AFF member agentgerko has lost a substantial amount of Amex points after attempting to transfer them to the Etihad Guest program. This member transferred the points on 26 January this year. Despite numerous complaints and follow-up phone calls, the miles are now nowhere to be seen. Etihad Guest transfers from Amex are supposed to take “about 7 business days” but so far it has been well over a month.
This member has already had to buy a ticket on the flight they were intending to redeem the Etihad miles for. But they are not prepared to forfeit the points – nor should they have to.
An Etihad Guest agent informed agentgerko that Etihad had received the transfer from Amex. Yet, despite multiple assurances the issue would be escalated, nothing has happened. There is nothing that Amex can do to remedy the situation because the problem lies with Etihad.
Our forum’s Etihad Airways representative has kindly promised to follow up with the Etihad Guest team. But there is no indication that the situation has actually been resolved yet.
There is a possibility that this could just be a one-off technical glitch. But a recent spate of problems with Etihad Guest transfers suggests this is more than a one-off mistake. Late last year, Flybuys suspended all transfers to Etihad Guest after Flybuys members reported similar unresolved issues with Etihad Guest miles not crediting. Japanese airline ANA has also recently removed the ability to redeem ANA Mileage Club miles for Etihad Airways flights.
In each of these cases, it appears that Etihad has been paid for the miles (or flights). But Etihad, for whatever reason, is failing to honour their side of the agreement. Until the problems with Etihad Guest transfers are resolved, we would caution against transferring points from any program to Etihad Guest.
Join the discussion on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum: When transferred AX points dont appear and EY doesn’t care
