[Expired] Get a 20% Bonus When You Transfer Amex Points to Etihad Guest

Update:The offer mentioned below has expired and is no longer available.

Right now, you can take advantage of a rare opportunity to earn a bonus when transferring American Express Membership Rewards points to Etihad’s Guest program.

Let’s take a look at all the details of this latest transfer bonus, which is valid through April 4, 2024.

Transfer Amex Points to Etihad With a 20% Bonus

Through April 4, 2024, you can transfer points from American Express Membership Rewards to Etihad Guest with a 20% bonus.

Typically, the transfer ratio is 1:1, meaning you’ll net 1,000 Etihad Guest miles after transferring 1,000 Amex points. The limited-time 20% transfer bonus means you can transfer 1,000 Amex points and yield 1,200 Etihad Guest miles.

Ultimately, this makes it less costly to book an award flight through the Etihad Guest program.

Is It Worth It?

While it’s always great to see a transfer bonus, the changes Etihad has made to its program over recent years have made it more difficult to redeem miles for excellent value.

Etihad has several airline partners, and in the past, there were some truly fantastic sweet spots for booking award flights on those partner airlines with Etihad Guest miles. Now, that’s mostly gone away — here’s a look at the distance-based award chart for Etihad partner flights:

If you were to book a business class flight on Etihad partner Air Serbia on its route between New York (JFK) and Belgrade (BEG), you’d pay a sizable 100,000 for a one-way ticket, as the distance between the 2 cities is approximately 4,511 miles.

As you can see, you’ll pay quite a lot for flights on Etihad partners now, especially if you want to fly in a premium cabin. Now, the likely best use of your Etihad Guest miles is to book a premium cabin flight on an Etihad flight, especially if you really want to fly the airline.

Here’s a look at the distance-based award chart for redemptions on Etihad’s own flights:

While you can book award seats on Etihad flights through other programs such as Air Canada Aeroplan, Etihad doesn’t open up space in premium cabins for partner programs until 30 days before departure at most, according to reporting from One Mile at a Time.

This makes it much harder to book Etihad flights at more attractive rates that you can theoretically take advantage of through other programs, leaving premium Etihad flights booked via the Etihad Guest program the most advantageous use of those miles.

A one-way flight between Chicago (ORD) and Abu Dhabi (AUH) measures 7,276 miles, which means it’ll cost 110,000 miles each way in Etihad business class. This represents a significant number of miles, but the flight duration allows ample time to experience all that Etihad has to offer.

Additionally, given how difficult it is to book Etihad flights with partner programs, this makes good use of Etihad Guest miles, especially with the transfer bonus that’s currently available.

Final Thoughts

Right now, you can take advantage of a 20% transfer bonus from Amex Membership Rewards to Etihad Guest. While the program has undergone some pretty painful changes recently, you can still snag fairly hard-to-book premium seats on Etihad flights for a decent rate, which is made even better with this transfer bonus.

If you’re looking to book an Etihad flight any time soon, it may be a great idea to utilize this transfer bonus — but be sure to do so before it expires on April 4, 2024.