A few days ago, we saw Etihad Guest launch an intriguing promotion, offering a total of nine million bonus miles for flying to the carrier’s newest destinations. Now Ethiopian Airlines ShebaMiles has launched a copycat promotion — it’s easier to complete, but also not quite as rewarding.
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Ethiopian Airlines’ one million mile promotion
Ethiopian Airlines’ ShebaMiles program has launched a sweepstakes for one million miles. The airline will be giving a prize of 200,000 bonus miles to each of five winners, who complete a task.
Specifically, between June 1 and November 30, 2025, members must travel roundtrip to four of the carrier’s five new destinations. These include the following:
- Sharjah, UAE (SHJ), with service launching June 1, 2025
- Hyderabad, India (HYD), with service launching June 16, 2025
- Porto, Portugal (OPO), with service launching July 2, 2025
- Hanoi, Vietnam (HAN), with service launching July 10, 2025
- Abu Dhabi, UAE (AUH), with service launching July 15, 2025
So members need to fly to four of those five destinations, plus one roundtrip to any other international Ethiopian Airlines destination. That means a total of five roundtrip flights are required, but only four need to be new destinations.
The winners will be decided based on the following criteria:
- First by the shortest time taken to travel to four of the five new destinations
- If there’s a tie, the fare band purchased will be the tiebreaker, with the hierarchy being Cloud Nine Deluxe, Cloud Nine Restricted, Economy Flex, Economy Semi Flex, and then Economy Promo
- If there’s still a tie, the date of signing up for the ShebaMiles program will be the deciding factor
This is a fun offer, just not very rewarding
I’m delighted by the trend of airlines offering promotions that can be gamified, as they’re great for engagement. With regards to the Etihad Guest promotion, it’s incredibly rewarding, but the catch is that 15 destinations is a lot to visit, and visa requirements are going to be an issue (especially for places like Russia). Furthermore, with just one grand prize, it’s a big risk to take, since you could walk away empty handed.
In that sense, Ethiopian Airlines’ promotion is more straightforward. There’s not as much concern about visa requirements, and you only need to visit four specific destinations, in addition to one extra destination.
The catch is that the prize isn’t that huge, especially if you are specifically taking flights to complete this challenge. Realistically speaking, 200,000 miles are worth maybe $2,000-2,500, and odds are that you’d spend at least that much on flights (and probably more).
Now, I suppose the other way to look at it is that some people may naturally travel to a few of these destinations over time. If that’s the case, then it could be worth planning an extra trip to take advantage of this. However, total travel time is also a consideration, so it’s questionable if someone who completes this promotion over several months would qualify.
Bottom line
Ethiopian Airlines is awarding a total of one million miles to five ShebaMiles members (so 200,000 bonus miles per person). Specifically, the prizes will go to those who fly to four of the carrier’s five new destinations the fastest, in addition to one other international destination.
This challenge isn’t actually that hard to complete, but the issue is that it requires a lot of effort, and the upside isn’t that huge.
What do you make of Ethiopian Airlines’ sweepstakes for one million miles?
Well, the other issue is that only a certain number of people get the prize after even doing the tasks right? How are you supposed to know whether someone already won and the reward is no longer available?
I like these promos. But I don't like the uncertainty of whether or not you'll win by fulfilling the criteria. Just make it so that if you do x by y you get the points. Don't make it so that I have to second guess if someone beat me by purchasing a more flexible fare etc. SAS got it right. It was hard, but doable.
Have these airlines lost the plot?
Emptyhad thought they were gonna get lots of PR from their awful campaign, somehow not realising that the PR they were going to get was mockery and laughter.
Now this lot come out with this thing? Five prizes if people take pointless flights to places they arent bothered about going, as tho the airline is doing them a favor? Lol.
Anything that involves taking needless flights needs a guaranteed...
Have these airlines lost the plot?
Emptyhad thought they were gonna get lots of PR from their awful campaign, somehow not realising that the PR they were going to get was mockery and laughter.
Now this lot come out with this thing? Five prizes if people take pointless flights to places they arent bothered about going, as tho the airline is doing them a favor? Lol.
Anything that involves taking needless flights needs a guaranteed prize at the end of it, not a chance to win something.
If this is really a copycat campaign, their Marketing team or agency needs a huge round of applause for getting this out so fast. They were probably working around the clock just like attorneys at Skadden Arps.
Agree on the low value prop though. Sad that 200,000 miles are worth just $2,000 or a hair over? In the “good old days” barely a decade ago that many miles would’ve been worth 10x or more on transpacific business class.
Arps, according to Rumour Control your time impersonating a Skaddons employee is coming to an end. It must be time for you to change you imaginary occupation or suffer the consequences.
Rubbish!
Rumour Control is more often right than wrong …. can you afford to be caught out young-fella-me-lad?