Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Get 20,000 Etihad Guest miles with their free UK credit card – but where can you go?

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

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 two temporary promotions.  In June 2013 they raised the bonus to 17,000 miles. That was pretty impressive.  In June 2014 they offered 12,000 miles.

Etihad card

Today, though, Etihad and MBNA have raised the bar.  Until the end of November, you will receive 20,000 Etihad Guest miles if you take out the cards (free) and spend a modest £4,000 within SIX MONTHS.

Full details are here.

The card has a representative APR of 18.9% variable.

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 your first purchase within 30 days

You receive an additional 5,000 miles for spending £1,000 within 60 days

You receive an additional 10,000 miles for spending £4,000 within 180 days

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

20,000 Etihad Guest miles won’t get you too far if you want to travel from the UK. However, they are partners with American Express Membership Rewards, so you can top up your account via them at 1:1.

Etihad is also a partner with plenty of other people including Heathrow Rewards. And, of course, they are partners with most major hotel and car rental programmes.

Etihad also has family accounts.  If you could arrange for a relative to take out a card as well, a one-way First Class trip to Abu Dhabi should be easily within reach.

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:

A one-way Economy ticket from Heathrow to / from Abu Dhabi is 31,071 miles

Business is 44,107 miles one-way

First is 55,357 miles one-way

For comparison, BA would ask 20,000 / 40,000 / 60,000 Avios, with higher taxes.

If you are already in the Middle East, it is more interesting.  From Abu Dhabi to Istanbul for example, a one-way Business seat is just 24,079 and a one-way First Class seat is just 30,312 miles.  And that is for a five hour flight.

Remember that Etihad has very nice First Class private suites:

Etihad 2

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 does not charge fuel surcharges – the First Class ticket I booked from Dubai to Istanbul last year required just £13 to be paid

Etihad is a partner with airberlin, although the redemption rates are higher than if you use Avios on airberlin

Etihad is also a redemption partner with Air Seychelles and Etihad Regional.  You should soon be able to redeem on Jet (India) and Air Serbia as part of the new Etihad Airways Partners alliance.

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 0.41p per mile. Not great, but you are effectively trading them for cash, making the sign-up bonus worth £82.

The miles will expire after two years – this will happen even if you have further activity on your account.  (EDIT: I corrected this statement which was originally wrong.)

This clearly isn’t the card for everyone. Take a look at my original May 2013 post again before applying as this discusses the pros and cons of the other benefits of the card. However, the required spend is not huge and the miles could be handy.

If you decide to apply, I recommend you join Etihad Guest first via this link and put your number 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.

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 (30)

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

  • Volker says:
    17 Oct17 October 07:23

    “The miles will expire after two years if you have no activity at all on your Etihad Guest account. This should not be a problem as you can easily reset the two years by crediting a hotel stay or car rental or moving 1000 American Express Membership Rewards points or 250 Heathrow Rewards points across.”

    A Big Mac at McDonald’s, paid with your Etihad CC, would do the job as well, wouldn’t it? Or am I missing something?

    • sandgrounder says:
      17 Oct17 October 09:17

      Always get the meal, it’s much better value. You can get a salad if you don’t like fries. 🙂

      • Volker says:
        17 Oct17 October 11:03

        I do, don’t worry, but as we have just learnt even a feast with your friends wouldn’t prevent the miles from expiring 🙁

  • Phillip says:
    17 Oct17 October 07:39

    Unless something has changed recently, no activity can extend the lifespan of miles earned. It is very much like Krisflyer on this front:

    6.1.12. The validity period of Etihad Guest Miles is based upon your Etihad Guest Tier Status as follows:
    6.1.12.1 Etihad Guest Miles are valid for 2 years from the date they are earned for Etihad Guest Members;
    6.1.12.2 Etihad Guest Miles are valid for 2.5 years from the date they are earned for Etihad Guest Silver Members; and
    6.1.12.3 Etihad Guest Miles are valid for 3 years from the date they are earned for Etihad Guest Gold Members and Etihad Guest Gold Elite Members.
    Unused Etihad Guest Miles will expire on the last date of the month in which they are due to expire.

    • Rob says:
      17 Oct17 October 09:33

      Thanks Philip. I will amend the article. I read a summary of that on their website which was less specific!

