Etihad Guest members will now need more miles to redeem flights across most of the Abu Dhabi-based carrier’s network, especially those flights in Business and First Class. The devaluation of Etihad Guest Miles comes after a subtle announcement that the airline would “simplify” its award charts.
Most were concerned by this, knowing it is typically bad news when a frequent flyer program says they are going to make things easier for their members. Etihad Guest has now revealed what their interpretation of a program enhancement is, with the release of two newly consolidated and distance-based award charts.
The enhancement appears to be an over 117% increase in the cost of some redemptions, especially those onboard partner airlines. This means you will now need more Miles to travel the same distance. Yipee!
Etihad’s new award charts are already live, as of 9th March 2023. The cost of redemption for both Etihad and its partner airlines is now based on distance zones, as in the below tables.
Etihad’s New Reward Table
As of today, the below Etihad GuestSeat (reward seat) redemption table is live. Here’s how many miles you’ll need to book;
Etihad Guest members will now need more miles to redeem flights across most of the Abu Dhabi-based carrier’s network, especially those flights in Business and First Class. The devaluation of Etihad Guest Miles comes after a subtle announcement that the airline would “simplify” its award charts.
Most were concerned by this, knowing it is typically bad news when a frequent flyer program says they are going to make things easier for their members. Etihad Guest has now revealed what their interpretation of a program enhancement is, with the release of two newly consolidated and distance-based award charts.
The enhancement appears to be an over 117% increase in the cost of some redemptions, especially those onboard partner airlines. This means you will now need more Miles to travel the same distance. Yipee!
Etihad’s new award charts are already live, as of 9th March 2023. The cost of redemption for both Etihad and its partner airlines is now based on distance zones, as in the below tables.
Etihad’s New Reward Table
As of today, the below Etihad GuestSeat (reward seat) redemption table is live. Here’s how many miles you’ll need to book;
For Australian frequent flyers, Etihad Guest used to offer some pretty incredible sweet spots for travel with Virgin Australia. With a new distance-based table that increases every 500 miles initially, those sweet spots have almost all disappeared. As Australia is so spread out, longer transcontinental journeys are most affected.
For example, Melbourne to Perth used to cost just 21,800 Guest Miles for Virgin Business Class. The new table skyrockets that same route to 40,000 Miles, an increase of more than 80%. If you instead depart Brisbane, still in Business, you’d need 50,000 Guest Miles, an increase of 47%.
One of my previous favourite Etihad Guest redemptions was Sydney to Queenstown for just 13,800 Guest Miles in Virgin Business Class. That flight will now cost 117%more, at 30,000 Guest Miles for the three-hour trip across the ditch.
In the United States, all domestic redemptions for travel onboard American Airlines were previously capped at 32,500 miles for three-cabin First Class. But with the introduction of distance-based redemptions, longer flagship routes have more than doubled, such as New York-Los Angeles which will now cost 67,000 miles.
Thankfully, some partner rewards are cheaper, although the list isn’t very long. Affected flights are mostly within the 0-500 miles band. This includes Virgin Business from Sydney to Melbourne, down 27% to 10,000 miles. Across the ditch, Air New Zealand Economy from Christchurch to Auckland is now 53% cheaper at 6,000 miles.
Summing Up: Editor’s Take
As Immanuel mentioned last month, Etihad’s suggestion that they would improve redemptions was expected to be bad news. While the increased cost of Etihad-operated flights isn’t too bad, some partner redemptions have skyrocketed.
I suppose that it is nice to have one simple chart for all of Etihad’s partner airlines, and being able to book partner redemptions online is fantastic news. On the other hand, Etihad Guest has completely destroyed almost all of the sweet spots that made their program so attractive.
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