In February 2024, Etihad Guest introduced the world’s most punitive cancellation fees for award tickets. This was announced as part of a larger overhaul of the Etihad Guest program.
I want to provide an update, as Etihad Guest has updated its change and cancellation fees on award tickets as of June 2025, though the changes are fairly minor. Still, they’re worth being aware of. Thanks to Abdulla for flagging this.
In this post:
Details of Etihad Guest 25-75% award cancellation fees
For tickets issued as of June 19, 2025, Etihad Guest has updated the change and cancellation policies for GuestSeat award tickets. With these changes, some people will be slightly worse off, some people will be slightly better off, and some people will be just as well off as before.
These changes don’t really fundamentally change the lack of flexibility afforded by Etihad with award tickets, though it’s still worth understanding the details.
What we’re seeing is that Etihad has essentially aligned its fare bundles on award tickets with its fare bundles on revenue tickets, so the flexibility offered by an award ticket varies based on the type of ticket you book.
Just as an example, when you look up an Etihad Guest award booking, you might see both the Comfort and Deluxe options in business class.
So, how has the policy changed? When it comes to cancelling Etihad Guest award tickets, you’ll potentially be charged a percentage of the fare paid (for award tickets, in miles), factoring in how far in advance you cancel:
- Cancellations more than 21 days out are free on Deluxe bookings, and incur a 25% fee on Comfort and Value bookings
- Cancellations between eight and 21 days of departure incur a 25% fee on Deluxe bookings, and a 50% fee on Comfort and Value bookings
- Cancellations between one and seven days of departure incur a 50% fee on Deluxe bookings, and a 75% fee on Comfort and Value bookings
- Cancellations within 24 hours of departure incur a 75% fee on Deluxe bookings, and aren’t possible on Comfort and Value bookings
When it comes to changing Etihad Guest award tickets, you’ll be charged a fixed amount, factoring in how far in advance you make the change:
- Changes more than 21 days out are free on Deluxe bookings, and incur an AED 100 fee on Comfort and Value bookings
- Changes between eight and 21 days of departure incur an AED 100 fee on Deluxe bookings, and an AED 200 fee on Comfort and Value bookings
- Cancellations between one and seven days of departure incur an AED 400 fee on Deluxe bookings, and aren’t possible on Comfort and Value bookings
- Cancellations within 24 hours of departure aren’t possible on any kind of booking
These policies make me avoid Etihad Guest
As you can see, Etihad Guest has updated its change and cancellation fees on award tickets, though I wouldn’t consider the changes to be material. Some people benefit slightly, others are slightly worse off, but the reality remains that Etihad Guest has the strictest cancellation fees of any frequent flyer program in the world.
With many loyalty programs, airline award ticket cancellation fees are lower than ever before, reflecting how we’ve seen many tickets become a lot more flexible. Nowadays many programs don’t even charge any fees to cancel an award ticket, which is a great option to have.
Etihad Guest’s policy, meanwhile is the opposite extreme. On the one hand, I see where Etihad is coming from. The idea is that revenue fares and award fares are aligned in terms of policies. At the same time, when that’s counter to the industry norm, it’s a serious competitive disadvantage.
The truth is that I’d engage in the Etihad Guest program a lot more if it weren’t for this policy. I value flexibility a lot, and I simply don’t want to risk basically forfeiting a ticket (or 75% of the ticket value) if my plans change leading up to departure.
So I’m sad to see that these updates to Etihad Guest change and cancellation fees don’t undue the past changes.
Bottom line
Etihad Guest has updated its change and cancellation fees on award tickets. The program has the industry’s most stringent policies on this front, and that applies both before and after the most recent changes. I wish Etihad award tickets came with more flexibility, but I guess that’s not a change Etihad is planning on making.
What do you make of Etihad Guest’s award cancellation fees?
As is all too often the case, a small number of people who abuse the system have ruined things for everyone.
I would be in favour of a cancellation fee for award tickets. Like a 10-30% of miles. Would remove lots of speculative bookings.
Another options would be for example limiting redemptions to one booking per route at the same time (or within 3 months for example), removing the limit if it already has been flown. Or there could be a cancellation fee with some small number of waivers per year - e.g. you get to cancel for free twice a year, then it goes up to 50% or something, and perhaps you could get additional waivers for each...
Another options would be for example limiting redemptions to one booking per route at the same time (or within 3 months for example), removing the limit if it already has been flown. Or there could be a cancellation fee with some small number of waivers per year - e.g. you get to cancel for free twice a year, then it goes up to 50% or something, and perhaps you could get additional waivers for each X redemptions you actually fly.
The key is to balance discouraging speculative bookings vs keeping the flexibility for legit users. I think Etihad failed at this.
It's not a bad idea to use miles as the currency for the fee. If you look to the world of fine dining, cancellation fees were implemented for precisely this reason. But restaurants see chargebacks on these punitive fees daily and the issuers always side with the cardmember.
Verifiable miles/points rules to live by:
1) The only constant is change.
2) The "second" only constant is change is always for the worse.
Lesson/moral of the story:
3) Earn and burn!
I've experienced a fair few positive changes over the years, but it is hard work keeping oneself updated about what's happening, where the new sweet spots are to be found etc. I can see why a lot of people no longer bother with airline loyalty, it's only really worth it if you're determined to invest time and effort in working things out.
Probably because too many people are booking speculative awards and were then canceling. It's like a return policy for a store. Stores are altering how you return items. Airlines are responding in a similar way.
100% right. I've heard travel bloggers brag about holding multiple redundant reservations, keeping everyone else who doesn't have a million miles in various programs from having access to those award seats until it's too late to get time off from work. If bloggers are bragging about something then other people will eventually follow.
I'm not sure whether there's a trend towards more flexible award tickets. In fact, the Lufthansa group has just introduced inflexible fare types, Iberia have long had unchangeable tickets on partner airlines and have done the same for their own flights in Y while I have read that IAG are looking to roll them out across all of their airlines and booking classes.
@Ben - I believe that when it comes to refunding partner tickets, there’s also a fixed cash fee depending on how far in advance the cancellation takes place.
Reader should also be aware that Etihad makes it difficult to cancel an award booking online. Having to call in is almost a necessity. And, if you have ever had to deal with Etihad's phone agents . . .
Funny how Etihad went from an airline that used to once let crews carry more then half a dozen friends and families in Business Class (non rev standby, it got abused quiet a lot by employees kind of selling these seats) to this level of ultra punitive and greedy award terms and conditions lol
Maybe they figured-out that they're actually in business to make money by carrying passengers who pay for their seats!
Spot on Pete. It seems like Etihad is finally being run as a business opposite to a charity, and guess their profit numbers back it up.