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

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Etihad Guest is currently running another of its occasional transfer bonus weekends.

Weekend, this time around, relates to the Middle East weekend so you need to move your points by Saturday evening – 9pm UK time to be precise.

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 26th to 28th August, ie until Saturday.

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)

20% bonus on transfers from Accor Live Limitless (usually 2:1)

40% bonus on transfers from Marriott Rewards (usually 3:1)

You might think that Marriott is a typo, because the website says “Earn 40% bonus – 1 Etihad Guest mile for every 2 American Express Membership Rewards points”. However, the email sent out by Etihad does seem to confirm that Marriott is 40%, which is decent:

Etihad Guest has relaxed its draconian mileage expiry policy. 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. Regular Etihad flyers may want to take a serious look at the Marriott option however.

Full details are on the Etihad website here.

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).