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Etihad Guest is a program that has a lot of potential. You can book American Airlines awards from 6,000 miles or splurge for some of the best products in the sky. Plus, you can transfer points to Etihad Guest from most transferable point programs — including Amex, Bilt, Citi, Rove, and even Barclays.
But Etihad Guest's policies are downright maddening. The program recently implemented one of the most convoluted and punitive award cancellation policies around. If that policy doesn't disuade you from utilizing the program, an unwritten policy might. Based on several reports — and now my own experience — Etihad Guest is suspending accounts when a member attempts to redeem miles shortly after transferring them in.
Here's what we know about this unwritten policy and what you can do if your Etihad Guest account is suspended.
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Signs Your Etihad Guest Account is Suspended
Etihad Guest didn't contact me to let me know that my account was suspended. I'm able to log into my account without issues, and there's no indication of any suspension on my Etihad Guest profile.
The only indication that something was amiss was when I attempted to redeem recently transferred miles for an award flight. Despite my account showing a 12,000-mile balance, I received an “insufficient miles” error when trying to redeem miles for an award booking costing exactly 12,000 miles.
To be sure, I logged out and logged back in to try again. Same error. I downloaded the Etihad app and attempted to book this award through it. Same error. In case my transferred miles were somehow delayed, I tried again the next day… and then the next day. Etihad continued to show this same error, despite my profile clearly indicating that I had sufficient miles in my account.
So, I picked up the phone and called Etihad Guest. On the first call, I got a reservations agent who put me on hold for 15 minutes and then disconnected the call. On the second call, here's what I used to get connected to an Etihad Guest agent:
- US phone number: 914-303-8393
- Option 1 for English
- Option 3 for Etihad Guest
- Option 2 for other inquiries
I explained what I was trying to book online and the error I was receiving. He noted that my account was “temporarily suspended.”
What Could Lead to an Etihad Guest Suspension
The Etihad Guest agent wouldn't share any details about what caused my account to be suspended. But, based on my experience and online reports, here are some reasons this might be happening.
Redeeming Etihad Guest miles shortly after transferring them in
We recommend against award travelers leaving miles orphaned in any mileage account. Ideally, you'd wait until right before booking a flight to transfer miles into your account. After confirming award availability, you can generally transfer points into the account and redeem them right away.
This recommendation is especially crucial when dealing with a program like Etihad Guest, which has devalued its program multiple times in the past couple of years.
However, it appears that this transfer-and-quickly-book process may have triggered my Etihad Guest account suspension. In my case, I transferred points from Rove Miles to Etihad Guest, logged out of my Etihad Guest account, and then logged back in to redeem those miles.
Redeeming Etihad Guest miles for flights in the near future
The account suspension may be triggered when a user attempts to redeem miles for a flight in the near future. In my case, I transferred miles into my account on November 13 and then tried to book a flight for November 18.
Indeed, redeeming miles for a flight in the near future can be a sign of fraud. When my JetBlue TrueBlue account was compromised in 2019, the mileage thief redeemed points for a flight the very next day.
Ben at One Mile At a Time also recently had his Etihad Guest account suspended. In his case, he transferred miles into his account and immediately tried to redeem them for an award flight departing in just 36 hours. It seems more understandable that an award redemption so close to travel could raise red flags. In fact, Delta still restricts award bookings departing from certain countries within 72 hours of departure.
In my case, booking an award five days before departure could certainly be considered close-in. But that should leave the mileage program more than enough time to run additional fraud checks — or potentially only block the transaction if it's for an unknown traveler. It's unreasonable to suspend an account solely for attempting to use their miles to book an award five days before departure.
Related: Thieves Stole Over 500k Alaska Miles from This Traveler — Here's How AwardWallet Saved Them
What To Do If Your Etihad Guest Account Is Suspended
Here's what the Etihad Guest agent told me to do to “reactivate” my Etihad Guest account:
- Email guestinformation@etihadguest.com from the email address connected to my Etihad Guest account.
- Provide my Etihad Guest account number in the subject
- Include “temporarily suspended account” in the body
- Attach a copy of my passport
He didn't provide a timeline of how long it would take for my account to be “reactivated” or give any assurance I'd be able to use my Etihad Guest miles for a flight on November 18 — three days after this call. However, he recommended that I include my travel dates in the email in case that could accelerate the process.
Bottom Line
Between excellent award rates, expanded access to Etihad First Class awards, and numerous transfer partners, it's tempting to utilize the Etihad Guest program.
However, Etihad Guest's overly punitive award cancellation policy discourages members from booking awards unless they're absolutely sure that they'll take the flight. And now, Etihad Guest appears to have a policy that suspends members for transferring miles in and booking awards close to the departure date.
Even worse, Etihad doesn't communicate this account suspension. Instead, it simply pretends like travelers don't have enough miles — regardless of the miles balance appearing in your account.
The combination of these policies suggests that Etihad wants you to transfer your miles into the program, but then makes it difficult to use those miles — and extremely easy to forfeit them through cancellation fees.
That's not a program I want to interact with.
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