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Etihad Airways is one of the world's top luxury airlines. It's known for its sleek business class and over-the-top first-class apartments featuring private suites and even onboard showers. While this level of luxury might seem out of reach, you can experience it for far fewer miles than usual — thanks to a fantastic redemption opportunity through Flying Blue first flagged by Thrifty Traveler.
Here's a snapshot of the rates we're seeing now and how to get the Flying Blue miles necessary to book these awards.
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You Can Book Etihad Awards in Premium Cabins Through Flying Blue
Flying Blue — the frequent flyer program of Air France and KLM — has recently released a significant amount of award availability for Etihad business class flights. This is big news if you want to use your miles to fly Etihad's premium cabins.
Historically, booking Etihad business class with miles has been notoriously difficult. Just a few years ago, you could book these premium seats for 90,000 miles via Air Canada Aeroplan, but availability was always scarce, and now it's nonexistent. But now, Flying Blue offers a better way to book seats up front on one of the world’s best airlines — at least for now.
Related: AwardWallet's Roundup of Best Award Travel Sweet Spots
Flying Blue Award Pricing for Etihad Flights
Business class availability is generally pretty good when booking through Etihad Guest (Etihad’s loyalty program), but the cost is rather steep. A one-way business class ticket from the U.S. to Abu Dhabi requires 120,000 miles plus $500 (or more) in taxes and fees.
However, when booking through Flying Blue, you can book these same flights for as few as 86,500 miles with significantly lower fees. That’s an incredible deal for a nearly-13-hour flight in the pointy end of the plane. For example, here's an award from Toronto (YYZ) to Abu Dhabi (AUH) for 88,500 miles plus a somewhat reasonable $230 in taxes/fees:
Here are some of the best Flying Blue redemption rates for nonstop U.S. routes to Abu Dhabi:
- Boston (BOS) – Abu Dhabi (AUH): 86,500 miles
- New York (JFK) – Abu Dhabi (AUH): 89,000 miles
- Toronto (YYZ) – Abu Dhabi (AUH): 88,500 miles
- Washington, D.C. (IAD) – Abu Dhabi (AUH): 91,500 miles
- Chicago (ORD) – Abu Dhabi (AUH): 94,000 miles
Flying Blue miles can also unlock great deals on long-haul flights from Abu Dhabi to Southeast Asia. For example, you can consistently fly from Abu Dhabi to Jakarta or Bangkok for just 52,500 miles — a solid price for an 8-hour journey.
We've also seen sub-40,000-mile rates on these routes, but these have been few and far between.
Related: Sweet Spots of the Flying Blue Program
How To Find Etihad Award Availability via Flying Blue
Historically, securing premium cabin awards on Etihad has been challenging, as the airline tightly controls its partner award space. While Flying Blue has been partnered with Etihad since 2023, this wave of availability is something we haven't seen before.
To find bookable seats, we recommend using award search tools like Seats.aero or AwardTool, and then confirming space directly on Flying Blue’s website before transferring in points.
You can also check availability via Etihad Guest. If a date shows as available under Etihad’s “GuestSeat” redemption category (typically priced at 120,000 miles for routes from the U.S.), it’s often also available via Flying Blue — but for significantly fewer miles.
Related: How To Find Partner Airline Award Availability
How To Earn Flying Blue Miles
One of Flying Blue’s biggest advantages over Etihad Guest is its wide range of transfer partners. You can transfer points to Flying Blue from most transferrable point programs, including:
That means you can build up a large balance of Flying Blue miles by getting one of these cards, earning the welcome bonus, and then transferring points to Flying Blue:
- 5X miles per dollar on purchases through Capital One Entertainment (through 12/31/2025)
- 5X miles per dollar on hotels, vacation rentals and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
- 2X miles per dollar on all other purchases
- 3X points per $1 on the first $150,000 spent in combined purchases on travel, shipping purchases, Internet, cable and phone services, advertising purchases made with social media sites and search engines each account anniversary year
- 1X point per $1 on all other purchases
- 10X miles per $1 on hotels and rental cars booked via Capital One Travel
- 5X miles per $1 on purchases through Capital One Entertainment (through 12/31/2025)
- 5X miles per $1 on flights booked via Capital One Travel
- 5X miles per $1 on vacation rentals booked via Capital One Travel
- 2X miles per $1 on other eligible purchases
Even better, Flying Blue frequently runs 20–30% transfer bonuses, stretching your points further. While Etihad Guest occasionally offers transfer bonuses, they happen far less often.
Related: All Current Credit Card Transfer Bonuses
Bottom Line
This sudden surge in Etihad business class availability is too good to ignore. Booking via Flying Blue could be one of the best ways to fly in style to the Middle East, with rates starting under 90,000 miles one-way. But don't hesitate to book an award if you see something you like. Excellent award pricing like this is always at risk of being devalued.
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card (Rates & Fees)
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