to us.
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Thank you!
we booked and paid about 1 wk ago and our flights starts on 31 jan 2023.
Question: how , when and where we can get your guest frequent flyer mileages points including promotion points?
Question. We have frequent flyer cards and points with Koran air and as so can your milage points be transferred to our accounts with them ?
Thank you for your question!
You can add your Etihad Guest number to an existing booking online. Log in to Manage my booking on Etihad and click on Edit Guest Details. You will be able to add or change the Etihad Guest number for all passengers in the reservation.
Korean Air SKYPASS program is a partner with Etihad.
If you collect Korean SKYPASS miles, you can add your SKYPASS number to your Etihad booking in the same way via 'Manage my booking' on the Etihad website. Please note that you can add only one program to collect miles on these flights
Let us know if you have any further questions.
Wikimiles team