Everything you need to know about Etihad Guest, with new partner charts

Etihad guests was once home to many partner sweet spots, like First American Airlines Flagship to Australia for 62,500 miles And Brussels Airlines Business Class to Europe with 44,000 miles.

But on March 10, the loyalty program introduced a new, consolidated rewards chart for partner flights. With all partners following a single award ranking, the attractions we love instantly disappear.

In theory, Etihad Guest’s partner redemption should follow This new award leaderboard. In fact, redeeming tickets by both Etihad and a partner airline usually requires more miles.

Take a look at what you need to know about Etihad Guest to decide if it’s worth the effort. Points are transferable.

Earn miles for Etihad guests

There are many ways to earn Etihad Guest miles. Here are some popular options.

Earn money with credit card

Etihad does not have a US-based co-branded credit card. To get Etihad Guest miles quickly, you can transfer rewards from the following programs in a 1:1 ratio:

In our tests, the transition from these programs to Etihad Guest was usually instantaneous.

Remember, in order to fully transfer your Capital One mile and Citi ThankYou Rewards points, you will need to have a credit card number, such as Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card, Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card X, Citi Premier® Card And Citi Prestige® Card.

Check out our guide to best travel credit card for more options.

Information about Citi Prestige has been independently obtained by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

Earn money by flying

You can earn Etihad Guest miles by flying Etihad or any of its 22 partner airlines. Its North American partners include Air Canada and American Airlines. If you choose to earn Etihad Customer miles on a partner flight, you will not be able to earn other frequent flyer miles for that ticket.

Earn money by staying in a hotel or renting a car

Etihad guests have their own hotel And car rental portal.

You’ll earn at least 1,000 miles per night at over 300,000 hotels. A three-night weekend in July at the Kimpton George earned 8,900 miles.

If you book this way, be prepared not to receive IHG elite status benefits or earn elite points/nights. We generally do not recommend booking this way.

On the rental side, you’ll earn at least 250 miles per rental day, but don’t expect to earn rental rewards or elite benefits if you book this way. Compare car rental prices to make sure you’re getting a competitive rate.

For example, the cheapest car rental for a given week at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) is just under $500. Meanwhile, booking directly with Avis saves you around 15%.

You can also redeem Marriott Bonvoy points for Etihad Guest miles with a ratio of 3:1. Marriott gives you 5,000 bonus miles for every 60,000 Marriott points transferred.

Earn money by buying miles

You can buy up to 100,000 Etihad Guest miles per calendar year at 2 cents per person. Platinum members can purchase up to 150,000 miles per year. Last year, Etihad provided a limited time promotion when buying miles, reducing the cost to just 1.38 cents per person.

Related: You can now buy points and miles with up to 155% bonuses — but should you?

Redeem airline miles for Etihad guests

Now that we’ve discussed Etihad Customer’s ways to earn miles, let’s explore ways to redeem your miles.

Loyalty program has a computer award for flights by Eithad, American Airlines and Virgin Australia. Usually, the percentage of rewards shown on the calculator is much lower than what you actually need to spend on a reward flight.

Redeem rewards on Etihad

Here is Etihad’s published award rankings with referral rates:

One-way flights from the United States to Abu Dhabi International Airport (AUH) typically cost about 70,000 miles in economy class, nearly 500,000 miles in business class, and over 1 million miles in first class.

On Etihad’s less popular routes you can sometimes find a better deal, such as this 40,000 km flight from Rome Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci Airport (FCO) to Abu Dhabi for in economy class and 60,003 km in business class.

That said, you can also book this flight with 20,000 AAdvantage miles and about $50 in taxes and fees for economy class, or 42,500 miles for business class. You’ll need to call American’s AAdvantage customer service line to reserve.

Redeem rewards on partner airlines

Etihad currently uses a single partner chart for all partner flight redemptions. Here is the initial reward ratio for partner redemptions:

You can book American Airlines and Virgin Australia redemptions on Etihad’s website. For all other partner award bookings, you need to call Etihad at 877-690-0767.

Again, the rates above are just starting rates. An American Airlines 2,586-mile first-class ticket from San Francisco to New York requires 90,001 miles on a given day in May.

You’ll want to confirm the rewards space and pricing before transferring points to Etihad Guest.

Other redemption activities

You can redeem Etihad miles for many hotels And car rental. While your conversion rates may vary, expect around 0.7 cents per mile if you use this option. It is substantial below TPG rates Etihad miles at 1.4 cents per person.

For example, The Westin St. Francis San Francisco on Union Square will travel 32,800 miles on the Etihad hotel portal. If you pay with cash, it will cost about $227. In this case, you will only get 0.69 cents per mile.

Other uses of Etihad passenger miles include online lottery And point payment. Pointspay allows you to redeem miles for online shopping. Many of the participating merchants are located in Abu Dhabi.

Depending on your travel date, you may be able to redeem your miles for Etihad’s business or first class lounge access at Abu Dhabi International Airport, however you will have to speak to the lounge staff to know price and availability.

Finally, you can pool up to 50,000 miles per year no charge. This can come in handy when you have multiple family members who have Etihad Guest miles and want to aggregate the miles into one account for award tickets.

Related: The ultimate guide to finding awards available for major airlines