Etihad news: double miles, A380 to Heathrow, Alitalia and Marriott link-ups

Four interesting bits of Etihad news have popped up in recent days which I have popped together in this article.

Double A380 service to Heathrow from March

Etihad has 10 A380’s on order.  Earlier in the year they announced that the first one, due in December, will fly to Heathrow.

This week it was announced that a 2nd A380 will be coming to Heathrow from March 1st.  This means that 2 of the 3 daily flights to Abu Dhabi will be A380s with the other one remaining as a Boeing 777.

This is not necessarily good news for reward flights, unfortunately.  According to One Mile At A Time, Etihad has blocked out standard level First Class reward availability on these services.  This means that you only have one flight option now if you want to snag a First Class Suite.

(Remember that you can book Etihad seats with American Airlines miles, even though they are not a oneworld alliance member.  They are even cheaper than a BA redemption – business class to Abu Dhabi would be 80,000 Avios return on BA whilst Etihad is 60,000 American Airlines miles.  The tax is £300 cheaper as well.)

For people who find the Etihad First Class suites too downmarket, the Etihad A380 will also feature ‘The Residence’, a private apartment at the front of the upper deck which will feature this double bed:

There is more on ‘The Residence’ on the Etihad website here.

Double or triple miles promotion

Etihad is currently offering double Etihad Guest miles for business class travel and triple miles for First Class travel.

Travel dates are restrictive so this is only likely to be useful if you are planning business travel.  You need to book by August 25th and travel by September 25th.  You MUST register for this promotion via the Etihad website here.

Remember that you can redeem Etihad Guest miles for cash via PointsPay at 0.4p per miles so you don’t have to worry about finding a good use for the miles.

Etihad and Alitalia partnership announced

Etihad recently took a 49% stake in Alitalia.  This is the latest of their equity partnerships (see airberlin, Virgin America, Darwin, Air Serbia, Air Seychelles, Aer Lingus etc) which Etihad sees as a more valuable way of boosting its network than joining an alliance.

The first fruits of this latest investment are now showing.

As per this page, you can now earn Etihad Guest miles when flying Alitalia.  You can also earn Alitalia miles when flying on Etihad.

Reciprocal lounge access does not yet appear to be a feature (I guess it may be in place for Italy – Abu Dhabi flights) although I would expect this to appear in due course.

New Marriott Rewards partnership

Finally, Etihad Guest is now a Marriott Rewards partner and you can transfer your points to the airline. To be honest, I was surprised to learn that they were not already working together.

How to earn Etihad Guest miles from UK credit cards (December 2021)

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.  These are:

• 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 two free airport lounge passes.

• The Platinum Card from American Express (review here, apply here) – sign-up bonus of 30,000 Membership Rewards points converts into 30,000 Etihad Guest miles.

• American Express Rewards credit card (review here, apply here) – sign-up bonus of 5,000 Membership Rewards points converts into 5,000 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.

Etihad Guest is also a partner with the HSBC Premier Mastercard (0.5 miles per £1 spent) and HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard (1 mile per £1 spent).