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Etihad just launched a new buy miles promotion, offering a 30% bonus miles on purchases through March 31, 2021. This gives members the ability to pick up Etihad miles for as little as 1.54¢ each. That's an amazing deal considering some of the fabulous premium-class redemptions possible. Let's dig a little deeper to show why it's worth considering.
A Note on Buying Miles
First, we need to address the elephant in the room. Now is not the best time to be speculatively buying miles or planning travel. In fact, we never recommend buying miles speculatively. Programs can devalue at any time, long-term travel plans can change, and the last thing anybody needs is a substantial investment in a currency they can't use.
However, that doesn't mean buying miles is always a losing proposition. If you're right at the cusp of being able to book your next redemption, buying miles can be an easy (and affordable) way to make it happen. Additionally, buying miles can sometimes be a fantastic way to book premium-cabin travel at a significant discount compared to paying cash. This is especially true with Etihad Guest, where partner award charts are full of sweet spots to leverage.
Key Terms
- Buy miles promotion is valid through March 31, 2021
- Etihad Guest members (excluding Platinum members) can purchase a maximum of 100,000 miles annually
- Platinum members can purchase up to a maximum of 150,000 miles annually
- Purchased miles typically post instantly, although some purchase may take up to 72 hours
- Purchased miles do not count towards status upgrades
- Mile purchases are non-refundable
This tiered promotion offers a different bonus at different purchase levels:
- No bonus for purchases of 1,000 to 5,000 Etihad miles (2 cents per mile)
- Buy 6,000 to 20,000 Etihad miles with a 10% bonus (1.82 cents per mile)
- Buy 21,000 to 60,000 Etihad miles with a 20% bonus (1.67 cents per mile)
- Buy 61,000 to 100,000 Etihad miles with a 30% bonus (1.54 cents per mile)
When Does It Make Sense to Buy Etihad Miles
One of the interesting things about Etihad is that it doesn't belong to any of the major airline alliances—such as Oneworld, SkyTeam, or Star Alliance. Instead, Etihad maintains individual partnerships with 24 other airlines, each with its own rules and award charts. As we alluded to before, a few of these partner award charts present distinct opportunities for attaining outsized value for your Etihad Guest miles.
Let's go through a few of these sweet spots to demonstrate how buying enough Etihad miles for an award redemption could save you a boatload compared to paying the cash fare.
Seattle — Tokyo in ANA Business Class
- Mileage Rate: 53,000 miles each way (106,000 miles round-trip)
- Typical Cash Price: $6,551 round-trip
- Redemption Rate: 6.18 cents per mile
- Cost to Purchase Necessary Miles: $1,640 round-trip
Dallas — London in American Airlines Flagship First Class
- Mileage Rate: 62,500 miles each way (125,000 miles round-trip)
- Typical Cash Price: $5,237 round-trip
- Redemption Rate: 4.19 cents per mile
- Cost to Purchase Necessary Miles: $1,940 round-trip
New York City or Washington D.C. — Casablanca in Royal Air Maroc Business Class
- Mileage Rate: 44,000 miles each way (88,000 miles round-trip)
- Typical Cash Price: $5,229 round-trip
- Redemption Rate: 5.9 cents per mile
- Cost to Purchase Necessary Miles: $1,360 round-trip
New York City — Brussels on Brussels Airlines Business Class
- Mileage Rate: 44,000 miles each way (88,000 miles round-trip)
- Typical Cash Price: $2,449 round-trip
- Redemption Rate: 2.78¢ cents per mile
- Cost to Purchase Necessary Miles: $1,360 round-trip
Maximizing Your Purchase
Purchases of Etihad Guest miles are processed by Points.com. So, the purchase won't qualify for any applicable travel category bonus offered on some credit cards. With that in mind, the best option would be to use this purchase towards a minimum spend requirement or to use a great ‘everyday spending' credit card.
Here are some of the best cards to buy miles with:
- The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express: 2X Membership Rewards points on everyday business purchases such as office supplies or client dinners (applies to first $50,000 spent each year, then 1X)
- Citi® Double Cash Card: Earn 2% cash back on purchases 1% when you buy plus 1% as you pay
- Chase Freedom Unlimited®: 1.5% on all other purchases, or 1.5X Ultimate Rewards when points are combined with a qualifying card.
