New sign-up bonus: get 15,000 Etihad Guest miles via their credit card

MBNA has brought back a special sign up bonus on the free Etihad Guest credit card – 15,000 miles.

Etihad launched their UK credit card back in May 2013. Even accounting for the fact that the card was free, the sign-up bonus was a little underwhelming – 5,000 Etihad Guest miles.

Since then they have run various temporary promotions which saw the bonus pitched at 12,000, 17,000 and 20,000 miles.  Just before the interchange cap came during Winter 2015, they launched the most generous mileage offer on a free UK credit card since American Airlines offered 35,000 miles back in April 2013 – 25,000 Etihad Guest miles.

I doubt we will be seeing 25,000 Etihad Guest miles again.  However, the new bonus of 15,000 Etihad Guest miles – for a FREE credit card – is excellent.

Full details are on the Etihad website here.  The deadline to apply is 31st May (now extended to 7th June).

The card has a representative APR of 22.9% variable.  You should NOT be getting this card – or any loyalty credit card, to be frank – if you are likely to run a balance.

Here are the key facts:

The cards are a double pack of American Express and Visa

There is no annual fee

You earn 1.5 miles per £1 on the Amex and 0.75 miles per £1 on the Visa

The issuer is MBNA, so no churning – it is likely you won’t be able to get another bonus in the future on this card if you apply now

And the rules for this promotion:

You receive the standard 5,000 miles for spending £250 within 30 days

You receive an additional 10,000 miles for spending £2,000 within 90 days

All in all, the targets are very reasonable, especially as spend on the both the Amex and Visa cards count towards the target.

Other perks include bonus miles on any Etihad flights taken in Business or First Class within 90 days of taking out the card, and Etihad Guest Silver status if you take one return flight with Etihad within a year.  Flights must be purchased using the credit card to qualify.

That’s the good news – now for the bad

Etihad Guest underwent a major devaluation in July 2015.  This pushed up the prices of redemptions sharply, as well as adding a fuel surcharge.

Between London and Abu Dhabi you are currently looking at (return):

• Economy:  62,044 miles plus $100 fuel surcharge
• Business:  131,928 miles plus $200 fuel surcharge
• First:  175,465 miles plus $300 fuel surcharge

If you want to check the pricing on other routes, the online Mileage Calculator is here.

Of course, you should look at these numbers in the context of Avios.  Given a choice between using 120,000 Avios + £500 of charges to fly Club World to Abu Dhabi or Dubai, versus 132,000 Etihad Guest miles + around £500 of charges to fly the A380 or Boeing 787 Business Class Studio it is still no contest.

Etihad Guest also gives you free chauffeur transfers in Business Class and First Class at both ends as well.

One way redemptions are possible for half the numbers quoted above, which is helpful if you are only looking at earning miles via the credit card.

What can you now do with your 15,000 sign up miles?

There is no point in earning these miles unless you have a plan to spend them.  Etihad has a number of airline partners you can redeem on but most are impractical for a UK resident.

If you thought that you could put through enough spend to reach a total of 66,000 miles, you would be able to redeem for a one-way Business Class Studio flight to Abu Dhabi on the A380.  I genuinely believe that this is the best business class experience currently available.  I recommend reading my review of the Business Studio on the new A380 aircraft.

A 20% bonus on partner miles conversions

As a reminder, Etihad is also currently offering a 20% bonus if you convert miles from selected third parties into Etihad Guest before the end of April.

The list of partners offering a 20% bonus is here.

The downside is that American Express in the UK is NOT included.  Etihad partners with American Express Membership Rewards and you can top up your account via them at 1:1 but you will not get a bonus.

You WOULD get a 20% bonus on transfers from Heathrow Rewards and the major hotel schemes.  Even Starwood Preferred Guest is included, so you get the standard 5,000 bonus miles for moving 20,000 Starwood points and then a further 20% on top.

HSBC Premier is also a partner and is included in the 20% deal.  You can get a further 20,000 Etihad Guest miles by signing up for the £195 HSBC Premier World Elite MasterCard and a further 20,000 miles if you managed to spend £12,000 in the first year.  You must be a HSBC Premier current account customer to apply for this.

Is it worth pushing spend into Etihad Guest?

If you are starting from scratch, this promotion is probably best if you are a solo traveller and have access to some Amex Membership Rewards points to top up your account.

Some other points to think about:

Remember that Business Class and First Class redemptions come with free chauffeur transfers in Abu Dhabi (they will take you to Dubai if you want) and at 25 of their other outstations, including London.

Etihad Guest has family accounts allowing you to pool the miles earned by various people in one pot.  This makes it easier to reach the required amount for an award more quickly if other members of your household also take out their own cards.

You can use American Airlines miles to book Etihad flights. If you got enough miles via this promotion for one ticket, you could potentially use any AA miles you have for a second person or to come back.

Etihad has PointsPay. If you can’t redeem for a flight, you can transfer them to a ‘virtual’ (or indeed physical) Visa card at the rate of roughly 0.5p per mile. Not great, but you are effectively trading them for cash, making the sign-up bonus worth £75.

The miles will expire after two years – this will happen even if you have further activity on your account.

If you decide to apply, I recommend you join Etihad Guest first via this link so that you have a membership number to put on the application form. If you don’t, Etihad will open an account for you and it may take you a lot of telephone calls to find out the number and PIN.

The application page is here.  My full review of the Etihad credit card – which has been updated to reflect this offer – is here.

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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:

• American Express Preferred Rewards Gold (review here, apply here) – sign-up bonus of 20,000 Membership Rewards points converts into 20,000 Etihad Guest miles. This card is FREE for your first year and also comes with four free airport lounge passes.

• The Platinum Card from American Express (review here, apply here) – sign-up bonus of 40,000 Membership Rewards points converts into 40,000 Etihad Guest miles.

• American Express Rewards credit card (review here, apply here) – sign-up bonus of 10,000 Membership Rewards points converts into 10,000 Etihad Guest miles. This card is FREE for life.

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.