Etihad and airmiles question

Stephb1986_2

Hi All,

I hope someone can shed some light on a question I have.

I have 35000 Etihad airmiles, If Thailand is 3000 miles away does that mean I can book to go to Thailand 6 times plus return. If a group of us are going?

I have only ever collected these miles so can I book at premium times I.E Christmas? If I have this amout of miles I can book for a group of people using the miles?

Many thanks

Steph xx

HXDave

Hi Stephb,

what you need to do is look at the Etihad milage calculator, and that will tell you what miles you need to earn to fly a certain sector / upgrade for that sector.

Unfortunately, you earn 1 mile for every mile travel, but it's not the same calculation when converting back.

40000 should be enough for a return economy trip between LHR & AUH, or 27 000 will give you an upgrade (one way) LHR - AUH.

Regards

HXDave

Stephb1986_2

Hi Dave,

How can I earn or can I buy extra Etihad miles? It looks like I am roughly 4000 short because I have 23732 x 2 and I want 4 people to fly from manchester to bankok and its roughly 13272 return per person.

Many thanks

Steph xx

Caz3121

Stephb1986 wrote: »

I have only ever collected these miles so can I book at premium times I.E Christmas?

the other thing to be aware of is that the redemption seat availability is likely to be poor or non-existant during peak periods

Stephb1986_2

Caz3121 wrote: »

the other thing to be aware of is that the redemption seat availability is likely to be poor or non-existant during peak periods

But if I booked it now for christmas then surely that would be ok?



Steph xx

Caz3121

Stephb1986 wrote: »

But if I booked it now for christmas then surely that would be ok?



Steph xx

Some flights will have very few redemption seats so it will very much depend on luck however I don't think you have read the calculator correct
MAN-BKK return will earn you 13226 miles travelling on a paid economy ticket but will cost you 75000 miles to redeem (1 person in economy - I am not knowledgeable on their program but most will charge you taxes too)

http://www.etihadairways.com/sites/etihad/_layouts/etihad/mileagecalculator.aspx

change the earn miles to redeem miles

fifeken

Stephb1986 wrote: »

I have 35000 Etihad airmiles, If Thailand is 3000 miles away does that mean I can book to go to Thailand 6 times plus return. If a group of us are going?

No. What you earn for a route and what you pay to redeem for that route are vastly different.

Stephb1986 wrote: »

I have only ever collected these miles so can I book at premium times I.E Christmas? If I have this amout of miles I can book for a group of people using the miles?

If there is availability you could book but redemption seats are rationed and maybe even more so at peak times.

I don't have personal experience of Etihad as Emirates is my ME airline of choice, but it looks like you earn 13,000 for a trip to BKK and back and require 75,000 for a free return flight.

I also don't know what you're based bit Thailand is about 6,000 miles from the UK.

GRM

Stephb1986 wrote: »

Hi Dave,

How can I earn or can I buy extra Etihad miles? It looks like I am roughly 4000 short because I have 23732 x 2 and I want 4 people to fly from manchester to bankok and its roughly 13272 return per person.

I'm not sure you've fully understood the previous posters yet.

You _earn_ 13000 miles for each paid return flight to Thailand.

It _costs_ 75000 miles for a free return flight to Thailand.

So it's effectively buy 5.7 tickets, get 1 free. You seem to think it's buy 1, get 1 free.

If you currently have 47,464 miles then you have enough for one free one-way flight to Thailand - this _costs_ 37,500 miles.

If you want 4 people to fly from Manchester to Thailand return on Guest Miles then you will need 300,000 miles.

It doesn't look like Etihad sell Guest Miles directly and opportunities for earning miles from the UK are limited. This page lists Etihad's partners. 500 miles for a car rental is about the only option I can spot for earning from over here - there are many more options if you live in their home market of UAE.

GRM

fifeken wrote: »

If there is availability you could book but redemption seats are rationed and maybe even more so at peak times.

Etihad claim there is no rationing or blackout dates:

No blackout periods & Any Seat availability - Etihad Guest lets you book even the very last seat of any specific flight if you have the required number of miles, using our GuestSeat and OpenSeat concept. Also, we do not restrict your flexibility with blackout dates.

Whether that's the reality is another matter

kochi1

Dont know about you but I love Etihad - on return flights to India via AUH seem to get upgraded on one section without using my points! Love em!!

Doshwaster

GRM wrote: »

I'm not sure you've fully understood the previous posters yet.

You _earn_ 13000 miles for each paid return flight to Thailand.

It _costs_ 75000 miles for a free return flight to Thailand.

So it's effectively buy 5.7 tickets, get 1 free. You seem to think it's buy 1, get 1 free.

If any airline allowed redemption at the rate of 1:1 for earned miles they they would be out of business straight away!

I'm not familiar with the Ethiad miles scheme but with other airlines (BA for one), the miles only cover the fare part of the price, you still have to pay the taxes. This can often be 50% of the price.