Etihad Restricts Reward Seats for Velocity Members

Etihad Airways Boeing 787 Business Class
Etihad Airways Boeing 787 Business Class. Photo: Etihad.

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:

Etihad Guest business reward availability on EY455 on 19 March 2024
Screenshot from the Etihad website showing reward availability from Sydney to Abu Dhabi.

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

Virgin Australia website showing Velocity Business Reward Seat availability on EY455 SYD-AUH
The Virgin Australia website also shows Velocity Business Reward Seat availability on the 19 March departure.

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

Etihad Guest business reward availability on EY455 on 2 April 2024
Screenshot from the Etihad website showing reward availability from Sydney to Abu Dhabi.

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 business class reward seats unavailable from SYD-AUH
The same seat is not yet available to book with Velocity points in Business Class.

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 Airways Boeing 777 Economy Class
Velocity members still get full access to Etihad Economy reward seat availability. Photo: Matt Graham.

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.

Lufthansa A380 first class
Lufthansa reserves First Class award availability for its Miles&More members until close to the departure date. Photo: Lufthansa.

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.

Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-300ER
Velocity members can still redeem points for Singapore Airlines and Qatar Airways Business Class flights. Photo: Matt Graham.

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.

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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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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.
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