Get a 25% bonus on American Express points transfers to Etihad Guest – a good deal?

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• James says:

  12 Feb12 February 09:19

  Perfect timing… IF the 10k MR points per supplementary card ever post!

  • Charlie says:

    12 Feb12 February 13:14

    i’m still waiting after 6 weeks!

• thesaver79 says:

  12 Feb12 February 09:29

  The MR website doesn’t seem to mention the promotional bonus. Should I call Amex to make the transfer or will it just go through if I make it online?

  Also, is my understanding correct that, if you fly into Abu Dhabi with Etihad or AirBerlin, you could get the chaffeur service to transfer you to and from Dubai?

  • Rob says:

    12 Feb12 February 10:46

    It isn’t an Amex promotion, that’s why. Amex probably doesn’t even condone it! However, they can’t stop Etihad from offering this if they want – and thus making Amex pay them a large amount of money!

    Yes, the chauffeur goes to Dubai. It isn’t very far, only about 45 minutes. If you staying near the Palm or Marina in Dubai, flying to Abu Dhabi is just as quick once you factor in the extra 15 minutes (at least) you will need for the monster walk and queueing to clear immigration at Dubai vs Abu Dhabi.

    • thesaver79 says:

      12 Feb12 February 11:17

      There are just so many “cheap” luxury options for hotels in Abu Dhabi…

      • Rob says:

        12 Feb12 February 12:44

        True. If you want pure leisure, Emirates Palace still seems the way to go unless you stay out on Saadiyat at the Park Hyatt, St Regis etc.

        • thesaver79 says:

          12 Feb12 February 16:23

          I quite like the Sofitel too, based on what I’ve seen.

        • thesaver79 says:

          13 Feb13 February 08:19

          46000 MR transferred yesterday, which I’ll use too book First back from Abu Dhabi. Thinking of getting there from TXL with AirBerlin. Nice to try a different product and spend fewer Avios.

          I’m pretty certain I’ll chose the Sofitel. It looks lovely and far cheaper than other luxury hotels. For about £160 I’ll probably get an upgrade, breakfast and access to the lounge. They’re also very close to the beach and they offer a shuttle bus.

        • David says:

          13 Feb13 February 10:42

          I was out in Abu Dhabi in September/ November, researching hotels for an article. The Emirates Palace pools and rooms are extraordinary, but the place feels *too* big. You spend most of the time walking through cavernous empty corridors.

          The St Regis Saadiyat felt a little cold too. Jumeirah Etihad Towers was probably my favourite of the top end ones. In the lower price brackets, the Yas Viceroy is unexpectedly hip and in the middle of the Formula One track (great for theme and water parks and nearer airport if just doing a stopover), a little too detached from anything else. The Hilton and Beach Rotana are surprisingly good, affordable resorts for the money. On the cheap, the Hala Arjaan is probably the best bet.

        • thesaver79 says:

          13 Feb13 February 11:07

          I take you haven’t been at the Sofitel then?

• Eshaq Choudhury says:

  12 Feb12 February 12:24

  Im sure its a 100 mile driven limit and not 70 mile radius.

  • Adam W says:

    12 Feb12 February 13:16

    You are correct. However, you should be able to find at least two further factual errors in the post.

    • Brian says:

      12 Feb12 February 14:04

      Had a good morning, Adam W?

    • Rob says:

      12 Feb12 February 14:25

      Rarely difficult with HFP articles which are not about BA!

      In my defence, I was confused between the Etihad chauffeur service (100 miles) and the Emirates chauffeur service (70 miles).

      I don’t think there are any other factual errors in that article, though 🙂 The comment on only 2J and 2F being released in prefaced by the word ‘tends’. The redemption rates and taxes are definitely correct because I flew one two weeks ago! The promo rules are a cut and paste from the website. Technically the Etihad chauffeur on arrival will take you anywhere in the UAE and not just Dubai and AUH but what I wrote is not actually incorrect. The PointsPay exchange rate will have moved away from the 0.41p I got last year because it is based of the £/$ rate but as my Etihad account is empty at the moment I cannot check the exact number.

• David says:

  12 Feb12 February 12:28

  Etihad’s particularly useful for Australia, by the way. I’ve seen economy returns from Manchester to Perth for around 90,000 points plus the relative pittance in tax. They also codeshare on Virgin Australia flights, so the points can be used for these too (although it’s probably better to use Avios for Qantas domestic flights as they fall in the bargain distance bands).

