Etihad Guest has launched a new promotion in the form of a Black Friday Sale to buy additional miles with up to a 30% bonus through December 3, 2024.
Etihad Guest members can buy up to 100,000 miles, and Platinum members 150,000 (before any bonuses based on the original purchase).
You can access this offer on Etihad’s website here.
Etihad usually runs a buy-mile promotion a few times per year, and sales usually top out at a 20-30% bonus.
There are two tranches of bonuses under this particular offer that members can use:
- 20% Bonus for purchases of 25,000 miles – 49,000 miles
- 30% Bonus for purchases of 50,000 miles +
As mentioned, the maximum number for members to purchase before bonuses is 100k while Platinum members can purchase up to 150k:
The price of a mile purchased under this 30% bonus offer is 1.53 cents each. Etihad sold miles in 2021 with up to a 70% bonus, but that was the highest historic offer I’ve ever seen (and that was the height of the pandemic). There was one sale last year at 50%.
As I recently wrote about, Etihad is now offering to upgrade EY stock tickets on the London route to The Residence so that could be an additional motivator to look at buying miles.
It’s interesting that you could ticket an award with miles and then purchase the upgrade to The Residence with cash.
In a recent article, people commented about the exceptionally bad value of Etihad miles these days. I think it’s always important to look at a potential award and if buying miles would be even remotely worthwhile.
Conclusion
Etihad has started a new Black Friday sale for Etihad Guest miles that are on offer with a 30% bonus for the next week. I would argue that isn’t a great bonus given historical sales patterns.
At the same time, make sure that if you do end up buying miles, they will be used for an award you had already staked out, and it’s actually worthwhile. Oftentimes it’s better to outright buy the ticket for cash.
Take the example above, 130k miles cost US$2000. That’s a lot of money and what can you do with 130k EY miles these days!?
These are the terms and conditions for this campaign:
The Promotion provides an Eligible Member with the opportunity to avail Bonus of up to 30% on the published rate to Buy miles (the “Bonus”) when purchasing Etihad Guest Miles during the Promotion Period from 00.01 GST on 27 November 2024 to 23.59 GST on 3 December 2024. This bonus offer applies to purchases of 25,000 Etihad Guest Miles and above. The Bonus an Eligible Member can avail will be based upon the number of Etihad Guest Miles purchased (“Offer”). Purchases between 25,000 & 49,000 Etihad Guest Miles will be awarded a 20% Bonus. Purchases between 50,000 & 150,000 Etihad Guest Miles will be awarded a 30% Bonus. Miles will be credited to member accounts within 72 hours of purchase. This offer is available only for transactions made to Buy Miles Etihadguest.com via the Points Platform, Etihad Guest Contact Centres and cannot be applied in combination with another offer that may be available on the Buy Miles product. Etihad Guest Miles bought through this Offer will count towards the combined maximum limit that a member can purchase for self in a calendar year.
The currency is displayed based on the members country of residence assigned in the Etihad Guest profile.
Miles may be purchased for $0.02 USD per mile. Additional GST/HST will be charged to Canadian residents. The Maximum miles that a member can purchase in a calendar year will be based on their Membership Tier at the time of making a purchase. For Platinum members the maximum will be 150,000, and for Bronze, Silver and Gold Tier members the maximum will be 100,000 Etihad Guest Miles. Purchased miles are not refundable and are applicable towards all Etihad Guest awards. Miles purchased using this option will post instantly, in some cases it can take up to 72 hours until the miles are credited. Purchased miles do not count towards status upgrades. All standard Etihad Guest program rules and conditions apply.
