Buy Etihad Guest Miles with 40% bonus

Etihad is running a “buy miles” promotion offering a bonus of up to 40%. The promotion deals are:

10% bonus on 6,000-20,000 miles
20% bonus on 21,000-60,000 miles
40% bonus on 61,000-100,000 miles

Etihad allows the members of its Guest loyalty programme to purchase up to 100,000 miles in any calendar year. The cost of purchasing 100,000 miles is $2,000 (£1,450). This would buy you 140,000 miles which works out at just over £0.01 per mile.

Etihad Guest miles don’t offer spectacularly good value against redemptions on Etihad. The airline does however work with a number of airline partners where you can get a decent return on a redemption.

For a full list of Etihad Airline partners that you can fly on by redeeming Etihad Guest miles, click on this link:

https://www.etihadguest.com/en/spend-miles/flying.html

Oman Air with Etihad Guest Miles

One of the best redemption rates Etihad offers on its partner airline flights is with Oman Air. A business class flight on Oman Air from London Heathrow to Muscat will cost 44,000 Etihad Guest Miles one way. For a return ticket, you will need 88,000 guest miles (£880 based on £0.01/mile) plus £500 in taxes. A return business class ticket from London to Muscat on Oman Air would normally cost in the region of £2,000 – £2,500 a ticket. Using this promotion would therefore provide a saving of between £600 – £1,100.

Etihad is an airline partner of American Express and you are able to transfer Membership Reward points for Etihad Guest Miles at a 1:1 conversion rate. Using 36,000 membership reward points alongside this promotion would allow you to purchase for two return business class tickets on Oman Air from London to Muscat at a total cost of £2,400 which equates to a saving of between £1,600 and £2,600.

Paying for your miles

If you use your American Express card to pay for the miles, you will be charged a 3% non-sterling transaction fee which would equate to £42 for 1,400 membership reward points (£0.03 per mile) which is expensive. Using a British Airways Platinum Plus American Express card would be slightly better value at £0.02 per Avios but still not representative of great value. The best card to use to pay for your miles would be the Capital on Tap business credit card which does not have a non-sterling transaction fee and pays 1 Avios per £1 spent.

Is this promotion worth participating in?

If you plan on buying miles to use for a redemption on Etihad, then this promotion will not offer good value. However, if you are buying miles to be able to use to upgrade from business class to First class then the miles could offer a respectable level of value. The real value comes from redemptions on Etihad’s partner airlines, with Oman Air being a favourite of mine.

If you haven’t thought about flying Oman Air, read my trip report here:

Oman Air- Muscat to London: Trip Review