Amex Removing Etihad Guest Transfers: I Have Mixed Feelings

From 23 June 2026, you’ll no longer be able to transfer Amex Membership Rewards Points to Etihad Guest, the loyalty program of Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways.

Currently, American Express cardholders can transfer their Membership Rewards Points to Etihad Guest at a 3:1 rate. That’s in addition to around 9 other airline transfer partners, 3 hotel partners and Everyday Rewards, which aren’t changing.

I first started using Etihad Guest in 2015, when Flybuys let you transfer points into that program. (That partnership lasted until 2018, ultimately being replaced by Flybuys’ current partnership with Velocity.) I discovered at the time that I could earn lots of points by shopping at Coles, transfer those points to Etihad Guest, and then redeem them for excellent value redemptions on Etihad’s partners – including, at the time, Virgin Australia.

Etihad Guest used to have many great redemption sweet spots, like Seoul-Prague in Czech Airlines Business Class for 25,610 miles. So, I was quite an advocate for the program and even bought Etihad Guest miles on numerous occasions.

Why I stopped using Etihad Guest

Sadly, over the past several years, Etihad has made a series of negative changes to its loyalty program that I consider to be very member-unfriendly. There are still pockets of value in Etihad Guest, and award availability is actually quite good at the moment… but it’s just not what it used to be.

Increased (and unstable) award flight costs on partner airlines

Etihad still has plenty of unique and interesting partner airlines that you can book flights on using Etihad Guest miles. But in 2023, it devalued most of the sweet spots that used to exist for partner airline redemptions.

In February 2024, Etihad also increased the number of miles it charges for Business Class seats on its own flights from Australia to Abu Dhabi… then tried to pretend there was no change.

Rather than the individual and very random award charts for every partner airline, Etihad now uses a common award chart for redemptions on all partner airlines. But the number of miles that Etihad Guest charges for domestic flights is always slightly off now. Sometimes, you’ll pay fewer miles than in the chart. Sometimes, it’s a bit more.

For example, the Vietnam Airlines flights below should be 12,000 miles in Economy or 25,000 in Business:

This anomaly doesn’t just apply to this route – it’s any domestic route on any partner airline! Here’s another example from China:

Frustratingly, the amount of miles that Etihad is off by even fluctuates. So, you could transfer the equivalent of 25,259 miles into your Etihad Guest account today, to book one of the China Eastern Business Class flights shown above. But by the time you actually book, the flight might cost 25,260 miles. You wouldn’t have enough miles, so wouldn’t be able to complete the booking. Even the call centre agents can’t sell you the flight at the correct price as shown in the award chart (yes, I’ve tried).

Higher award flight pricing on Etihad Airways

Around 2023, Etihad also changed the way it prices connecting itineraries when you redeem miles to fly Etihad Airways itself. Instead of pricing Etihad awards based on the origin and destination, it started pricing them as the sum of the individual costs of each sector. Of course, most Australians flying Etihad are connecting through Abu Dhabi to get somewhere else, so the number of miles you need went up in most cases.

Then, in February 2024, it didn’t even give notice before doubling the cost of short-haul Business Class redemptions on partner airlines – which had been one of the only truly valuable options left.

Etihad has also stopped publishing award charts for travel on its own aircraft, replacing them with a “Miles Calculator” that shows “from” amounts. The actual number of miles Etihad is charging for “Value” awards is often higher than what’s shown on this table, even when award seats are available.

Etihad’s horrible cancellation policy

Another key factor that puts me off engaging with Etihad Guest these days is its punitive and confusing award ticket cancellation policy. It’s one of the worst in the industry.

Etihad “Value” award tickets are now completely non-refundable, and can only be changed more than 72 hours before departure for a fee of AED600 (~AU$232). That’s insane.

Etihad’s horrible mileage expiration policy

As someone living in Australia, Etihad Guest’s mileage expiration policy is the biggest thing that puts me off continuing to engage over the long term.

Until May 2024, to prevent your miles from expiring, you just had to maintain some sort of activity (earning or using at least one mile) in your Etihad Guest account every 18 months. Now, you have to take a flight at least every 18 months or all your miles will expire.

The only other major airline loyalty program to require members to regularly fly to keep their miles alive, Flying Blue, actually just removed that policy. Because it sucks.

Random, unadvertised restrictions

After the 2024 changes were announced, I decided to “cash out” my Etihad Guest miles (before they expired due to a lack of flight activity!) and stop using the program. I had enough miles left in my account for a one-way Asiana flight to South Korea that I wanted to book.

You can’t redeem Etihad Guest miles for Asiana flights online, so I called Etihad Guest. The call centre confirmed that an award seat was available, but couldn’t quote the price. After putting me on hold for a while, the agent then informed me that it’s not actually possible to redeem Etihad miles for one-way award flights on Asiana; only return flights.

If that’s the case, then so be it. But the Etihad Guest website does not actually state this limitation anywhere. How does it expect anyone to know this? And what other random restrictions are out there that we don’t know about?

Why you might still want to transfer points to Etihad Guest now

Admittedly, Etihad Guest miles do still unlock useful redemptions on some fairly niche partner airlines, such as Air Serbia, Azul, Gulf Air and Garuda Indonesia.

And as it happens, Etihad’s award availability is pretty good right now – even in Business and First Class. I can easily find Business Class availability from Australia to Abu Dhabi today, using Etihad Guest miles.

There’s Business Class availability beyond Abu Dhabi as well, including to European destinations like Athens, and the taxes are very reasonable:

I’m even seeing quite a lot of First Class availability at the moment on Etihad, including on routes like Singapore-Abu Dhabi and Abu Dhabi-Paris.

For those thinking about booking award flights on Etihad, the Australian government just downgraded its travel warning for the United Arab Emirates from “do not travel” to “reconsider your need to travel” – which means some travel insurers will now cover trips there.

How to book Etihad award flights through other programs

If you don’t have enough Amex Membership Rewards points to transfer to Etihad Guest – or you’re reading this after 23 June 2026 – you can still book Etihad Airways flights using points or miles in other programs including:

• Air Canada Aeroplan
• American Airlines AAdvantage
• Air France/KLM Flying Blue

However, note that Etihad does not release Business or First Class reward seats on its own flights to partner airlines until 30 days before departure. So, the only way to lock in Etihad Business and First Class awards further in advance is to book with Etihad Guest miles.

Summing up

Etihad Guest still has pockets of value, and quite good award availability on Etihad flights. But its cancellation and mileage expiration policies are punitive, and I’ve largely lost trust in the current version of the program.

If you have Amex Membership Rewards points and can see award flights on Etihad that you want to book now, you might wish to take advantage of this final opportunity to transfer points into Etihad guest. But I wouldn’t transfer speculatively.