Etihad Visitor was as soon as house to many associate candy spots, like American Airways Flagship First to Australia for 62,500 miles and Brussels Airways enterprise class to Europe for 44,000 miles.
However on March 10, the loyalty program launched a brand new, consolidated award chart for associate flights. With all companions following a single award chart, the candy spots we beloved immediately disappeared.
In principle, Etihad Visitor associate redemptions ought to comply with this new award chart. In actuality, each Etihad and associate airline redemptions typically require many extra miles.
Let us take a look at what it’s worthwhile to learn about Etihad Visitor to determine if it is a program worthy of your hard-earned transferable factors.
Incomes Etihad Visitor miles
There are numerous methods to earn Etihad Visitor miles. Listed here are some common choices.
Earn with a bank card
Etihad would not have a U.S.-based cobranded bank card. For a fast inflow of Etihad Visitor miles, you’ll be able to switch rewards from the next applications at a 1:1 ratio:
In our checks, transfers from these applications to Etihad Visitor are typically instantaneous.
Bear in mind, for totally transferable Capital One miles and Citi ThankYou Rewards factors, you will must have choose bank cards, just like the Capital One Enterprise Rewards Credit score Card, Capital One Enterprise X Rewards Credit score Card, Citi Premier® Card and Citi Status® Card.
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Take a look at our information to the perfect journey bank cards for extra choices.
The data for the Citi Status has been collected independently by The Factors Man. The cardboard particulars on this web page haven’t been reviewed or offered by the cardboard issuer.
Earn by flying
You possibly can earn Etihad Visitor miles by flying Etihad or any of its 22 associate airways. Its North American companions embody Air Canada and American Airways. In the event you elect to earn Etihad Visitor miles on a associate flight, you will not have the ability to earn different frequent flyer miles for that ticket.
Earn by staying in inns or renting automobiles
Etihad Visitor has its personal lodge and automotive rental portals.
You will earn a minimum of 1,000 miles per night time at over 300,000 inns. A 3-night weekend keep in July on the Kimpton George Resort earns 8,900 miles.
In the event you e book this fashion, be ready to not obtain IHG elite standing advantages or earn factors/elite nights. We typically do not advocate reserving this fashion.
On the automotive rental facet, you will earn a minimum of 250 miles per rental day, however do not anticipate to earn rental automotive rewards or elite advantages in case you e book this fashion. Examine 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 Worldwide Airport (SFO) comes to simply below $500. In the meantime, reserving immediately with Avis saves you round 15%.
You may also convert Marriott Bonvoy factors to Etihad Visitor 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 should buy as much as 100,000 Etihad Visitor miles per calendar yr at 2 cents apiece. Platinum members should buy as much as 150,000 miles per yr. Final yr, Etihad supplied a limited-time promotion on miles purchases, dropping the price to simply 1.38 cents apiece.
Associated: You possibly can at the moment purchase factors and miles with as much as a 155% bonus — however must you?
Redeeming Etihad Visitor miles
Now that we have mentioned methods to earn Etihad Visitor miles, let’s discover methods to redeem your miles.
The loyalty program has an award calculator for Eithad, American Airways and Virgin Australia flights. Usually, the award charges proven on the calculator are far lower than what you will really must spend for an award flight.
Redeeming on Etihad
This is a have a look at Etihad’s revealed award chart with introductory charges:
| Distance (in miles) | Miles wanted in financial system | Miles wanted in enterprise class | Miles wanted in first-class |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 america to Abu Dhabi Worldwide Airport (AUH) routinely price round 70,000 miles in financial system, almost 500,000 miles in enterprise and over 1 million miles in first-class.
On Etihad’s much less common 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 financial system class and 60,003 miles in enterprise class.
That mentioned, you could possibly additionally e book this flight for 20,000 AAdvantage miles and round $50 in taxes and costs in financial system, or 42,500 miles in enterprise class. You would want to name American’s AAdvantage customer support line to e book it.
Redeeming on associate airways
Etihad now makes use of a single associate chart for all associate flight redemptions. This is a have a look at the beginning award charges for associate redemptions:
| Distance (in miles) | Miles wanted in financial system | Miles wanted in premium financial system | Miles wanted in enterprise class | Miles wanted in first-class |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 possibly can e book American Airways and Virgin Australia redemptions on Etihad’s web site. For all different associate award bookings, you will must name Etihad at 877-690-0767.
Once more, the charges above are simply beginning charges. A 2,586-mile American Airways first-class ticket from San Francisco to New York requires 90,001 miles on a given day in Could.
You will wish to verify award area and pricing earlier than transferring factors to Etihad Visitor.
Different redemption actions
You possibly can redeem Etihad miles for inns and automotive leases. Whereas your redemption price could fluctuate, anticipate round 0.7 cents per mile in case you use this feature. That is considerably under TPG’s valuation of Etihad miles at 1.4 cents apiece.
As an example, The Westin St. Francis San Francisco on Union Sq. goes for 32,800 miles on the Etihad lodge portal. In the event you pay with money, it will price round $227. On this situation, you’d get simply 0.69 cents per mile.
Different makes use of of Etihad Visitor miles embody on-line raffles and Pointspay. Pointspay helps you to redeem miles for on-line buying. Most of the taking part retailers are positioned in Abu Dhabi.
Relying 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 Worldwide Airport, although you will have to talk with the lounge workers for pricing and availability.
Lastly, you might be able to pool as much as 50,000 miles annually for gratis. This may be useful when you’ve a number of relations with Etihad Visitor miles and wish to consolidate miles into one account for an award ticket.
Associated: Final information to looking out award availability for the key airways
Backside line
With the adjustments Etihad made to its program earlier this month, many associate flights price considerably extra miles than they used to. Sadly, this makes it more durable to maximise Etihad miles.
Nonetheless, 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 Visitor miles for its world-famous product and hospitality.
Further reporting by Richard Kerr and Sarah Hostetler.
