Etihad Guest offering 60% bonus on miles purchases

From now till 19 June 2.59 p.m SGT, Etihad Guest is selling miles with a bonus of up to 60%. 

This represents one of the lowest prices that Etihad has sold miles- previous bonuses were just 20-30%. Assuming you purchase miles with a 60% bonus, you’re paying 1.25 US cents each. 

Buy Etihad Guest miles here

Buy Etihad Guest miles with a 60% bonus

Here’s the breakdown of how the bonus tiers:

• Buy 6,000- 20,000 miles: 20% bonus (1.67 US cents)
• Buy 21,000- 40,000 miles: 40% bonus (1.43 US cents)
• Buy 41,000+ miles: 60% bonus (1.25 US cents)

A maximum of 100,000 miles can be purchased per calendar year, unless you’re a Etihad Guest Platinum member, in which case you can buy up to 150,000 miles. 

Etihad Guest miles do not expire so long as your account has least one earning or redemption activity every 18 months. This policy was announced in November 2019, but the website has yet to be updated. 

What can you do with Etihad Guest miles?

Etihad Airways is not part of any alliance, yet they have a wide variety of bilateral redemption partners. I’ve previously written about the many use cases for Etihad Guest miles, but to summarize:

• GOL Airways domestic flights within Brazil from 3,000 miles
• Air Serbia intra-Europe flights from 5,000 miles
• Bangkok Airways from Singapore to Koh Samui in Economy/Business Class for 7,500/10,000 miles
• Sri Lankan Airways from Singapore to Colombo in Business Class for 28,000 miles
• Asiana from Singapore to Seoul/USA in Business Class for 30,000/88,000 miles
• ANA from Tokyo to New York in Business Class for 82,000 miles (now without fuel surcharges)

You can view Etihad Guest’s full range of redemption partners and their award charts here. Etihad Guest will pass on fuel surcharges wherever they’re imposed by partners. 

What credit card should you use to buy Etihad Guest miles?

Purchases of Etihad Guest miles are processed by Points.com in USD (they will not code as airline purchases). Here’s the best cards to maximize the miles earned:

	Earn Rate	Remarks
Citi Rewards Apply here	4 mpd	Cap of S$1K per s. month
UOB Visa Signature Apply here	4 mpd	Min FCY spend of S$1K per s. month, cap at S$2K per s. month
SCB X Card Apply here	3 mpd	Until 30 Jun 20. Min spend S$2K per c. month
SCB Visa Infinite	3 mpd	Min spend S$2K per s. month
S. Month= Statement Month | C. Month= Calendar Month

Conclusion

Buying Etihad Guest miles at 1.25 US cents each would normally be a no-brainer for me, given their usefulness, but with the current Covid-19 pandemic you’ll have to decide whether you’re open to the risks. 

As a reminder, Etihad is also selling travel vouchers with a 50% bonus, which may be a better option if you’re looking to fly with Etihad specifically (Etihad generally doesn’t offer great redemption value for its own flights through Etihad Guest).

(Cover photo: Luxury Travel Expert)