Etihad Guest Devaluation History
The brutal March 2023 chart
For years Etihad Guest was a sweet-spot machine, with award prices that varied by route and partner and several outstanding deals on partner airlines. In March 2023 Etihad scrapped that in favor of a single consolidated partner award chart, and the damage was severe. A booking like American Flagship First from Los Angeles to Sydney went from 62,500 Etihad miles to 200,000, more than triple the old price, and cheap partner redemptions such as American transcontinental first class at 25,000 miles disappeared entirely. Frequent-flyer blogs called it one of the most brutal devaluations of the year.
The partial 2024 recovery
Unusually, Etihad walked back some of the pain in 2024. It reduced award rates on Etihad-operated flights by as much as 30 percent across the board and lowered some partner business and first-class rates, helping the program recoup part of the value lost in 2023. That makes Etihad one of the few programs to partially reverse a major devaluation, though the recovery applied mainly to Etihad own metal, not the partner sweet spots that made the program famous.
Where Etihad Guest stands now
Today Etihad Guest is most useful for Etihad own flights, including its excellent business class and the A380 First Apartments, where the 2024 reductions restored reasonable pricing. The partner chart remains far more expensive than the pre-2023 sweet spots, so the old strategy of using Etihad miles for cheap American or other partner premium awards no longer works. Etihad miles come from transferable currencies including Citi, Capital One, and Bilt (American Express dropped Etihad Guest as a transfer partner on June 30, 2026), often with transfer bonuses. Book Etihad metal when the price is fair, and look elsewhere for partner awards. See the devaluation overview.
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