- Bank of America® Premium Rewards® Credit Card: 1.5% cashback on all purchases, with a 25-75% bonus for cardholders with Bank of America Preferred Rewards status
Other Ways to Earn Etihad Miles
While this is a spectacular buy miles offer, you don't have to buy Etihad miles to take advantage of these sweet spots. Etihad Guest miles are pretty easy to come by. Other than flying on cash fares or buying miles, Etihad is a transfer partner with 4 of the major transferable currencies:
- Amex Membership Rewards — 1:1 transfer ratio (transfers process immediately)
- Citi ThankYou Points — 1:1 transfer ratio (transfers typically take 3 to 7 days)
- Capital One Miles — 2:1.5 transfer ratio (transfers process immediately)
- Marriott Bonvoy Points — 3:1 transfer ratio, with a 5,000-mile bonus for transferring 60,000 points (transfers typically take 3 to 5 days)
Shareable Miles
Etihad Guest has recently introduced the ability for loyalty members to share miles with one another. So, whether you're just short of your next redemption or your friend doesn't have enough miles to use, you can initiate a transfer with a small fee. Just keep in mind that:
- To give miles via a transfer, accounts must have at least 1,000 miles.
- Etihad levies a 10% service fee for mile transfers. For example, if you transfer 50,000 miles, Etihad will keep 5,000 miles as a fee.
This is a fantastic way to pool miles between friends and family. Now, you don't have to worry about accounts with small numbers of miles collecting dust, or worse, expiring needlessly. Even better, when you and a partner travel together on a cash fare, you can both earn miles for the same flight and pool them together.
Bottom Line
Paying 1.54¢ per Etihad mile is a deal, especially considering all the possibilities for outsized value. However, it's not the best promotion we've seen. We saw Etihad sell miles for 1.2¢ apiece as recently as April 2020. But, we don't know when (or if) that kind of promotion will ever return. If you have a redemption in mind, this promotion could save you quite a bit of money.
Are you buying Etihad miles at 1.54¢ a piece?
The comments on this page are not provided, reviewed, or otherwise approved by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
It’s true that there are very good redemptions with some partners but the big disadvantage is that to book you need to call and their customer service is not one of the best.
Its very important información, thanks very much
What are redemption fees and surcharges like?
Ir seems it is worth buying miles for future redemptions.
very good information, thank you very much
I like Etihad, but the allure of the apartment was a lot of that. Hard to see me not looking elsewhere now for luxury trips.
There is always going to be good deals with miles but you have to travel at specific dates /flights where the deal is available. But in these times I wont buy miles nothing is certain covis19 cases are up ,part of europe is going to lockdown and if it takes a while that you can’t use the miles and the airline decide to devalue the miles. It was all for nothing.
Unless you need the miles right now for a specific plan, it would be better to wait for when they can be bought at 1.2c each.
A decent enough promotion. So many people ignore how useful a program Etihad is.
Agreed. And I think that keeps the sweet spots sweet for those of us who pay attention to it!
I’ve always wondered if these purchase deals were worth it. Thanks for the great write up!
Is it safe though engaging right now in buying miles that we don’t necessarily know we will be able to use?
Very rare Etihad gives such bonus, only problem is when you want to use these miles in biz class you will not find a seat unless you are their elite member
Overall – how would you rank Etihad safety wise? (Covid-19 percautions, as well as the usual)
Normally I would have considered it, as their first class Apartment is such a great deal (flew it from Australia once on AA miles) but since they are not using their A380 for a while and there is even a risk of a total restructure of the airline looming, I’ll pass.
Nice deal there. Still doesn’t beat the $200 round trip mistake fare I bought a few years ago from the US to Abu Dhabi. Let’s get another one of those!
I remember that mistake fare and being frustrated that my schedule didn’t allow me to take advantage of it. I’ve gotten other ones though,
JFK-BRU is a really cool redemption, but Brussels Airlines hardly releases award seats on this route IME.
This airline is good , actually their on board service very good compare to the many garbage airlines like united delta american etc…
The problem with Etihad is when you want to use your points(miles) say between JFK-AbuDhabi-JFK, the rate they want is over 750,000
They might as well add one kidney (for one way) both kidneys for round trip …..PATHETIC !!
Standard award rates have really gotten out of hand. In case you aren’t aware, they have a subset of awards called SaverGuest that are much more reasonably priced—but they have limited availability. You might also want to look at partner airlines. Etihad has a great lineup of partners and the pricing is also quite good with many of them.
the bonus miles seems to be a good deal. they give ample amount so thats good. Never flown with Etihad before, so I am looking forward to it
I’ve always wondered if these purchase deals were worth it. Thanks for the great write up!
Although this might be a good deal for redemptions right now, and I would love to experience their in flignt offerings, I just don’t think it is worth the risk.
Is this applys in wich countries?
This promotion doesn’t seem limited to particular countries. Let us know if you see something different!