Questions and Answers

Hi,

I have a bunch of Citi thankyou rewards points and in around March next year I will be travelling to Sri Lanka. I was just wondering how I would be able to fly Etihad first back to the US. I am currently looking at a couple options:

1) transfer points to Etihad guest and redeem with Etihad guest (but the rate is a little bit high)
2) transfer points to Malaysia airlines’s enrich ffp and redeem Etihad first (as it has a lower redemption rate)
3) take advantage of the relatively cheap Etihad business class fare from colombo to NYC and upgrade

Which one would I be able to pay the least (with miles) and have the highest chance of flying first?

Well with the new EY chauffeur rules, I think its better to book directly with EY. What’s the difference in miles between redeeming using EY miles and MH Enrich? Furthermore, is there F space for the date(s) you need?

If you have [I]specific[/I] travel dates, I’d probably book the cheap business class fare from Columbo to New York via AUH and bid for an upgrade. Eric Rosen @ TPG had success with the program though it did cost ~$1000 one way.

I tried to check the Etihad website and though it showed consistently, availability for first on their 77W aircraft, I do not see any availability for [I]GuestFirst [/I]type award on March 18, 2017. Does it simply just mean that there’s no space, or is it an indication that Etihad has a bizarre award availibility issue where I have to check every week for availibility (I’ve read this somewhere)?

In addition, how good are my chances of upgrading from business to first class on Etihad?

It just means there is no award availability for now and/or all available award seats have been booked. Award space is fluid and is constantly changing. There could be space days, weeks or months from now. Or it could be that no awards show up at all. There isnt a set period of time where awards are released.

Im not sure what EY’s change fee’s are but maybe book a business award (especially if you [I]must [/I]fly on a certain date) and then change it to first if/when it becomes available.