Get a 20%-40% bonus transferring points into Etihad Guest – 3 days only

Etihad Guest is currently running another of its occasional transfer bonuses.

This one is quite restrictive and the top 40% offer is not as good as it seems.

Etihad tends to change the partners who participate in this deal each time it runs. This iteration is good for the points that UK residents are likely to hold.

The transfer bonus runs from 2nd to 4th July, ie today until Sunday.

Here are the most relevant offers for you:

• 20% bonus on transfers from American Express Membership Rewards (usually 1:1)

• 20% bonus on transfers from HSBC Premier (usually 2:1)

• 40% bonus on transfers from Accor Live Limitless (usually 2:1)

• 20% bonus on transfers from Marriott Rewards (usually 3:1)

You might think that Accor is the best deal, but to be honest it is still terrible.

You can redeem 1 Accor Live Limitless point for 2 Eurocents of free hotel room. At 2:1, 1 Accor Live Limitless point is also worth 0.5 Etihad Guest miles.

With a 40% bonus, you are converting 2 Eurocents of hotel room into 0.7 Etihad Guest miles. Converting to Sterling, you are still paying 2.4p per Etihad Guest mile even with a 40% bonus. Avoid.

Etihad Guest has relaxed its draconian mileage expiry policy recently. The previous ‘use them within 24 months or lose them’ policy has gone, thankfully. It has been replaced with a more generous ‘no expiry if you have any account activity within the last 18 months’. This means that you have less to lose, although with Etihad shrinking rapidly you can’t be sure where it will be flying in 2022.

To be honest, unless you have a firm plan to book something on Etihad, none of the bonuses above are worth making a speculative transfer this weekend.

Full details are on the Etihad website 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.