How I made £3.80 out of useless Korean Air miles

My wife took a domestic flight in Korea last week, on Korean Air.  Korean is a member of the SkyTeam alliance, but she does not have an active account with any SkyTeam airline.  It seemed that the – admittedly small number of – miles would be wasted.

I never like to admit defeat, though, so I set out to find any partnerships that Korean may have outside of SkyTeam,  And I found what I wanted – Etihad.

Etihad Guest is a good dumping ground for any miles you may accrue on obscure airlines.

The reason for this is that, via PointsPay, you can cash out the miles for 0.41p each on a Virtual Visa card.

You can find out more about PointsPay on the Etihad website here.  I also wrote about it last year.  You can very easily cash out your miles for a Virtual Visa card which – in my case – I immediately use to pay some money onto my Inland Revenue account.

You’re not going to make a huge amount of money with this, of course.  The Korean Air flight generated 930 Etihad Guest miles (which posted amazingly quickly) which gives us PointsPay credit of £3.80.  However, it is better taking £3.80 than a handful of pointless SkyTeam miles.

Here are the airline partners that allow you to earn Etihad Guest miles and therefore, via PointsPay, effectively take your airline miles as hard cash:

Etihad and Etihad Regional 

airberlin (oneworld)

Air New Zealand (Star Alliance)

Air Serbia (no alliance)

Air Seychelles (no alliance)

Alitalia (SkyTeam)

ANA (Star Alliance)

American Airlines (oneworld)

Asiana Airlines (Star Alliance)

Bangkok Airways (no alliance)

Brussels Airline (Star Alliance)

Czech Airlines (SkyTeam)

Garuda Indonesia (SkyTeam)

Hainan Airlines (no alliance)

Jet Airways (no alliance)

Korean Air (SkyTeam)

Malaysia Airlines (oneworld)

Oman Air (no alliance)

Royal Air Maroc (no alliance)

SriLankan Airlines (oneworld from May)

Ukranian International Airlines (no alliance)

Virgin Australia (no alliance)

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How to earn Etihad Guest miles from UK credit cards (May 2025)

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 Credit Card (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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

• The Platinum Card from American Express (review here, apply here) – sign-up bonus of 50,000 Membership Rewards points converts into 50,000 Etihad Guest miles.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

• The 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 American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card earns double points (2 per £1) on all flights you charge to it, not just with Etihad but with any airline.