Velocity Frequent Flyer members can redeem points to fly with many of Virgin Australia’s partner airlines, including Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways.

Unfortunately, Etihad has made a recent change that now makes it much harder for Velocity members to redeem points for Etihad Business Class.

As flagged by One Mile at a Time, Etihad has started restricting partner airline access to its Business and First Class reward seats until 30 days before departure. Previously, there was no restriction meaning that members of partner airlines could access the same “GuestSeat” Etihad premium cabin award availability as Etihad Guest’s own members up to 11 months out.

This change doesn’t just affect Virgin Australia Velocity members. It also affects members of programs including American Airlines AAdvantage.

Meanwhile, it appears that Air Canada Aeroplan members can no longer access Etihad Business or First Class awards at all.

Velocity members can still book Etihad Economy reward seats up to 330 days in advance. But Etihad is reserving Business and First Class reward seats exclusively for Etihad Guest members until 30 days prior to departure.

An example of this change

For example, at the time of writing Etihad Airways had Business Class award availability from Sydney to Abu Dhabi on EY455, for travel on 19 March 2023. This appears as GuestSeat availability on the Etihad website:

This flight will depart within the next 30 days, so Velocity members can also access this availability in Business Class:

Etihad Guest members can also access Business Class award availability on EY455 departing on the 2nd of April, among other dates:

But as this is more than 30 days away, the Velocity website shows no availability (only in Economy, which isn’t restricted). The Velocity call centre also can’t access this Business Class availability.

Velocity members would be able to access those Etihad Business Class reward seats on the 2 April departure from 3 March – if they are still available. However, Etihad Guest members could snap up those seats in the meantime.

Etihad isn’t the first airline to do this

British Airways is also one of several airlines to recently begin reserving some of its reward seat inventory for its own frequent flyers. For example, Lufthansa also restricts members of partner airline loyalty programs from accessing its First Class award seats until close to departure.

To an extent, Qantas reserves some Classic Reward availability for its own frequent flyers as well. But Virgin Australia doesn’t typically do this.

For the past year, Qatar Airways has also severely limited Qantas Frequent Flyer members from accessing its award availability. Qantas members can only access Qatar Airways Economy rewards up to 28 days before departure, and Business/First Class up to 3 days out. This only affects Qantas Frequent Flyer members, as other partner airlines have greater access to Qatar Airways award inventory.

You can still redeem points or miles to Europe

This change is unfortunate as it removes one of the ways for Velocity members to get to Europe in Business Class using their points – unless you don’t mind booking less than a month out.

The good news is that you can still redeem Velocity points to fly to Europe with Singapore Airlines via Singapore, Qatar Airways via Doha or even United Airlines through the USA. You can also convert Velocity points to KrisFlyer miles to access Star Alliance award availability.

But if you’d like to redeem points to fly Etihad Airways to Europe, and you’d like to secure your seats more than a month from departure, you’ll need Etihad Guest miles.

Australians can transfer Amex Membership Rewards points to Etihad Guest at a 2:1 conversion rate.

You can also buy Etihad Guest miles. There’s even currently a 20-30% bonus available when buying miles from Etihad.

If you have Etihad Guest miles (or the ability to easily transfer points into Etihad Guest), this change may actually benefit you by reducing competition for Etihad reward seats in Business and First Class.

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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 aviation, economics & 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.