In September 2023, Air France-KLM & Etihad Airways announced plans to expand their partnership. There’s now a major update, as both airline groups have rolled out frequent flyer reciprocity, giving flyers the opportunity to earn and redeem miles for travel on the other airline group. This has major implications for passengers.
Continue reading: Air France-KLM & Etihad Strengthen Partnership, Add Frequent Flyer Perks
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
This is such a cool partnership, can't wait to redeem Flyingblue miles on Etihad!
Doesn't AA also partner with Eitihad? Further pushing your argument of if you can't beat them, join them.
Things are looking up for Etihad with new partnerships, A380 revival, Midfield and a genuine effort to release award space to frequent fliers.
Contrast that with the contempt Qatar has for its passengers on the ground (lounge access, JFK/PHL cancellations and lack of reaccommidations, zero frequent flier availability and overall poor ground service).
Future looks bright for Etihad!
this is definitely worth watching. EY is a higher quality airline in many respects than the other big 4 - including TK- even if much smaller.
A further test will be if DL shows any interest in showing the fun as a means to return to the Arab ME along w/ VS
Definitely, with Etihad starting to fly to Boston a codeshare with Delta/Skyteam would be a great combo!
Emirates has always given a hard "no" to the question of alliances, whenever asked, including post-Covid.
But as with all things in the aviation industry, that could be subject to change as soon as it's convenient to do so.
I wonder if this makes it more likely that Delta will try to poach Etihad from American (shouldn't be too hard, as the latter has a "strategic alliance" with Qatar, but only a few codeshares with EY).
IMO, this makes it more likely.
I’ve been wondering where to credit my upcoming EY flight miles. Air France is my go-to airline for US-EU flights, so this would be great.
The real issue is the ME3's access to India. DL says it will return to India but didn't have the right aircraft. It receives 7 new A350s in the next year, all of which should be the highest performance models and also potentially w/ a larger business class cabin and fewer overall seats which would increase their range and revenue generating abililty.
SQ uses the A350-900ULR from JFK/EWR to SIN and overflies India in the process, although crossing Iran - which US carriers are not allowed to do - and also with far fewer seats than DL would have on any A350.
Some may remember right after the MS flight was shot down over Ukraine that DL routed its then operating flight to BOM over the Middle East so the 777LR took the route that the A350 would now have to take to serve BOM if DL chooses to serve the region.
India is a growing market; AF/KL and VS all serve it and DL carries alot of passengers via its JVs on all or part of the routes.
DL flew ATL-DXB pre-covid but has not returned to the Arab Middle East. AUH could be a way to do so.
QR and TK serve ATL and EY's contribution would be to serve markets the coasts while DL serves ATL.
It is all possible. DL, like AF and KL have to decide if it is worth it.
With Qatar Airways in Oneworld, Etihad should join SkyTeam and Emirates should join Star Alliance.
It honestly wouldn't surprise me that much if SkyTeam ends up with at least three of four from Saudia, RIA, Etihad, and El Al (and it could well be Saudia leaving: if RIA is the foreign connector and Saudia primarily for hajj, it makes more sense for RIA to be in an alliance).
I will withhold my excitement until it is clear what the FlyingBlue redemption rates are going to be for Etihad flights.
I hope it's not a debacle like Aeroplan's redemption rates for Emirates flights, which are eye-wateringly high!
So far so good~ time will tell!
Are the gulf carriers finally joining alliances? Emirates is so much inclined to the Star Alliance group and now Etihad with the SkyTeam Alliance. Maybe in the foreseeable future we could see a Delta flight to AUH.
Unless something's changed, Star does not allow total veto power to a single member, in the way that OneWorld apparently does.
Thai (a founding member) tried their best to keep Singapore out, but were overridden.
FlyingBlue Rates on partners are consistently bad, notably compared to an AF/KLM redemption and especially compared to other programmes. This becomes even worse with non alliance partners like JAL, Qantas and Westjet. I wouldn't hold your breath.
Does this mean that Flying Blue members can earn XP on Etihad flights? Or maybe that’s in the works with the reciprocal lounge access, etc.?
Redeem AF points for Etihad first class. BUT, can't redeem Etihad points for AF first class? So typically French.
Etihad has significantly changed its business model and is acting as a much more viable business esp. in light of very intense competition and airline growth within the Middle East, addition of new carriers, and growth of carriers in major destination countries such as India.
Comparing what the US 3 or even their alliances objected to 10 years is not reflective of where the industry is now.
Etihad is becoming a very strong, rational competitor.
For those looking to use Flying Blue on Etihad business; rates are higher than AF and taxes (already high with AF) are almost twice...YIKES! (For reference, I was checking SE Asia to Europe flights, where there is availability. However this may be due to the need for a stop in AUH whereas the AF flight is direct).
As of this morning, Air France is not listed among the programs available to credit flight miles on my April EY flight.
I’ve been saying this for awhile now. The writing is on the wall that Etihad and Emirates will eventually join an alliance. With Qatar already in One World the natural progression (as we are seeing) is for Etihad to join SkyTeam and Emirates to join Star Alliance.
I can definitely see LH and TK being super unhappy about EK joining *A. Don't think it will happen tbh.
No news on that one yet, but I think it's unlikely. AFKL are cancelling XP earnings for all non-alliance partners from April onwards.
LH doesn't have much to worry about, as it's part of Star's TATL j/v; so its partners will almost always prioritize it over EK for traffic from the Americas and onward, because of revenue sharing split between them.
TK on the other hand, is not so well positioned, should EK join.
not true at all - you can still earn XP as long as you book on the AF or KL websites, even with non-alliance partners