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Etihad partners with Air Europa, opening up new SkyTeam opportunities

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Etihad and Air Europa announced a new frequent flyer partnership yesterday.  

Whilst you might not know Air Europa, it is a Spanish-based airline which is part of the huge SkyTeam alliance, flying domestically and to Latin America and the Caribbean.  From the UK, it flies from London Gatwick to Madrid.

This opens up some interesting options.  Here are a few things you can now do as part of the new partnership:

Fly Etihad and credit the miles to Air Europa.  Looking at the relevant page of the Air Europa website, it appears that Etihad flights will earn ‘level’ miles which count for status.   The English translation here is not great and it is possible that only Etihad flights operated as Air Europa codeshares count for status, but that isn’t how I read it.  This means that you can potentially earn SkyTeam status by crediting your Etihad flights to Air Europa and not to Etihad Guest. 

Fly Air Europa and credit the miles to Etihad Guest.  This page of the Etihad website shows you what you will earn.  This is a sensible option if you don’t collect SkyTeam miles and end up doing the occasional Air Europa flight.  Note that booking classes  X, O, F, G, Z, N and A earn nothing in Etihad Guest.

Redeem Etihad Guest miles on Air Europa.  Given Air Europa’s niche route network this is only likely to make sense in a few scenarios but the option is at least there.

Credit your SkyTeam flights to Air Europa in order to get access to Etihad redemptions.  This is not necessarily a great idea – because it may be easier to earn status with other SkyTeam partners and you can’t top-up Air Europa miles easily as they have few partners – but the option is there.

It isn’t clear if Etihad Guest status card holders get any benefits when flying with Air Europa, or vice versa.

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, SkyTeam alliance partners

Comments (217)

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

  • BlueHorizonuk says:
    25 Sep25 September 14:23

    You’ve got mail

  • Ben says:
    25 Sep25 September 14:27

    I have the Amex Plat & BAPP looking to cancel soon.
    Couple of questions 1 – Can I get the Free Amex Card and get the 5k points or do I need to wait 6 months?
    2. Is the SPG card still going even with the merged programs?

    Anyone have any suggestions (the other option is the Virgin Card but I was thinking of a self referal from the plat before closing down)

    • Anna says:
      25 Sep25 September 14:36

      1. You can downgrade to the free card to get a pro-rata refund of the annual fee, but you won’t get a sign up bonus unless you cancel, wait 6 months then re-apply.

      • Tom1 says:
        25 Sep25 September 16:14

        My experience was that I had BAPP and hit the sign up target, then downgraded and got the 5k as well. I may have been lucky but no harm in trying.

  • Anna says:
    25 Sep25 September 14:29

    I’m not sure if this is what the problem is, but if you book a return leg as a one-way it’s common for BA to charge more tax than if booked as part of a return flight – you would need to speak to them to ask them to adjust the tax element.

    • Anna says:
      25 Sep25 September 14:34

      Though I’m getting 90,000 plus £117.20 – taxes and other charges do seem to have gone up quite recently.

      • Ehosin says:
        25 Sep25 September 14:47

        Yes indeed – I flew in July and was charged £228 plus 90K – then came across the article in August about low taxes on one way redemptions ex TYO and HKG imposed by the respective governments. So unless they’ve halved the tax/fee/surcharges in the interim I’m convinced that it should have only been £112-£117-ish! Have raised this with BA, has apparently been looked into by BA fares team who say the taxes paid was correct.

  • rams1981 says:
    25 Sep25 September 14:38

    Has anyone done a Curve atm withdrawal linked to tandem abroad with switched currency? I’m in France this weekend so can try and report back in any case.

  • Richard says:
    25 Sep25 September 14:39

    Sorry, completely OT – any thoughts on how much service recovery compensation I should expect for a faultly seat meaning no bassinet could be connected on a BAPP 241 redemption in first? (LHR – SCL)

    • Shoestring says:
      25 Sep25 September 15:08

      Not much history. Currently v good compo obtainable for seat problems flying First. Minimum 10K, I don’t think that’s enough, try to insist on 25K-50K as appropriate level. Spoilt your journey.

      • Rob says:
        25 Sep25 September 17:56

        Pendulum might be shifting. BA is starting to refuse to pay out on data breach claims as per FT, despite the promises that ‘no one will be out of pocket’. We also had a reader last week who had his ‘best price guarantee’ refused on the spurious reason that he had upgraded the seat later using Avios (this decision was overturned after I wrote about it).

      • Richard says:
        26 Sep26 September 01:42

        Thanks for the info. Initial amount was 10k each and I’m waiting to hear back after saying I expected much more

  • The Original Nick says:
    25 Sep25 September 15:24

    I received 60000 Avios on a OW Lloyds upgrade voucher, YYZ-LHR for a faulty TV and cold soup. That was in CW. I had to push for it though. 12000 Avios is maximum you can be offered on-board I was told by Cabin manager who to be fair was very good and helpful.

  • Alex says:
    25 Sep25 September 15:33

    Tricky question: I have Amex Plat. If I refer some, who already has BAPP, for a free BA credit card, will I get 18000 MR points for referral? Thanks!

  • Mark2 says:
    25 Sep25 September 15:48

    I have cancelled my white IHG and am now trying to add my new Black IHG card to Curve. When it sends a transaction including the code for verification it shows as pending on IHG. Does anyone know what I am doing wrong please?

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