Shopping for miles & factors strategically can symbolize an incredible worth, particularly for luxurious journey. The Etihad Visitor program is presently providing promotion on bought miles. Whereas I wouldn’t say it is a slam dunk, some folks would possibly nonetheless discover this to be worthwhile, so let’s go over the small print.
Via Sunday, July 14, 2024, Etihad Visitor is providing as much as a 30% bonus on bought miles. The provide is tiered, and also you get a much bigger bonus the extra miles you purchase, as follows:
- Purchase 25,000-49,000 miles, obtain a 20% bonus
- Purchase 50,000-100,000 miles, obtain a 30% bonus
How a lot does it value to buy Etihad Visitor miles?
Etihad Visitor ordinarily fees 2.0 cents per bought mile, and there aren’t any additional taxes and costs. That’s earlier than any bonuses or low cost. With the 30% bonus, if you happen to maxed out this promotion you’d obtain a complete of 130,000 Etihad Visitor miles at a value of $2,000, which is a charge of 1.54 cents per Etihad Visitor mile.
We’ve seen higher presents from this system previously, although that is nonetheless higher than nothing.
What number of Etihad Visitor miles can you buy?
Etihad Visitor limits members to buying 100,000 Etihad Visitor miles per account per calendar 12 months, earlier than any bonuses. The exception is Etihad Visitor Platinum members, who should buy as much as 150,000 miles per 12 months, earlier than any bonuses.
For those who do purchase Etihad Visitor miles, it might take as much as 72 hours for them to put up to your account, however they ordinarily put up a lot sooner than that.
Which bank card do you have to purchase Etihad Visitor miles with?
Etihad Visitor mileage purchases are processed by factors.com, that means they don’t depend as an airfare buy for the needs of bank card spending. Due to this fact I’d advocate utilizing a card on which you’re making an attempt to achieve minimal spending, or in any other case a bank card that maximizes your return on on a regular basis spending.
On this case the best choice is the Capital One Enterprise Rewards Credit score Card (assessment) (Charges & Charges), which presents 2x miles and has no international transaction charges. Normally the Chase Freedom Limitless® (assessment) or Citi Double Money® Card (assessment) would even be good choices for maximizing on a regular basis spending, however the playing cards have international transaction charges, so wouldn’t be choice on this case.
See this put up for extra on which bank cards are greatest for purchasing factors.
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Earn 1% money again once you make a purchase order, earn 1% money again once you pay for that buy -
$0
Chase Freedom Limitless®
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Earn 3% Money Again on Eating -
Earn 3% Money Again at Drugstores -
Earn 1.5% Money Again On All Different Purchases -
$0
Capital One Enterprise Rewards Credit score Card
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Earn limitless 2X miles on each buy, day-after-day -
No International Transaction Charges -
International Entry/TSA Pre-Verify Credit score -
$95
Capital One Enterprise X Rewards Credit score Card
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Earn 2x miles on each buy -
No International Transaction Charges -
10,000 bonus miles each account anniversary -
$395
The Blue Enterprise® Plus Credit score Card from American Specific
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2x factors on purchases as much as $50k then 1x -
Entry to Amex Affords -
No annual charge
Is shopping for Etihad Visitor miles price it?
There are many methods to redeem Etihad Visitor miles. Whereas the airline doesn’t belong to one of many main alliances, there are numerous methods to redeem the miles on each Etihad and on companion airways.
Under yow will discover the award chart for journey completely on Etihad. As a part of the Etihad Visitor overhaul for 2024, we’ve really seen redemption charges on Etihad diminished in lots of markets, which is fairly cool. In actuality, this system’s pricing was simply too unattractive earlier than, so this simply makes it a bit extra aggressive.
The pricing is predicated on the one-way distance of journey. Be aware that these redemption charges are particularly for conditions the place there’s GuestSeat availability, which is Etihad’s capability managed, saver award house. For those who see increased award pricing than what’s listed beneath, which means there’s not saver award house, and redemptions gained’t be an excellent deal.
Etihad Visitor has a separate award chart for journey on companion airways, which can also be distance primarily based, and yow will discover that beneath. That is primarily based on the one-way distance, and you may’t combine airline companions on a single award.
The primary cause to contemplate gathering Etihad Visitor miles is as a result of this system has entry to much more Etihad award house than companion packages do. Accomplice packages, like American AAdvantage and Air France-KLM Flying Blue, usually solely have entry to premium cabin Etihad award house at most 30 days out (and even then, availability is usually awful).
There are two different main catches on the subject of Etihad Visitor:
I’d actually solely advocate shopping for Etihad Visitor miles with a really particular use in thoughts, if you recognize what you’re doing.
How a lot are Etihad Visitor miles price?
Everybody will worth mileage currencies otherwise, however personally I worth Etihad Visitor miles at ~1.1 cents every. I are likely to worth factors fairly conservatively, and there are numerous methods to get extra worth from Etihad Visitor miles than that.
Do Etihad Visitor miles expire?
Etihad Visitor miles don’t expire so long as you’ve not less than some account exercise as soon as each 18 months. Be aware that you would be able to solely reset the expiration of your miles by crediting a flight to this system each 18 months, so different exercise wouldn’t assist in that regard.
What different methods are you able to earn Etihad Visitor miles?
The associated fee to buy Etihad Visitor miles right here is admittedly enticing, although I’d observe that there are numerous different methods to earn these miles. For these with bank cards in the US, Etihad Visitor is switch companions with Amex Membership Rewards, Capital One, and Citi ThankYou, so these are some nice options for incomes Etihad Visitor miles.
Nevertheless, at an inexpensive value, some folks could favor simply outright shopping for miles, somewhat than transferring them.
American Specific® Gold Card
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4x factors at eating places -
4x factors at U.S. supermarkets, on as much as $25,000 in purchases yearly -
3x factors on flights booked immediately with airways or via amextravel.com -
$250
American Specific® Enterprise Gold Card
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Entry to Amex Affords -
Redeem Amex Factors In direction of Airfare -
$375
The Platinum Card® from American Specific
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Earn 5x factors on flights bought immediately from airways or via Amex Journey (as much as $500k/12 months) -
$200 Annual Uber Credit score -
Amex Centurion Lounge Entry -
$695
The Enterprise Platinum Card® from American Specific
-
Earn 1.5x on purchases of $5,000 or extra in a single transaction on as much as $2MM per calendar 12 months -
Redeem Factors For Over 1.5 Cents Every In direction of Airfare -
Amex Centurion Lounge Entry -
$695
The Blue Enterprise® Plus Credit score Card from American Specific
-
2x factors on purchases as much as $50k then 1x -
Entry to Amex Affords -
No annual charge
For many who don’t have entry to profitable bank cards and/or who would somewhat pay 1.6 cents per mile than switch factors, shopping for Etihad Visitor miles may symbolize deal.
Backside line
Etihad Visitor is promoting miles with as much as a 30% bonus, which interprets to a price of 1.54 cents per mile. That may very well be deal for premium cabin redemptions. Nevertheless, I’d advocate solely shopping for miles with a particular use in thoughts, particularly given how this foreign money has been devalued.
Does anybody plan on shopping for Etihad Visitor miles with this provide?
