Etihad A380 First Class Awards Wide Open, But Only With Etihad Guest

Etihad A380 First Class Awards Wide Open, But Only With Etihad Guest

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In the summer of 2023, Etihad Airways brought back its Airbus A380s. The planes currently fly exclusively between Abu Dhabi and London, though as of April 2024, will start flying between Abu Dhabi and New York as well.

At the moment, there’s wide open first class award space for Etihad’s A380 first class. There’s some bad news, though — it’s only bookable through the Etihad Guest program, and not through partner programs, which greatly limits the value of this.

Etihad first class award space is plentiful

Etihad Airways has made a significant amount of first class award space available. I’m seeing two first class award seats for travel on many dates in Etihad first class, from Abu Dhabi to both London and New York. Awards are similarly available in the other direction of travel.

You can search award availability directly on Etihad’s website. You can expect that if there’s saver level award availability, it’ll cost 140,006 miles between Abu Dhabi and London, and 220,009 miles between Abu Dhabi and New York. On top of that, there are significant carrier imposed surcharges.

Etihad first class award availability
Etihad first class award availability

You’ll want to check the aircraft type for the flights you book, but both of these routes have some frequencies operated by the A380. These planes have an amazing first class product, known as First Class Apartments. I rank this as one of the world’s best first class experiences.

In terms of earning Etihad Guest miles, the program is transfer partners with Amex Membership RewardsCapital One, and Citi ThankYou, so those are many ways to efficiently earn these miles.

Etihad A380 First Class Apartment

These awards aren’t bookable through partners

While it’s great to see the amount of Etihad first class award space, the major catch is that it’s not bookable through any partners, as far as I can tell. Etihad’s two most useful redemption partners are Air Canada Aeroplan and American AAdvantage:

  • Air Canada Aeroplan currently doesn’t seem to have access to premium cabin Etihad awards
  • American AAdvantage only has access to a subset of premium cabin Etihad awards, and most of the above availability is not bookable through AAdvantage

This space not being bookable through partners is a major challenge in terms of getting value here. For example, if the space were bookable through partners, you could redeem 62,500 AAdvantage miles between Abu Dhabi and London with no surcharges, compared to 140,006 Etihad Guest miles with surchages.

We’ll have to see how this situation evolves, though presumably restricting partner award space is deliberate, and it remains to be seen if this sticks around. On the surface I can of course understand Etihad wanting people to engage in its own program rather than in partner programs, since that’s where the most upside is.

However, if that’s Etihad’s strategy, it would be nice if the airline priced its first class awards a bit more reasonably. Perhaps not quite as low as American AAdvantage, but at least somewhere between that and the current Etihad Guest pricing.

I get the sense that a pretty significant percentage of Etihad first class passengers are redeeming miles through partner programs, as Etihad doesn’t seem to actually sell that many first class seats. Etihad’s issue is that only a very small percentage of planes have first class, so most first class passengers on connecting itineraries would prefer an airline like Emirates, where they can get first class throughout their journey.

Etihad Airbus A380

Bottom line

Etihad’s Airbus A380 first class award space is wide open, with two first class award seats on many flights. The catch is that a vast majority of this award availability is only bookable through Etihad Guest, and not through partner programs. That greatly limits the usefulness of this for many. Still, if this award availability matches up with your travel plans, it’s at least worth being aware of this availability.

It’s unfortunate to see how Etihad is increasingly restricting partner first class awards, though I also can’t say that I’m surprised.

What do you make of Etihad’s approach to first class award availability?

Conversations (7)
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  1. Anne Guest

    It seems like the points went up for A380 to 625k. Am I missing anything?

  2. Greg Meehan Guest

    Just think they are getting a whole lot smarter about revenue managing these products than they did before. From what I know, both RM and Loyalty sits with Arik De who is their Chief Commercial Officer. Having heard him speak recently at CAPA, he is definitely one of the smarter young minds out there.

  3. Jacob G Guest

    Have a bunch of AA miles from the past. Was eying this flight for my honeymoon in Jan ‘25. Really hoping they open this space up to AA!
    Let us know if you see the space open up or any trends in partner availability, or if you see a way to book a reasonable cash ticket (so we can upgrade to the residence!!)

  4. Moiz Niaz Guest

    Tried calling all american call centers around the globe to book it. None can see the availability. I have 400k american miles chilling in my account and it would have been awesome to fly this product.

  5. Hungry Guest

    You mention Etihad guest has 'significant carrier imposed surcharges'.

    However, there seems to be some error and the surcharges are even higher currently. For example, a Muscat to Dubai (XNB) shows 20,001 miles + OMR 69.5 at the start. However, when you actually go through the booking, it will increase the price to 20,001 miles + OMR 139.5. So, a 100% increase in the surcharges. These increases are consistent no matter what origin and destination.

    ...

    You mention Etihad guest has 'significant carrier imposed surcharges'.

    However, there seems to be some error and the surcharges are even higher currently. For example, a Muscat to Dubai (XNB) shows 20,001 miles + OMR 69.5 at the start. However, when you actually go through the booking, it will increase the price to 20,001 miles + OMR 139.5. So, a 100% increase in the surcharges. These increases are consistent no matter what origin and destination.

    More confusingly, when you actually look at the break up of the surcharges, it doesn't even add up to the amount being charged.

    Even customer care on the phone was very confused about these increased surcharges.

  6. Alicia Guest

    To be honest, 220K for Etihad Apartment on a 15 hour flight is not a bad deal. I am looking at their collection of airline partners, and this might be my new program to join.

    Ben, how is their redemption on other airlines? I heard that redeeming still has to go through a call centre?

  7. Michael DL Guest

    Ben, like you have said before, I am also really impressed with this new Etihad management team, and clearly they are putting a lot of time on revenue management. It will be interesting to see if they open up the award space to American and Air Canada. The other thing that I find interesting is they have the self confidence now to clearly be testing things and seeing what works instead of just following.

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Greg Meehan Guest

Just think they are getting a whole lot smarter about revenue managing these products than they did before. From what I know, both RM and Loyalty sits with Arik De who is their Chief Commercial Officer. Having heard him speak recently at CAPA, he is definitely one of the smarter young minds out there.

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Alicia Guest

To be honest, 220K for Etihad Apartment on a 15 hour flight is not a bad deal. I am looking at their collection of airline partners, and this might be my new program to join. Ben, how is their redemption on other airlines? I heard that redeeming still has to go through a call centre?

1
Anne Guest

It seems like the points went up for A380 to 625k. Am I missing anything?

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