Etihad and Ethiopian Launched Challenges With Enormous Prizes. Are They Worth It?

Etihad Airways and Ethiopian Airlines are a familiar sight at several U.S. airports. With large route maps and a business model based on passengers connecting between continents, they are serious global players. They also have a lot of partnerships for earning and redeeming miles, making them interesting to points travelers.

Now, both carriers are out with sweepstakes that could win participants millions of miles. But does it make sense for people based in North America to participate, since both require flying to multiple destinations far away from home?

Let’s dive in.

Details of the Ethiopian and Etihad Challenges

Etihad was the first of the 2 airlines to announce its challenge, with a top prize of 5 million miles. Ethiopian came out shortly afterwards with its version, offering 1 million miles. Both involve visiting each airline’s newest destinations, spread over several continents.

The inspiration was clearly the EuroBonus Millionaire challenge by the Scandinavian airline SAS, which awarded a million points in its EuroBonus loyalty program to anybody who flew 15 airlines in the SkyTeam alliance between October 8 and December 31 of last year. It was tough, but it was feasible, and many people completed the challenge — or at least got to one of the lower tiers (100,000 points for flying 10 airlines or 10,000 for flying 5).

The challenges from Etihad and Ethiopian aren’t as straightforward, though, and they may not have the same value for people flying out of North America. Here’s why.

Etihad’s Aptly-Named Extraordinary Challenge

Etihad Airways has arguably the more enticing of the 2 challenges, with a contest to win up to 5 million miles called the Extraordinary Challenge.

The name fits, as participants have to travel within a year to 15 Etihad destinations, spread across 4 continents. The destinations are the newest in the airline’s network to/from Abu Dhabi (AUH) in the United Arab Emirates. The destinations include:  

• Atlanta (ATL)
• Chiang Mai (CNX), Thailand
• Hanoi (HAN), Vietnam
• Hong Kong (HKG)
• Krabi (KBV), Thailand
• Medan (KNO), Indonesia
• Peshawar (PEW), Pakistan
• Phnom Penh (PNH), Cambodia
• Taipei (TPE), Taiwan
• Tunis (TUN), Tunisia
• Addis Ababa (ADD), Ethiopia
• Prague (PRG), Czech Republic
• Warsaw (WAW), Poland
• Sochi (AER), Russia
• Algiers (ALG), Algeria

First prize — awarded to the first person to complete this Herculean feat of flying — is 5 million Etihad Guest miles. The second prize is 3 million, and the third is 1 million.

To participate, you have to be an Etihad Guest member, register to join the challenge, and start flying. The first person to hit the goal wins the top prize. It’s not so simple, though, because Etihad says that time isn’t the only metric. “Creative merit and skill” also count, although we don’t know what that really means. (We imagine it wouldn’t hurt to post obsessively on social media and tag Etihad while doing the challenge.)

You have until May 25, 2026, to fly to or from all 15 destinations in the shortest cumulative time. No shortcuts, either: only Etihad flights count.

This staggering amount of flying would set you back quite a bit of money. Even at a conservative estimate of $1,000 per flight in economy plus hotels and incidentals, you would shell out $15,000. That’s why the third prize wouldn’t be worth your while. Etihad Guest miles are worth 1.4 cents each in our valuations, so 1 million of them is equivalent to $14,000.

The second prize, worth $42,000, would instead be a nice return of 2.8 times your spending, and the top prize would be worth $70,000 in miles — or a return of almost 5 times.

The catch is that, top prize or not, this doesn’t really work for people based in North America. Abu Dhabi isn’t around the corner, and to add another problem, one of the destinations is Sochi, in Russia. U.S., Canadian, and most European citizens would have to get a Russian visa, and that’s not exactly simple right now. There’s also the sheer distance involved, given that you’ll need to fly in and out of Abu Dhabi repeatedly, rather than straight from city 1 to city 2.

Ethiopian Airlines’ 1 Million Sweepstakes Challenge

The challenge from Ethiopian Airlines, called 1 Million Sweepstakes Challenge, sounds appealing on paper. It doesn’t involve flying to nations not easily accessible to U.S. citizens. Having 1 million miles in the ShebaMiles program could get you far, including on Ethiopian’s partners in Star Alliance, which include United Airlines, Air Canada, and Lufthansa, among others.

To participate, you must fly round-trip to or from 4 out of the 5 newest Ethiopian Airlines destinations — Abu Dhabi and Sharjah (SHJ) in the United Arab Emirates, Hanoi (HAN) in Vietnam, Hyderabad (HYD) in India, and Porto (OPO) in Portugal — plus 1 round-trip to any international destination already existing in the airline’s vast network. This must be completed between June 1 and November 30, 2025, and flights must be bought on the Ethiopian site or app.

Tie breakers to determine the winner are:

• Shortest time taken to travel to 4 of the 5 new destinations
• Fare purchased, with more expensive fares getting priority
• How long you’ve been a member of ShebaMiles.

Now, a million miles could open up numerous redemption possibilities, but it’s a bit misleading. The top prize isn’t 1 million miles but a share of 1 million miles available in the contest. The most any single participant can win is 200,000 miles, and there are 5 equivalent prizes available.

Sheba Miles is a relatively exotic program for most U.S. travelers, which is why we don’t include it in our points valuations. However, let’s assume that you can redeem these miles for a relatively generous 1.5 cents each. That would value your stash of 200,000 Sheba miles at $3,000. You would have to spend a lot more than that to get the prize if you’re based in North America.

Final Thoughts

Challenges involving travel may be fun, and for people who collect points and miles, they can be worth it. These 2 challenges from Etihad and Ethiopian, though, don’t really make sense for people who aren’t based near the airlines’ hubs. We rate them a pass for people in North America, unless they already travel a lot — and we mean a lot — in and out of Ethiopia or the United Arab Emirates.