Summary
- Etihad Guest offers various ways to use miles, including flights with Etihad Airways and many partner airlines, as well as upgrades with Etihad.
- Seats are priced based on flight distance and cabin, with fixed and dynamic rates available.
- Unique to Etihad Guest is the option to use miles for the exclusive Residence on the A380.
Etihad Guest is the loyalty program of Etihad Airways. It allows travelers to collect and spend miles in several ways. It also offers frequent travelers the chance to earn elite status, bringing benefits when traveling.
Spending miles is the fun part of any loyalty program. With distance-based earning and fixed-price redemptions, there are many ways to get excellent value out of the Etihad Guest program. Miles can be used for award flights with Etihad and its many partners, upgrades with Etihad, and several other (usually lower-value) ways. Unusually, the program also offers the chance to ‘cash-out’ miles with a virtual reward card.
Using miles for flights with Etihad Airways
Earning miles and using them for free flights has always been the mainstay of any loyalty program. With Etihad Guest, earned miles can be used for all Etihad Airways flights, and this is likely the most common use.
Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying
Etihad Guest uses a dynamic priced award system. All flights are priced in miles based on the total flight distance and cabin flown, with a starting price published – but rates may increase above this. In summary, seats are offered at a low fixed rate but also at higher rates linked to fare,
The lower-priced seats are known as “GuestSeats.” These are similar to standard fixed-price awards used in many loyalty programs. The airline controls inventory, and these seats are either available or not.
Flights are priced as follows (minimum GuestSeat rate). This includes any connecting flights.
|
Flight distance (total) |
Economy class |
Business class |
First class |
|---|---|---|---|
|
0 to 500 miles |
5,000 |
15,000 |
30,000 |
|
501 to 1000 miles |
10,000 |
20,000 |
40,000 |
|
1001 to 1500 miles |
13,000 |
30,000 |
55,000 |
|
1501 to 2000 miles |
15,000 |
35,000 |
80,000 |
|
2001 to 2500 miles |
20,000 |
45,000 |
90,000 |
|
2501 to 3000 miles |
25,000 |
60,000 |
110,000 |
|
3001 to 4000 miles |
30,000 |
70,000 |
120,000 |
|
4001 to 5000 miles |
37,000 |
75,000 |
135,000 |
|
5001 to 6000 miles |
45,000 |
95,000 |
140,000 |
|
Ober 6,000 miles |
60,000 |
120,000 |
160,000 |
This system was changed in February 2024, with a reduction of around 20% on many routes. The chart below from Etihad Guest shows well how the rates have dropped:
Image: Etihad Airways
Related
Etihad Guest Frequent Flying Program Changes: Everything You Need To Know
Etihad Airways has promised more customization, simpler progression, and personalized benefits for Etihad Guest members.
The difference with Etihad Guest is that all fares can also be purchased using miles. Whether or not fixed-price GuestSeats are available, other tickets will also be offered priced in miles. This pricing is linked to the underlying ticket price and can vary widely. There is no published link to the underlying price.
Rates for any route can be checked using the calculator tool on the Etihad Guest website. This will give the starting price for each cabin. To determine availability and the actual rate, you simply search for flights using the award search tool. Some examples of searches (for routes around three months in advance) are shown below. These show well the differences in price:
- Booking about three months ahead for London to Abu Dhabi shows all four daily flights with GuestSeat availability at 30,000 miles in economy class. There are options to pay for standard bookings.
- The same London to Abu Dhabi booking close to departure shows GuestSeat sold out on all flights and dynamic rates starting at over 186,000 miles.
Using miles to book the Etihad Residence
The Residence is Etihad Airways’ exclusive travel option on the A380. It is an apartment-style space at the front of the aircraft, offering three rooms: a private bedroom, bathroom, and living room. No other airline has gone so far with A380 accommodation, and it must be an amazing way to travel.
The good news is that The Residence can be booked with miles. The bad news is that it will cost. This is certainly something to save miles for. It is priced one-way as follows.
Between Abu Dhabi and London Heathrow:
- 1 Person – 300,000 Etihad Guest Miles
- 2 Persons – 500,000 Etihad Guest Miles
Between Abu Dhabi and New York JFK;
- 1 Person – 550,000 Etihad Guest Miles
- 2 Persons – 900,000 Etihad Guest Miles
Related
5 Things You’ll Only Find In The Residence Suite On Etihad’s Airbus A380
With three rooms for one passenger, the Residence feels like its own world.
Using miles for flights with partner airlines
Awards can also be redeemed with Etihad Guests 23 airline partners. This is where some of the best options and value can be found.
Partner airlines include:
- Air Canada
- Air Serbia
- Air Europa
- Air France
- Air New Zealand
- All Nippon Airways
- American Airlines
- Asiana Airlines
- Brussels Airlines
- El Al
- Garuda Indonesia
- Gulf Air
- Hainan Airline
- JetBlue
- KLM
- Korean Air
- Malaysia Airlines
- Oman Air
- Royal Air Maroc
- Saudia
- Scandinavian Airlines
- SriLankan Airlines
- Virgin Australia
Award tickets with partners are also priced based on the total flight distance and cabin. This includes any connecting flights, but no stopovers are permitted.
