Your guide to the Etihad Guest frequent flyer program [2023]

Although one of the best-known partners of Virgin Australia's Velocity Frequent Flyer scheme, Etihad Airways also operates its own loyalty program – Etihad Guest – through which members can earn and spend miles.

Better yet, you don't need to be a regular Etihad Airways passenger, or even fly with Etihad at all, to earn and spend miles.

In fact, using Etihad miles to book Virgin Australia flights can be incredibly rewarding: even more so than by using Velocity.

Here's what you need to know about Etihad Guest, including how to earn miles on the ground in Australia – as well as in the air – and how to use those miles to book flights, secure business class or even first class upgrades, and more.

What is Etihad Guest?

As the frequent flyer program of Etihad Airways, Etihad Guest allows members to earn and spend miles across a range of activities, including on flights, hotel stays, car hire and more.

Miles can also be earned via credit card spend in a number of countries, including Australia. Typically, credit card holders would first accrue points in their card issuer's own loyalty program, and then convert those points into miles with Etihad.

How to join Etihad Guest

With no fee to join or remain a member, anybody can sign up for Etihad Guest membership via the Etihad Guest website.

As soon as you join, you'll receive your Etihad Guest membership number, which you can link to flight reservations, credit card points transfer schemes and more, to begin earning Etihad Guest miles.

Where and how can I earn Etihad Guest miles?

Whether you're a frequent flyer or perhaps a frequent spender, there are plenty of opportunities available to earn Etihad Guest miles.

Earn Etihad Guest miles in the air

As you'd expect, miles can be earned on most Etihad Airways flights – but even though Etihad isn't a member of a global airline alliance, the Etihad Guest program boasts a number of other airline too, on which you can earn miles.

In the Asia Pacific region, these partners include Virgin Australia, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Garuda Indonesia, Hainan Airlines, Korean Air, Malaysia Airlines and SriLankan Airlines.

As well, airlines such as Air Canada and American Airlines are on board – both of which ordinarily fly to Australia – with Air Serbia, Air Europa, Air Seychelles, Brussels Airlines, EL AL, Gulf Air, Oman Air, Royal Air Maroc, Saudia and SAS Scandinavian Airlines rounding out the roster. 

Just a quick note, if you're flying with codeshare partners, you'll only earn Etihad Guest miles when booked on an Etihad (EY) marketed flight.

Earn Etihad Guest miles on the ground 

On the ground, Etihad Guest miles can be earned across many hotel bookings and hotel loyalty program points transfer programs.

These include direct hotel bookings via the likes of Agoda, Booking.com, and Rocketmiles, as well as points conversion options from Accor Live Limitless, IHG Rewards Club, Marriott Bonvoy, Radisson Rewards, Shangri-La Golden Circle and World of Hyatt, among other hotel partners.

Need to hire a car? Etihad Guest miles can also be collected via both Avis and Budget car rentals.

Earn Etihad Guest miles using credit cards

While Etihad Airways is based in the United Arab Emirates, it's possible to earn Etihad Guest miles via credit card spend with participating banks and card issuers around the world.

In Australia, selected credit cards and charge cards issued by American Express, Citibank, Commonwealth Bank and Diners Club allow spenders to indirectly earn Etihad Guest miles on their transactions.

First, points would be accumulated in the card issuer's loyalty program – that's AMEX Membership Rewards, Citibank Rewards (Prestige cardholders only), Commonwealth Awards or Diners Club Rewards – and then converted into Etihad Guest miles when desired.

Similar opportunities are available in other countries, so check with your bank to confirm whether Etihad Guest miles are a conversion option for your hard-earned points.

If not, be aware that Etihad Guest tends to prioritise partnerships with the largest local card issuers and global providers, so you might find mileage earning opportunities with some of the 'bigger names' in credit card spend, rather than via smaller banks and credit unions.

That's evidenced by Etihad's Australian partnerships with American Express (which also issues cards around the world), with Citibank (the world's largest credit card issuer, and the operator of Diners Club in Australia), and the Commonwealth Bank (Australia's largest local credit card issuer). 

How many Etihad Guest miles can I earn?

The volume of Etihad Guest miles you can earn will depend on exactly how you're amassing them. 

In the air, for example, you’ll generally earn miles based on the distance of your flight, the cabin booked and the type of fare you've purchased.

With this in mind, expect to earn more miles on the longest routes in fully flexible business class, than you would on a short flight: or indeed, on the same route when booked on a more affordable fare, such as cut-price economy. 

Case in point, a single one-way trip from Sydney to London via Abu Dhabi pulls in 21,818 miles on the most flexible business class fares, 14,182 miles on the least-costly business class fares, and 2,727 on the cheapest economy ticket.