  The combo of chauffeur service and Manchester/ Edinburgh departures is mighty handy for anyone living in the north, too.

  • smaberly says:

    12 Feb12 February 14:07

    That long haul price is pretty good then. 120K in C for a return to Australia from London (as opposed to 200k avios) is about as good as anyone these days (at least that is what was on the American Airlines redemption chart through Etihad Guest link above, is that right?)

    • Rob says:

      12 Feb12 February 14:22

      I think (could be wrong) that AA doesn’t let you hub via the Middle East so it would two awards (Europe to Middle East, Middle East to Australasia) added together using the AA chart.

      The number of miles Etihad Guest wants – which can be booked as one award – bears no relation to what the AA chart wants.

      • Rob says:

        12 Feb12 February 15:48

        In that case, ignore my comments – whatever rules AA has when redeeming its own miles should not apply if you ask Etihad Guest to redeem for you. However, how were you planning to fly this? AA does not fly to Australia does it?

        • smaberly says:

          12 Feb12 February 16:02

          Curiously AA’s route map shows that it doesn’t fly anywhere in the south pacific. Hadn’t thought of that (though had been lured into thinking about it cause it was on their chart). Thanks for the clarification.

      • Stu says:

        13 Feb13 February 06:45

        This is correct Rob. I found out to my cost this last week when booking MAN-KUL assuming it would be 52.5k Aadvantage points, turned out to be 2 x 30k.

• Mo-mo says:

  12 Feb12 February 13:38

  Hi Raffles,

  I am looking to fly to dubai in May with my wife and have a large amount of avios (150k). I also have enough etihad points for one way business class return Abu Dhabi to LHR for 2 people.

  What is the better option?
  a) To book LHR to TXL (Berlin) return, reward flight saver economy on BA and then TXL to AUH business return on Air Berlin. This would cost £170 plus 118,000 avios.

  b) the alternative is outbound LHR to TXL and then business TXL to AUH. Then on return, business on etihad from AUH to LHR. This would cost 59000 avios + £102 on the outbound and approximately 90k etihad miles + £15 on the inbound. So in total 59k avios and 90k etihad miles for net cost of £117.

  • Eshaq Choudhury says:

    12 Feb12 February 14:23

    Options B is similar to what I’m doing later this year. For me its MAN instead of LHR. Would’ve gone with LHR on the A380 First apartment but no availability for my dates.

  • Rob says:

    12 Feb12 February 14:39

    I think the key is what alternative use you have for the Etihad miles

    The airberlin price will go up 50% after April 28th so, arguably, it makes sense to use as many Avios as you can before they devalue.

    However, would you have another use for the Etihad miles? If you make regular Middle East trips then OK but remember they expire after 2 years if you have no status and cannot be extended.

    Would you use them in time? If not, perhaps you should use them for this trip. You would empty your Etihad pile (fewer other uses) and retain Avios (far more potential alternative uses).

    • Gordon says:

      13 Feb13 February 13:12

      Can you not extend the miles beyond 2 years by making a booking before they expire for a flight up to 11 months or so in the future. This gives you nearly three years. I previously made a date change on etihad which may allow you to extend even further

      • Rob says:

        13 Feb13 February 17:09

        Yes, that would be OK.

  • BallSack says:

    12 Feb12 February 18:31

    Burn the Avios. Keep the Etihad guest miles.

• BallSack says:

  12 Feb12 February 18:29

  Shame they’re not offering this with Avios points to Etihad Guest points !!

• Mark says:

  12 Feb12 February 21:46

  I was wondering that. Am I reading it right that anywhere in the US including Hawaii from Europe is 50,000 in business?

  How does that compare to using AA miles?

  If I decide to transfer some now it could be a useful plan B in the event that we decide against another trip to the UAE in the next 2 years….

• AndyGWP says:

  15 Feb15 February 08:59

  For the record, I feel a bit of an idiot posting this, but I’m a complete Etihad noob,

  According to the routemap, the only destination from MAN and London on Etihad is Abu Dhabi?

  http://flights.etihad.com/routemap

  That’s not right… right?

  • Rob says:

    15 Feb15 February 10:29

    The only direct flight is Abu Dhabi …. obviously they connect to pretty much everywhere.

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