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Buy Etihad miles with a 30% bonus or 1.4c per mile
Let’s get to it – the reason you buy points is to score a great deal. Etihad Miles are an underutilized point currency that can open up some pretty outstanding premium cabins at heavily reduced if you know where to look. Case in point. At just 1.4c per point, we’re looking at a cost of roughly $1200 to buy points and fly Etihad’s Apartment between the UAE and Europe. Not too shabby! You can buy Etihad miles with a 30% until 12/23/19
The Deal: 30% discount until 12/23/19
Typical of most promotions to buy points, the more you buy, the bigger the discount.
The valuation of 1.4c kicks in at 41k+
The nice thing about this is you can buy anywhere between 41k and 60k and get the same price per point.
Terms and conditions:
The thing to take note of here is the max of 100k per year and max of 60k per transaction
Miles may be purchased for $0.02 USD per mile plus the additional free bonus. Additional GST/HST will be charged to Canadian residents. A maximum of 100,000 miles can be purchased within a single calendar year, with a maximum of 60,000 miles per transaction. Purchased miles are not refundable and are applicable towards all Etihad Guest awards. Miles purchased using this option will post within 24 hours. Purchased miles do not count towards status upgrades. All standard Etihad Guest program rules and conditions apply.
Remember, think twice before buying points without a redemption in mind
This is just sound thinking regardless of the program you’re considering investing in a point purchase. Why? Programs devalue all the time, and you don’t want to get stuck holding points in a program when that happens.
What would I use Etihad miles to book?
Staying with the theme of accessing award space at advantageous pricing, you’ll want to buy Etihad miles cheaper than you could otherwise fly Etihad with cash or a partner’s miles. The biggest competitor here is AA, and the cheapest they’ve sold points is 1.7c per point – usually it’s around 2c . Make sure you price compare, but Etihad has some attractive pricing. Let’s take a look
Etihad Apartments
Flying in Apartments is one of the coolest aviation experiences out there:
- Etihad charges 136460 to fly between JFK and AUH or $1910 with this deal
- To compare AA charges 115k and at it’s cheapest 1.7c = $1955, or $2300 at 2cents
- Etihad charges 88048 to fly AUH and LON/CDG or $1233 with this deal
- To compare AA charges 62.5k for the same route or $1063 at 1.7c, or $1350 at 2c
Etihad First Class
Everyone wants to fly the Apartment, but Etihad’s 77W and 787s fly an incredible suite that is still world class. Rates will be similar to what you saw above and you’ll get this product:
- Etihad charges 136460 to fly between JFK and AUH or $1910 with this deal
- To compare AA charges 115k and at it’s cheapest 1.7c = $1955, or $2300 at 2cents
- Etihad charges 88048 to fly AUH and LON/CDG or $1233 with this deal
- To compare AA charges 62.5k for the same route or $1063 at 1.7c, or $1350 at 2c
- Etihad charges 155219 to fly AUH to LAX or $2173
- AA charges the same 115k as above
Etihad Business Studio
I think Etihad has one of the best business class products in the sky. From the service to the finishes – it’s an uber classy presentation and execution. Even better when you can get it at a fraction of the retail cost.
- Abu Dhabi to LAX
- Etihad: 114070
- AA: 70k
- Abu Dhabi to JFK/ORD/IAD
- Etihad: 100151
- AA: 70k
- Abu Dhabi to Lon/CDG
- Etihad: 62632
- AA: 42
Transfer partners that access Etihad
You don’t have to buy points to access Etihad, in fact, if you have points with any of the following programs you can generate Etihad miles via transfer.
- American Express
- Citi
- Capital One
- Marriott
What partners would I use Etihad miles to book?
Here’s a list of Etihad transfer partners, but I’ll highlight the areas where I think you can get the most bang for your buck. Additionally, Etihad has been known to block access to USA IP addresses. So if you’d like to investigate these charts…here’s a link
- Alitalia
- American
- ANA
- Asiana
- Bangkok
- Brussels
- Czech
- Flybe
- Garuda
- GOL
- Hainan
- Korean
- Malaysia
- Oman
- Royal Air Maroc
- SAS
- Sri Lankan
- Virgin Australia
American Airlines – International business class from 50k
Their chart is amazing for AA, but finding the AA space is next to impossible since AA releases limited availability on their most desirable international routes. With that said…you can fly to Europe, Asia, and South America for 50k in biz and 62.5k in First.
One thing to note here is that AA has sold their miles at 1.7c per point, so if you see space, you could access their product cheaper via Etihad than through AA even on a point purchase.
Asiana – West Coast to Korea for just 59k
The Asiana Award chart is based on distance, and a great sweet spot is between 5000-6000 miles where Etihad prices Asiana business class awards at 59k miles. In case you’re wondering LAX-ICN is 5994 miles, just qualifying for the 59k rate. That’s just $826 for Business Class one way.
Asiana actually utilizes a seat that Etihad uses on their older aircraft in business, “Pearl Business Class” you can read my review here.
Czech Airlines: Seoul to Prague for just 25.6k
- Prague to Seoul for just 25,600 miles
Oman Air – Europe and Asia from just 34k
Oman Air operates what many regard as the best business class seat in the world: the Apex Suite. You can find it on 787-8, 787-9, and select A330s, of which, most of those aircraft operate the routes you’ll be most interested in using Etihad miles to fly: Muscat to Europe and Asia. All flights are between the hub in Muscat
- 34k
- Bangkok
- 38k
- Munich
- Milan
- Zurich
- 39k
- KL
- Frankfurt
- 42K
- Singapore
- Paris
- 44k
- London
Royal Air Maroc to Africa for just 44k
Royal Air Maroc has long been one of Etihad’s best redemptions to fly business class to northern Africa. Redeem just 44k Etihad miles to fly between New York and Casablanca and set your Morocco adventure off just right. They’re featuring a great new 1-2-1 business class fit with super diamond seats – one of my favorites.
You can go here to buy
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
60k Points after $4k spend in 3 months
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 60k points after $4k spend in 3 months
- Worth $750 in Chase Travel℠ and way more if you maximize transfer partners
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2024
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex℠and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.