Etihad Airways has a great inflight product in first class and business class, and historically it has been pretty easy to redeem points for these experiences. In particular, Etihad partners with American AAdvantage, Air Canada Aeroplan, and Air France-KLM Flying Blue, meaning you can redeem these points currencies for travel on Etihad.
Unfortunately over time, redeeming partner miles for travel in Etihad premium cabins has become increasingly challenging. In this post I wanted to cover the trends that we’re seeing when it comes to Etihad award availability, as there are constantly updates. Let me share how I view the current state of things, as it’s kind of complex.
Etihad first & business class awards with partner miles
Historically, Etihad has generally made the same saver level award seats available to members of its own Etihad Guest program, as to members of partner programs.
That’s no longer the case, and the exact situation seems to vary depending on the partner program that you book through. Not only that, but the policies seem to be constantly evolving. So let’s talk about what you can expect when trying to redeem those currencies for travel on Etihad.
Redeeming American AAdvantage miles on Etihad
Historically, American AAdvantage has had access to most Etihad saver level award availability. Now, there have long been some quirks with these redemptions, with some awards being bookable online, and some awards requiring ringing up a foreign American Airlines call center to get access to the space. That seemed to be more a technological and point of sale restriction, rather than intentional blocking.
Earlier this year, we saw a new restriction added — American AAdvantage had access to most GuestSeat availability that Etihad Guest members had access to, but only within 30 days of departure. Unfortunately at this point, the situation has become way worse.
I’m simply seeing very little first and business class award availability, even within weeks of departure, and even on routes where Etihad has GuestSeat availability for its own members. For example, Etihad first started restricting award space between Abu Dhabi and the United States. However, now even premium cabin award availability between Abu Dhabi and Europe is next to impossible to find.
There are very few long haul routes where I see premium cabin award availability. I do currently see a smattering of dates over the coming weeks for the Seoul Incheon route in business class, but I don’t see a whole lot beyond that.
If an award is bookable through AAdvantage, you can expect that it will show up through aa.com. The call centers won’t give you access to more availability.
Redeeming Air Canada Aeroplan points on Etihad
Air Canada Aeroplan has been having partner award issues with Etihad for even longer than American AAdvantage. With the AAdvantage situation having gotten worse, Aeroplan is no longer that bad, by comparison.
As a matter of fact, Aeroplan even has some advantages. Aeroplan has access to a fair bit of Etihad business class award availability on short haul flights, including more than 30 days before departure.
I see plenty of situations where Aeroplan sees Etihad award availability when AAdvantage doesn’t, both less than and more than 30 days before departure. At this point, I’d even argue that Aeroplan miles are more valuable than AAdvantage miles for Etihad redemptions.
I don’t know what exactly is going on here, but I find it fascinating how the two programs have access to such different Etihad award availability.
Redeeming Air France-KLM Flying Blue points on Etihad
In late 2023, we saw Air France-KLM Flying Blue add add award redemptions on Etihad, which is exciting. Flying Blue seems to offer the best of both worlds when it comes to award availability, compared to AAdvantage and Aeroplan (which is a very low bar, admittedly).
Flying Blue has access to the slightly better award availability on Etihad within 30 days (like AAdvantage), while it also has access to the additional regional availability more than 30 days out (like Aeroplan).
You’re still not going to find a ton of space, but you will find the most space. So if you do want to redeem on Etihad without using Etihad Guest, Flying Blue will leave you best positioned.
What’s going on with Etihad award availability?
While it’s hard to know exactly what’s going on here, or how it will evolve, I do have a few observations.
Etihad’s own frequent flyer program, Etihad Guest, seems to have changed up how it releases award availability in general. Back in the day, Etihad would be generous with making first and business class seats available as awards at the last minute, when a cabin had a lot of unsold seats. That’s no longer consistently the case, even through the Etihad Guest program.
Perhaps this is actually what I find most frustrating. For example, between the United States and Abu Dhabi, there are no longer many saver business class award seats available, whether booking through Etihad Guest or a partner program. This is the case even in situations where the cabin has lots of empty seats close to departure.
Then there are the different situations with each partner program in terms of what award space they have access to. The evolving restrictions have made partner miles nearly useless for travel on Etihad in premium cabins… and that’s likely by design.
I suspect this is part of Etihad’s management trying to overhaul the Etihad Guest program and make it more profitable and engaging. I understand the logic trying to get people engaged in the “native” frequent flyer program, rather than engaged in a partner frequent flyer program.
As a consumer, I of course love when partners have access to all award space, since I like taking advantage of award arbitrage opportunities, and booking through the programs that offer the best pricing. But if I ran a frequent flyer program, I’d probably try to encourage direct bookings as much as possible, since they’re potentially much higher margin, and also have more upside in terms of engagement with the airline.
However, I think Etihad is going to the extreme here, and is taking it a step too far. There’s something to be said for letting people who belong to partner programs try a product, in hope that they’ll purchase it in the future. Clearly that isn’t the philosophy of Etihad’s current management team.
I also find the Etihad Guest program to be incredibly frustrating, as it has the most restrictive cancelation policy of any frequent flyer program in the world. It’s so bad that it makes me not even want to consider booking an award through the program.
Bottom line
Over time, Etihad has changed how it releases award space, and it’s bad news across the board for premium cabin redemptions.
American AAdvantage only has access to business class award availability close to departure, but even then, only a tiny subset of award availability is accessible, primarily for short haul flights. Meanwhile Air Canada Aeroplan has access to more short haul seats, including further in advance, but there’s no space on long haul routes. Lastly, Air France-KLM Flying Blue has the more generous situation, so if there’s availability through AAdvantage or Aeroplan, it should also be bookable through Flying Blue.
It’s disappointing to see the direction that Etihad Guest has taken with award availability. It’s one thing if Etihad Guest were actually a compelling program, but the cancelation policy plus mileage expiration policy really makes me not want to earn or redeem miles with the program.
What do you make of the current Etihad partner award space situation?
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