The same thing applies when you fly with partner airlines, but keep in mind that each partner has a different mileage earning rate, and it's usually not as rewarding as flying with Etihad directly. You can check the earning rate for each partner on Etihad's Earn Miles page.

Through credit card spend, you'll generally earn points in a bank's loyalty program based on how much you've spent, as well as through any applicable sign-up bonus offers that may be available for new customers.

In short, the number of miles you can earn will grow with your expenditure, subject to any points capping arrangements as may be in place with each bank.

Note also that most banks don't apply a straight 1:1 conversion rate on points transfers from the bank's loyalty program to Etihad Guest. Transfer rates of 2:1, 2.5:1 or even 3:1 may instead be in place.

For instance, points transfers from the Commonwealth Bank's CBA Awards program adopt that less-generous 3:1 conversion rate. This means a balance of 100,000 CBA Awards points would fetch around 33,333 Etihad Guest miles (that's 100,000 points, divided by 3).

Want to book an award ticket but find yourself short on points? You can also purchase Etihad Guest miles online at a cost of $0.02 per mile – up to 100,000 miles per year.

What are Etihad Guest Tier Miles?

Etihad Guest members can earn two types of miles. Standard 'miles' are those that are earned to be spent on rewards – for example, earning miles via your credit card, to spend on a reward flight.

Tier Miles, on the other hand, are Etihad's equivalent of status credits. These are earned in much more limited ways, and exist solely to measure your progress through the program's elite tiers.

What are the Etihad Guest membership tiers?

Above Etihad's entry-level Bronze tier, the program's public ranks include the Silver, Gold and Platinum status levels.

Beyond these, Etihad also maintains an unpublished VIP level: Etihad Guest Exclusive, which is only provided by invitation, and cannot be directly unlocked by earning a specific number of Tier Miles.

For the public levels, status can be earned by earning the required number of Tier Miles, or the required number of Tier Segments (akin to 'eligible flights' in other programs), within a 12-month period.

Here are the Etihad Guest elite tiers, and what it takes to earn them.

Etihad's tier level requirements are noticeably easier to achieve than the tiers of the competing Skywards frequent flyer program of Etihad's UAE neighbour, Emirates.

Read: Emirates Skywards: your 101 frequent flyer guide

Once earned, Etihad Guest elite status (Silver and above) is valid for one year: during which time, the member will need to meet the retention requirements above, in order to keep that status for a further 12 months.

What are the benefits of Etihad Guest status?

The benefits of Etihad Guest begin at the entry-level Bronze tier, with escalating perks as you climb the status ladder, with highlights as follows.

• Etihad Guest Bronze: 10% discount on inflight WiFi, ability to purchase lounge access (and flights) with miles, and both seating and meal preferences kept on file and offered where possible.
• Etihad Guest Silver: Inflight WiFi discount boosted to 25%, plus earn 25% bonus miles on Etihad and eligible partner airline flights, and upgrade for 25% fewer miles at the airport. Plus, get priority check-in with Etihad, extra checked baggage, and access to the Al Reem Lounge and Etihad network lounges at the Abu Dhabi International Airport.
• Etihad Guest Gold: Benefits of Silver, plus global access to Etihad and partner airline lounges including Virgin Australia, 75% discount on WiFi plus 50% off airport mileage upgrades and earn 50% bonus miles on Etihad flights. There's also priority boarding, higher checked baggage, and more.
• Etihad Guest Platinum: Perks of Gold with a higher 75% mileage bonus on flights, completely free inflight WiFi, even higher checked baggage limits (varies by route), access to Etihad's first class lounge, and like Gold, complimentary chauffeur service on eligible mileage-based flight bookings.

For the full list of benefits, head to the Etihad Guest website.

Do Etihad Guest miles expire?

In most cases, Etihad Guest miles adopt an 18-month expiry period from the time a member last earned or spent miles.

This means a member earning or spending points on just one yearly trip wouldn't see their balance of miles ever expire under current policies – but somebody attempting to earn or spend miles less regularly, such as once every two years, could find their points expired if they're not careful.

For Etihad Guest Bronze, Silver and Gold members, it's possible to pay to have the expiry date extended – but of course, simply converting a few points across from an eligible credit card or hotel loyalty program would also reset that expiry counter.

Miles of Etihad Guest Platinum members technically never expire while their Platinum status is retained, and once the member drops to Gold or below, are then valid for at least 18 months.

But of course, to maintain Etihad Guest Platinum status, a member must be actively travelling, making the non-expiry of miles less of a true 'benefit' than a simple by-product of the traveller's habits.

How do I spend and redeem Etihad Guest miles?

