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Etihad will match your airline Gold card, including British Airways, to Etihad Gold

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Abu Dhabi based Etihad has brought back its Gold status match. This allows you to get an Etihad Gold card in return for proof of your Gold status with British Airways or any other major airline.

Now, this being Etihad, the offer has a few quirks attached to it. However, they are generally positive:

In the past, Etihad has NOT adjusted for the different terminology used by different airlines. BA Gold is BA’s top tier. Cathay Pacific Gold, on the other hand, is really the same as BA Silver. However, as far as Etihad was concerned, BA Gold and Cathay Gold both qualified for the purposes of this match.

Because of the way the Etihad scheme works, your Gold status may be valid until March 2018. You will receive the rest of the year you quality (ie the rest of 2015) plus the next two full years (2016 and 2017). If you don’t requalify, you don’t drop down until March the following year (ie March 2018). That is actually three years of Gold status!

(It is not certain that you will get the full period with a status match. However, if you had achieved Gold ‘the hard way’ then that is how it would work.  Even though I got a status match last year, I still do not know how it works – Etihad has never sent me a plastic card and my online account does not show my status expiry date!)

The match is usually limited. Not everyone who applies is accepted. Etihad prioritises spots based on your flight history (they ask to see a copy of your statement as well as your Gold card.)

You cannot match a card issued by Air Lingus, airberlin, Air Serbia, Air Seychelles, Alitalia, Jet Airways or Virgin Australia.

The benefits may be useful even if you never fly on Etihad

The key Etihad benefit is lounge access for you and a guest whenever you fly them. In Abu Dhabi you need to use the Al Reem lounge, but at other airports you are allowed into the main Pearl Business Class lounge.  I reviewed the impressive Etihad lounge in Heathrow Terminal 4 earlier in the week.

You will also receive lounge access when you fly with Etihad’s partner airlines. These are:

airberlin (only when the lounge is operated by airberlin)

Air New Zealand (Etihad codeshare routes only)

Air Serbia (Belgrade only)

Air Seychelles (AUH, SEZ, MRU, JNB, HKG and CDG only)

ANA

Jet Airways

Garuda (Jakarta only)

Korean Air

South African Airways

SriLankan Airlines (Colombo only)

Virgin Australia

You will also receive priority boarding, premium class check-in and additional baggage allowance with most of these airlines.

There is also another sneaky reason to get Etihad Gold. It may allow you to match to another Gold card later on, with a different airline. As your Etihad Gold may be valid until 2018, there are plenty of potential opportunities.

Full details can be found on the Etihad website here. The deadline to apply is March 15th.  You must be resident in the UAE, UK, USA, Australia, Saudi Arabia, France, Switzerland, China or Japan.

The full list of Gold benefits is here.

How to earn Etihad Guest miles from UK credit cards

How to earn Etihad Guest miles from UK credit cards (April 2024)

Etihad Guest does not have a UK credit card.  However, you can earn Etihad Guest miles by converting Membership Rewards points earned from selected UK American Express cards.

Cards earning Membership Rewards points include:

Membership Rewards points convert at 1:1 into Etihad Guest miles which is an attractive rate.  The cards above all earn 1 Membership Rewards point per £1 spent on your card, which converts to 1 Etihad Guest mile. The Gold card earns double points (2 per £1) on all flights you charge to it.

Category

Etihad and Etihad Guest

Comments (42)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Hingeless says:
    26 Feb26 February 06:09

    My Etihad Gold Card arrived after the last status match and was valid for over 2 years.

    Great for virgin Australia lounge access (as is the plat amex card) It also lets you of though lounge fast track entry at Sydney. This is a kerbside security entry into the lounge that avoids going into the main terminal entry.

    You can also use the Virgin fast track lounge exit at Melbourne – the lounge is landside but you exit airside !!

  • Geoff says:
    26 Feb26 February 07:03

    If only AMEX hadn’t shafted Platinum cardholders and killed off the Cathay Gold deal 🙁

    • Polly says:
      26 Feb26 February 07:25

      Yes but you can status match your c x gold to gulf before it expires. Then status match back to AB , then you are back to gold again. We are successfully using our AB gold now, and it’s the same as ba silver at t 5. Wonderful, but takes close planning.

  • Paul says:
    26 Feb26 February 08:10

    Hmmm Polly… I hope that you’re not the sort of person to moan about tax avoidance by wealthier members of society… or in your case… tax evasion…. 🙂

  • Geoggy says:
    26 Feb26 February 08:30

    So if you have an Amex Cathay Gold card and have no flights credited to it whatsoever, there’s no point in applying?

  • JB says:
    26 Feb26 February 08:31

    Can anyone tell me how to go about applying for status match with Etihad please – is it simply a case of calling up and asking? thanks JB

  • Mike says:
    26 Feb26 February 10:42

    It’s not surprising that they would match Cathay Pacific Gold – Gold isn’t Etihad’s top tier either.

  • Chris H says:
    26 Feb26 February 11:30

    Last year I had a comp BA Gold (from a GGL membership). I status matched it to Turkish Airlines last summer. I will now try and status match the Turkish gold card to Etihad – fingers crossed!

    • Colin JE says:
      26 Feb26 February 23:15

      GGL membership? What is that please? Still available?

      • Alan says:
        26 Feb26 February 23:24

        GGL = Gold Guest List – you need to earn 5,000 Tier Points in a year to earn this. Once earned you have the ability to gift one Gold and two Silver cards to other people, which sounds like what Chris H is referring to.

  • Trevor says:
    26 Feb26 February 11:36

    I applied for myself and my OH on the back of the Cathay Gold card last year. I got emails for both application stating the match had been denied (We’d had no activity on our Cathay accounts). Then, out of the blue, the Etihad Gold card arrives for me, yet not my OH. So now I have, despite refusal, and the card is only valid until June this year – barely a year, nevermind 2+ years validity. Another oddity, my Cathay card should have expired next month, yet was extended to expire in August this year, yet my OH’s still expires next month. I’ve used both our cards last night for the Qantas status match – just in time before hers expires, so hopefully we’re both accepted.

    • Rob says:
      26 Feb26 February 13:33

      As I said in the piece, Etihad (and indeed all the Middle East big 3) work in mysterious ways!

      “You get what you get and you don’t get upset” as my 7 year old tells me (or, more accurately, is told at school)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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