Etihad Guest has just increased the cost of reward flights on partner airlines by up to 150% without notice. The changes affect short-haul Business and First Class redemptions on Virgin Australia, American Airlines and all other program partners.

This was not one of the changes Etihad Guest announced last week as part of its major program overhaul.

Old vs new partner award pricing

Etihad last made changes to its frequent flyer program in March 2023, when it created a single, unified award chart for redemptions on all partner airlines. This was the chart that came into effect at that time:

As you can see, redemptions on routes between 0-500 and 501-1,000 miles were quite good value under the previous award chart.

Unfortunately, Etihad has just increased the Business and First Class award prices for those distance ranges without warning. In fact, it appears that the program didn’t inform its members of this change at all.

Here is the new chart, as per the Etihad Guest website:

The difference is subtle. But if you look closely, you can see that the partner award pricing for Business and First Class within the two shortest distance ranges is now higher.

On routes between 0-500 miles, such as Canberra-Melbourne, a Business Class flight now costs 20,000 miles instead of 10,000. And First Class on short flights has increased from 14,000 to 35,000 miles.

On routes between 501-1,000 miles in distance, Business awards have increased from 20,000 to 25,000 Etihad Guest miles. This would include routes like Brisbane-Melbourne. Meanwhile, First Class increases from 27,000 to 40,000 Etihad Guest miles.

This change also affects award pricing on Etihad’s other partner airlines including Air France/KLM, Malaysia Airlines, Air Canada, Gulf Air, Air Serbia and Air Europa.

There are no changes to partner airline redemption rates on routes over 1,000 miles.

Other Virgin Australia award pricing anomalies

Bizarrely, Etihad Guest also now seems to be adding GST to the taxes charged on Virgin Australia domestic redemption tickets. We’re not quite sure how Etihad is calculating this GST, as the rates are much higher than 10%. For example, Etihad is adding $32.01 in “GST” on a Canberra-Melbourne redemption in Business Class with taxes of $52.10, bringing the total co-payment to $84.11.

In another strange anomaly, the number of Etihad Guest miles being charged for Virgin Australia redemptions doesn’t exactly match the amounts listed in the award chart either. The amounts seem to at least be close to what’s in the award chart, but they’re not the same.

Do the Etihad Guest terms & conditions allow for unannounced changes like this?

While not unprecedented, it’s unusual – and frankly, poor form – for a frequent flyer program to increase award prices without giving any notice to members. So, what do Etihad Guest’s terms & conditions say about such changes?

Technically, it seems the Etihad Guest terms & conditions allow the program to make these kinds of changes at any time. For example, section 7.1.3 says:

The number of Etihad Guest Miles required to be redeemed for a Reward is subject to change at any time without notice. We may withdraw, replace or substitute Rewards at any time without notice.

Additionally, section 11.1 says:

We may change the rules applicable to the Etihad Guest programme (including all or part of these Terms and Conditions) in whole or in part, at any time without notice. However we will make reasonable efforts to give you prior notice of the changes and any such changes to the rules applicable to the Etihad Guest programme shall apply with effect from the first date of their publication.

It’s not exactly clear what “reasonable efforts” Etihad has made here to give notice of these changes…

Australian Frequent Flyer asked Etihad whether they believe it is reasonable to increase partner award prices without giving advance notice to members. The airline declined to respond.

Changes to award pricing on Etihad’s own flights

Last week, Etihad Guest also unexpectedly updated award pricing on its own flights.

“Today, we have revised the pricing for our GuestSeats and reduced the miles required for some of our most popular destinations in both Economy and Business classes to provide our members with more rewarding opportunities when booking flights,” Etihad Guest Managing Director Mark Potter said last Thursday.

Etihad says that it has actually reduced the number of miles needed to book flights on some of its most popular routes, including in Business and First Class.

“Examples of GuestSeat price reductions include: Abu Dhabi to London in Economy Class down to 30,000 EYG Miles and taxes; Milan to Abu Dhabi in Economy Class down to 25,000 miles and taxes; Jeddah to Abu Dhabi in Business Class down to 20,000 miles and taxes; and Abu Dhabi to Istanbul in Economy Class down to 15,000 miles and taxes,” Potter said.

That’s certainly good news. But at the same time, selected routes have also gone up in price.

For example, a one-way Etihad Business Class redemption from Melbourne or Sydney to Abu Dhabi now costs 120,000 Etihad Guest miles instead of 110,000. Admittedly, being only a 9% increase, that’s nowhere near as high as the 100% price increase on short-haul partner redemptions in Business.

Etihad previously published an award chart on its website showing the number of miles you would need for any given Etihad Airways flight redemption. Etihad has now taken this chart down and replaced it with a Miles calculator.

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 90 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include economics, aviation & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.