HOT TIP:For a full list of ideas, read our article on how you can redeem Etihad Guest miles for maximum value.
How Much Do Etihad Guest Awards Cost?
Etihad does not have a fixed award chart for its own flights, but you can check the GuestSeat Mileage Calculator to see the lowest price of a specific route.
GuestSeat is similar to “saver” awards at other airlines, but these may not be available. If GuestSeat is not available, there usually are OpenSeat awards, which can be crazy expensive.
Search by destination with the Etihad Guest Mileage Calculator.Searching for Etihad Guest Awards
You can search for Etihad awards on the Etihad Guest website, but you cannot search online for partner awards.
Search for Etihad Guest award flights on the Etihad website.The Etihad website does not handle connecting itineraries well, so you should search segment by segment for availability and then call Etihad to book. Pricing is additive, meaning each segment prices individually and awards can get expensive fast.
As an example: for travel from New York to the Maldives, you may need to search separately for New York to Abu Dhabi, then Abu Dhabi to the Maldives.
Miles Plus Cash
If you are short on miles, Etihad allows you to purchase up to 25% of the miles needed for an award. When searching for an award, just choose Miles Plus Cash. Use the slider to determine miles needed and price.
You can only use Miles Plus Cash for booking Etihad flights (not partner flights), and you must book online.
Etihad Guest offers perhaps the best value Miles Plus Cash option of any major airline. Other airlines may sell miles at around 1.7-2.5 cents/mile. With Etihad, when purchased in conjunction with an award, you can buy miles for a little as 0.9 cents!
To qualify for Miles Plus Cash:
- You must book online
- You must book on Etihad flights
- You must have at least 75% of the total required miles for the trip already in your account, since you can only purchase up to 25% of required miles
Here’s how it works:
- Search for an Etihad award.
- Select a flight at full miles price and continue to booking.
- You will be presented a slider to choose to purchase from 0%-25% of the required miles. Make your choice and continue.
- Purchase your ticket and enjoy your trip!
Etihad Guest Airline Partner Awards
Etihad has many partner airlines, each with its own award chart; some are zone-based and some distance-based. We have highlighted partners that usually have great values here. Others have very high mileage prices that you’d be better off booking with other airlines’ miles.
Etihad’s airline partners are:
While award flights on Etihad may be booked online, you must redeem miles for partner awards over the phone by calling the Guest Services Center at 877-690-0767. Awards must be booked 14 days in advance.
Troubleshooting Partner Award Booking
Etihad agents can have difficulty seeing partner award inventory, and award inventory generally does not match what you may see from other online sources. Also, many Etihad agents are unwilling/unaware of how to check partner availability or do not have access to the correct system.
Keep calling until you get a competent agent.
Many travelers have success when calling Etihad’s Manchester, U.K. call center instead of the U.S. The U.K. number is +44 (0)345 6081225.
Upgrades
You can use miles to upgrade paid Etihad flights by 1 cabin of service. However, the prices are generally not much less than award tickets, so in most cases, this is a poor value.
Mileage Expiration
Etihad Guest miles expire after 18 months for General, Silver, and Gold members, without any other activity. Miles do not expire for Platinum members.
Every transaction you will make extends your expiration by another 18 months. Including earning miles, spending miles, or buying miles.
Changes and Cancellations
Date changes to awards cost AED 100 (roughly USD$27).
Cancellations must be made 24 hours prior to departure. Rather than a cash fee, a 10% mileage forfeit is charged for award cancellations.
The American Airlines Partnership
American Airlines partners with Etihad, and if you have American Airlines miles, many awards on Etihad are cheaper than using Etihad Guest Miles.
Using American Airlines miles, you can fly in the Etihad First Class Apartment from JFK to Abu Dhabi for 115,000 miles one-way.
HOT TIP:Make sure your flight has the First Class Apartment and not just regular First Class. On JFK to Abu Dhabi, you want flights on the A380, not other planes.
Experience the luxury of Etihad Guest first class suites by redeeming award flights through American Airlines award center! Photo courtesy of thenational.ae.You’ll first want to search for award flight availability on etihad.com, and then call American Airlines reservations to book. This saves time rather than having American Airlines agents manually search many dates.
American Airlines agents only have access to GuestSeat awards, not OpenSeat.
Find an available GuestFirst seat if you are looking for Etihad first class award flights.
You may have to reach the American Airlines call center in Australia (or another country) for the representative to see availability for business and first class redemptions.
In this case, you’ll want to confirm that they have the award, but not book it, as that will cause ticketing issues for U.S. customers. Once the award is on hold, call back to American Airlines in the U.S. so they can issue your ticket.
Need help booking? See our step by step guide for booking Etihad first class.
The Korean Air Partnership
Korean Air partners with Etihad as well. This means you can transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Korean Air SkyPass and then redeem them for Etihad award flights!
Korean requires round-trip bookings on Etihad. The prices are:
| Routes | Economy | Business | First |
| Within Bahrain/Oman/ Qatar/UAE | 10,000 | 20,000 | 30,000 |
| UAE – Iran/Kuwait/Saudi Arabia/Iraq, Yemen | 15,000 | 30,000 | 45,000 |
| UAE – Pakistan/ Kazakhstan/Nepal/ Jordan/Syria/Armenia/ Lebanon/Cyprus/Egypt/ Sudan/North India (Mumbai, Delhi, Amanabad, Jaipur) | 25,000 | 50,000 | 75,000 |
| UAE – South India (Bangalore, Chennai, Cochin, Calicut, Hyderabad, Trivandrum, Kolkata)/Turkey/Greece/ Seychelles/Ethiopia/ Kenya/Uganda/Libya/ Maldives/Sri Lanka/ Tanzania | 35,000 | 70,000 | 105,000 |
| UAE – Switzerland/Ireland/ Western Russia/Germany/ Italy/France/Spain/United Kingdom/Netherlands/ Belgium/Bangladesh/ Belarus/Serbia | 40,000 | 80,000 | 120,000 |
| UAE – Nigeria/South Africa/Morocco/Algeria | 45,000 | 90,000 | 135,000 |
| UAE – China/Thailand/ Hong Kong/Malaysia/ Singapore/Indonesia/ Philippines/Vietnam | 50,000 | 100,000 | 150,000 |
| UAE – Korea/Japan | 70,000 | 105,000 | 140,000 |
| UAE – U.S./Canada/ Australia | 70,000 | 140,000 | 210,000 |
| UAE – Brazil | 90,000 | 130,000 | 180,000 |
| China – Japan | 40,000 | 60,000 | 90,000 |
| Singapore – Australia | 45,000 | 90,000 | 135,000 |
