Bits: Air France KLM and Etihad partner, Watchfinder deal, Hyatt 25% buy points discount

News in brief:

Flying Blue miles will soon be redeemable on Etihad (and vice versa)

Air France KLM and Etihad have announced a stronger co-operation agreement which will, amongst other things:

• allow you to redeem Etihad Guest miles for Air France and KLM flights

• allow you to redeem Flying Blue miles for Etihad flights

• benefit from reciprocal elite benefits

The current codeshare operation between the groups will be expanded to cover another 40 routes. We have already seen Air France announce flights to Abu Dhabi, although the reason for this wasn’t clear at the time.

The expanded codeshares are meant to be in place for the upcoming winter flying season. None of the loyalty changes will happen immediately although I suspect most should be in place within 12 months.

In terms of relevance to HfP readers, the following are worth considering:

• if you earn miles flying with Virgin Atlantic, would you benefit from crediting to Flying Blue instead to take advantage of Etihad redemption opportunities?

• if you earn miles flying with Etihad, would you benefit from crediting to Flying Blue instead, given the ability to redeem on Etihad and the entire SkyTeam alliance?

• if taxes and charges are reasonable, there may be value in transferring American Express Membership Rewards points to Flying Blue instead of Etihad Guest if you want to book Etihad flights. If nothing else, the miles would be easier to re-use if you ended up cancelling your flight.

We’ll keep you updated when we know the timeline for these changes. You can find out more on the Etihad website here.

PS. It is worth considering whether Virgin Atlantic may be looking at a similar deal. It already works very closely with Air France KLM via its transatlantic joint venture, and Virgin Atlantic Holidays would benefit from access to Etihad inventory at preferred rates. British Airways and Qatar Airways already have a deep relationship via their joint venture agreement, joint oneworld alliance membership, joint use of Avios and the 25% shareholding that Qatar Airways holds in BA’s parent company.

Watchfinder runs a Rolex flash sale which stacks with Amex cashback

Watchfinder, the pre-owned watch specialist (owned by Richemont, so no issues with legitimacy), sent me a note about a Rolex flash sale they are running this week.

Details are here and the discounts run to Friday.

This should stack with the current American Express cashback offer for Watchfinder. If targetted, you will get 5% back on any purchase of £2000+, up to a maximum of £200 cashback.

As usual, you need to search for the offer in the Amex app or your online statement page, making a separate check for each card you hold, and click ‘Save To Card’ if you see it. The cashback deal runs to 30th September.

Get a 25% discount buying World of Hyatt points

Hyatt is offering a new 25% discount (equivalent to a 33% bonus) when you buy 5,000+ World of Hyatt points via this link. The offer runs to 10th October.

This is obviously worth a look if you need to top up your account.  It may also be worthwhile if you are considering a stay in a top tier Park Hyatt such as Paris, where buying the points may be cheaper than paying cash – here’s my Park Hyatt New York review where I did just that.

There is no change to the annual ‘buy points’ cap so you are restricted to 55,000 points, assuming you haven’t already bought some this year. This will only get you one night at the very top hotels but 2-3 nights elsewhere.

This deal clearly won’t make sense at all Hyatt properties.  However, if you are visiting an expensive city at peak season it is definitely worth doing the maths.

The upside is that a 25% discount (equivalent to a 33% bonus) is at the top end of the offers that Hyatt runs.

We value Hyatt points at 1.2p. At the top end you are paying $990 for 55,000 points, which is 1.43p each. You won’t get a steal on this basis but you should still come out on top at a good hotel on an expensive night. It’s also fair to say that, given current hotel prices, my 1.2p valuation is very conservative.

For example …. taking a night in October when I’m back at Park Hyatt New York on points …. the cash rate is currently $1,459 including tax. You can buy 45,000 points to book the same room for $810.

The chain has some excellent hotels, and I genuinely find Park Hyatt to be the best luxury chain which is run by one of the multi-brand groups.  It doesn’t beat Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental etc but I’d take one over a Ritz-Carlton, Waldorf Astoria or St Regis any day.

Hyatt has started letting you book suites online for points and there are some bargains to be had. Here is how I used that feature in Paris in 2021. Looking at suite upgrades, you are paying 6,000 points per night – or 9,000 for a premium suite – which would be (x 1.43p) £86 per night. This is good value, especially if the suite automatically gets you lounge access too.

The Hyatt ‘buy points’ site is here. The offer ends on 10th October.