  • Phillip says:
    17 Oct17 October 07:48

    In terms of use of miles, my best use has been on two one way tickets between Abu Dhabi and Muscat. We got picked up from Liwa Oasis (2.5 hours from Abu Dhabi airport, a transfer which would have otherwise cost over £100) and although they do not offer chauffeur service in Muscat, it was still excellent value for money at 6,655 per person plus £14.

    I also used Etihad Miles on Oman Air direct from Muscat back to London. An excellent hard product in Business (although let down by mediocre service). Plenty of availability in Business on their A380s to and from London as well.

    • Mel says:
      28 Oct28 October 17:25

      Hey Phillip, Do you remember roughly how long it took to transfer these points across to Oman’s Sindbad?

      Is it possible to earn both Eithad guest miles (25%) & full Sindbad miles on an Oman air flight?

  • Euflyer Tom says:
    17 Oct17 October 07:18

    You can also reset the two year expiry date on Etihad Guest miles by posting a hotel review on holidaycheck.com – and you’ll get 150 miles for doing so.

  • Julian says:
    17 Oct17 October 09:47

    It’s not exactly related, but is there anyway to keep the American Express Membership Rewards active if I cancel the Amex Gold, which I will because the year free is about to expire?

    Thanks.

    • Rob says:
      17 Oct17 October 10:06

      You get a grace period to use them up.

      Alternatively, downgrade to the Green card. This also has a fee but it is more modest.

      Remember that the Amex Gold fee is refundable pro-rata so if the £125 is charged it is not ‘lost’ as you will get a partial refund whenever you have used your points up.

      • Julian says:
        17 Oct17 October 10:14

        Thanks Raffles. I just wanted some way of keeping it active while I decide to where to transfer them. I haven’t quite set my plans for travel next year.. But by downgrading to the green card means that if I want to reapply to the Gold card in a year or so I won’t get the bonus, right?

        • Rob says:
          17 Oct17 October 11:18

          Correct.

        • Boi says:
          18 Oct18 October 20:06

          Apply for the gold credit card then cancel PRG. That’s how I kept ours active for some time.

          • Rob says:
            18 Oct18 October 21:13

            Great if it works but in theory you have to cancel the Gold Credit when you cancel Gold Charge. Seems to depend what agent you get when you call to cancel.

          • Boi says:
            18 Oct18 October 21:36

            Cancelled PRG in July, still have gold cc ongoing and getting Amex offers. The guy I talked to even said points will transfer to it, so he knew we hadn’t cancelled it. I stressed I don’t want to loose my points and he said theydo it all the time.

  • Gill says:
    17 Oct17 October 09:50

    can you transfer these points over to your Amex Membership Rewards account? Or an Aadvantage account?

  • Rob says:
    17 Oct17 October 11:18

    Wouldn’t bet on it. You cannot use Avios to book a lot of BA codeshares, eg Bangkok Airways, airBaltic, Brunei.

    • xcalx says:
      17 Oct17 October 17:16

      Wouldn’t bet on it. You cannot use Avios to book a lot of BA codeshares, eg Bangkok Airways

      Which is a real shame, especially on the over priced BKK-USM route.

  • Nick says:
    17 Oct17 October 11:25

    It’s worth remembering that you can earn a Etihad points from Viceroy hotels too – until recently it was 4 points per $1 spent on “best available rate” bookings, but there is the standard $1=1 point offer. on any published rate too.

    Or at least, you could earn points from Viceroy stays if the staff at Viceroy were in any way competent or even aware of this offer. I asked for my points months ago and I’m still waiting! If they ever do post the points then I’ll be getting this credit card as I’d then have enough for a one-way first class to Dubai. Using the AA card promotion to come the other way, that’s a first class return! (God knows how the wife is going to get there, though)

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

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Got any questions? Ask them in our forums.

Latest Forum Posts

Get 40,000 bonus points (worth 40,000 Avios) and £300 dining credit with The Platinum Card

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Get £10 when you spend £150 on your free Currensea card

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.7 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

SME? SPECIAL OFFER TO 12TH MAY EARN POINTS WORTH 30,000 AVIOS WITH CAPITAL ON TAP

Get 20,000 bonus points, four airport lounge passes and your first year free with American Express Gold

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.

Got it!