Through many of the same channels as Etihad Guest members can earn miles, they can spend those miles, too.

For example, Etihad Guest miles can be earned on Etihad and eligible partner airline flights – and can similarly be spent on those flights, including on partners such as Virgin Australia and Air New Zealand. 

An Etihad award flight from Melbourne to Abu Dhabi can be had for 60,000 miles one-way in economy or 110,000 miles in business class, or if travelling onwards to London on the same booking, you’ll part with just 92,000 miles in economy and 180,000 miles in business class overall.

Redemptions are also possible on experiences such as hotel stays, car hire and more.

As well as outright experience bookings, it's also possible to redeem miles on an upgrade to business class or even first class, subject to availability.

Depending on your flight, upgrade options may include:

• Economy (Saver, Classic and Flex) to business class
• Business (Classic and Flex) to first class

On the same Abu Dhabi-Melbourne flight, for instance, 48,556 miles can get you a business class upgrade from the most flexible economy tickets, as can 88,000 miles from the least-expensive fares.

For the London-bound already booked on confirmed business class tickets, an upgrade to first class – once Etihad’s A380 returns to the skies on July 15 – costs just 39,000 miles from Abu Dhabi.

Upgrades from Economy Sale to business class are not available, nor are any upgrades from economy class to first class.

Read: Etihad business class upgrade guide

Also read: Etihad first class upgrade guide

Also, note that it's not possible to upgrade Etihad Airways flights using frequent flyer points from Virgin Australia's Velocity Frequent Flyer or any other partner airline program.

What's the best way to spend Etihad Guest miles?

With a number of ways to spend Etihad Guest miles, a mile used is always better than a mile expired: but some methods of using miles can prove more rewarding than others.

As Etihad Airways is known for excellent inflight experiences in business class and first class, these are often favourites of many Etihad Guest members – but if you're happy to fly economy, reward flights in that cabin are often easier to find than further forward on the aircraft.

Reward bookings on some partner airline flights also present great value, particularly on Virgin Australia, where the number of Etihad Guest miles needed to book a flight can be lower than the number of Velocity Points needed to book the same.

All partner airline flight bookings, including for Virgin Australia flights, can only be made over the phone: so although the number of miles needed can be advantageous, there's still a 'time cost' in chasing these rewards.

Do I need an Etihad Guest membership card?

Etihad Guest members have access to a digital membership card via the Etihad website or mobile app, which can be presented if required: but usually, simply quoting your Etihad Guest membership number is all that's needed to earn miles around the world.

Membership cards may be of better use for higher-tiered Gold and Platinum members seeking to access benefits with partner airlines, which may not have their reservation system integrated with Etihad, meaning your Etihad Guest status may not be reflected on the boarding pass.

Frequently asked questions

Can you join two Etihad Guest accounts?

Etihad Guest allows related members to create an Etihad Guest Family Membership profile, to which their individual Etihad Guest frequent flyer accounts can be linked.

Up to nine family members can join each Family Membership profile – then when it's time to book a holiday, the designated 'head of the family' can pool everybody's miles together and spend them all on a single booking.

Each member of the family can also spend their own miles as desired, without going through the family system: but be aware, when linked with a Family Membership, the 'head of the family' can access and spend your miles at any time.

On the earning front, each member continues to accrue miles (as well as Tier Miles and Tier Segments) on an individual basis.

Can you use Etihad Guest miles to upgrade on other airlines?

It's generally not possible to upgrade on flights operated by partner airlines using your Etihad Guest miles.

However, depending on the airline, you may instead be able to purchase an upgrade using money or by spending miles from another frequent flyer program, such as Virgin Australia Velocity, to upgrade on Virgin Australia flights.

Can you convert credit card points into Etihad Guest miles?

As above, yes you can, provided your bank or credit card issuer is partnered with the Etihad Guest frequent flyer program to allow this.

In Australia, credit card points transfers to Etihad Guest are possible from American Express Membership Rewards, Citibank Rewards (for Prestige cardholders only), CBA Awards, and Diners Club Rewards.

For cards in other countries, check with Etihad Guest, or with your card's issuing bank.

Depending on the circumstances, it may be possible to migrate an existing credit card account to one with the same issuer that can earn Etihad Guest miles, or an application for a new credit card elsewhere may also be an option to consider.

How do I claim missing Etihad Guest miles? 

To claim missing miles on Etihad Airways flights, log into your Etihad Guest account and click on the "Claim missing miles" option. Once there, you'll be prompted to enter the ticket number and booking reference corresponding to the flight for which you did not earn miles.

After clicking 'submit,' your miles will be credited once the airline confirms that the information you entered matches their records.

Also read: Etihad CEO on the A350, first class and ‘business plus’