Award rates are slightly different from those offered for Etihad flights—they are fixed and not dynamically priced. The rates are quite different from Etihad rates in many cases. Most economy routes and long-haul premium cabins price higher. Many mid-distance business class rates, in particular, are lower.
All partner airlines are priced based on the following rates. Note that premium economy tickets are offered for some partners, even though this cabin is not available with Etihad.
|
Flight distance (total) |
Economy class |
Premium economy class |
Business class |
First class |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
0 to 500 miles |
6,000 |
7,500 |
20,000 |
35,000 |
|
501 to 1000 miles |
12,000 |
13,000 |
25,000 |
40,000 |
|
1001 to 1500 miles |
15,000 |
19,000 |
30,000 |
45,000 |
|
1501 to 2000 miles |
23,000 |
25,000 |
40,000 |
54,000 |
|
2001 to 2500 miles |
28,000 |
31,000 |
50,000 |
67,000 |
|
2501 to 3000 miles |
34,000 |
37,000 |
60,000 |
80,000 |
|
3001 to 4000 miles |
45,000 |
49,000 |
80,000 |
107,000 |
|
4001 to 5000 miles |
60,000 |
62,000 |
100,000 |
134,000 |
|
5001 to 6000 miles |
67,000 |
74,000 |
120,000 |
160,000 |
|
Ober 6,000 miles |
75,000 |
90,000 |
140,000 |
200,000 |
Photo: Minh K Tran | Shutterstock
Some partners (including the ones listed below) can be booked online. For others, you will need to call Etihad Guest customer services.
- American Airlines
- Air France
- Air Canada
- JetBlue
- Gulf Air
- Air Serbia
- Korean Air
- KLM
- Malaysia Airlines
- Saudi Arabian Airlines
- Sri Lankan Airlines
- Virgin Australia
Using miles for upgrades with Etihad Airways
Miles can be used to upgrade cabins on Etihad Airways flights. This is often a good value use of miles, particularly as Etihad allows upgrading from all paid fare classes (something that many airlines restrict). General rules and terms include:
- Cash fares can be upgraded by one cabin, from economy to business, or from business to first (where first class is operated). Mileage tickets cannot be further upgraded.
- There are separate fixed rates for Value, Comfort, and Deluxe original booking fares. This is especially used for differed pricing with economy to business upgrades.
- Rates can be checked for any flight using the tool on the Etihad Guest website.
- This is on a per-flight basis, with payments needed for each flight if connecting.
- Upgrades are only possible on Etihad Airways flights. There is no partner upgrading option.
Photo: Alexander Mitchell | Simple Flying
Some examples of mileage rates for upgrades include:
|
Route |
Upgrade economy to business |
Upgrade business to first |
|---|---|---|
|
Abu Dhabi to London Heathrow |
Value: 53,000 Comfort: 39,000 Deluxe: 30,000 |
All classes: 38,500 |
|
Abu Dhabi to New York JFK |
Value: 91,000 Comfort: 68,000 Deluxe: 50,000 |
All classes: 68,000 |
|
Abu Dhabi to Beijing |
Value: 53,000 Comfort: 39,000 Deluxe: 30,000 |
All classes: 38,000 |
|
Abu Dhabi to Delhi |
Value: 29,000 Comfort: 17,000 Deluxe: 13,000 |
All classes: 15,000 |
Image: Etihad Airways
Etihad Airways also has an interesting ‘Bid to Upgrade’ feature:
- This allows booked travelers to submit a bid in cash or miles to upgrade the cabin.
- You may get a lower rate, but unlike direct upgrades, it will not be confirmed until later.
- Only cash bookings can be upgraded, and as an interesting additional incentive, you will earn a 10% bonus on the base miles you would normally earn.
Image: Etihad Airways
Use miles for hotels and car hire
Many loyalty programs offer the option of using miles for other travel-related spending. This is useful if you cannot use miles for flights or upgrades, but you won’t normally get as good value this way.
Etihad Guest has a hotel booking platform, Etihad Holidays, that offers hotels, car hire, activities, and full holiday package bookings. Using this, you can put together any package and then use miles for payment. This is directly linked to the cash price, and it is hard to get any better value.
Image: Etihad Airways
Etihad Guest operates a shopping portal known as ‘Reward Shop,’ which offers a range of products for sale using miles. There are many options here for products, services, and gift cards. Many items (including gift cards) are also available in other regions.
Image: Etihad Airways
The Etihad Virtual Reward Card
Etihad Guest allows members to transfer points into cash to be loaded on a Visa-supported virtual credit card. The ‘Etihad Virtual Reward Card’ can then be used via Google Pay or Apple Pay digital wallets in any location.
Image: Etihad Airways
This is an unusual offer among airline loyalty programs, effectively offering the chance to exchange miles for real cash. As you would expect, you get better value if you use miles for flights or upgrades, but this remains an option.
Reporting by the loyalty website Head for Points suggests that a typical value offered is around 0.0052 GBP (0.0068 USD) per mile.
-
Etihad Airways
- IATA/ICAO Code:
- EY/ETD
- Airline Type:
- Full Service Carrier
- Hub(s):
- Abu Dhabi International Airport
- Year Founded:
- 2003
- CEO:
- Tony Douglas
- Country:
- United Arab Emirates
