Bonus: 25% extra when you buy Etihad Guest Miles

This post includes everything you need to know about using cash to buy Etihad Guest Miles, including current promotions.

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Etihad Guest is currently offering a bonus of 25% when you buy miles before 6 May 2024.

Unusually, this offer is not staggered. You must purchase at least 25,000 miles to trigger that bonus.

• 25% bonus – Buy 25,000-100,000

Remember to earn the 25% bonus you need to purchase by 6 May 2024. You can buy Etihad Guest Miles here.

Why buy Etihad Guest Miles?

Buying miles directly from Etihad is one of the easiest and fastest ways to accumulate Etihad Guest Miles without flying.

For instance, if your miles balance is short of the amount needed to make a reward booking, this is the quickest option for making up the difference.

How much does it cost to buy Etihad Guest Miles?

You can buy Etihad Guest miles in increments of 1,000 miles. The standard price is $20 USD (AED 74.56) per 1,000 miles. This works out at 2 cents per mile.

However, Etihad Guest runs frequent bonus promotions. Past bonuses have ranged from as low as 10% up to 60%. The bonus reduces the cost significantly. A 60% bonus translates into a cost of 1.25 cents per mile.

You used to be able to rely on a bonus offer from Etihad Guest every few months. However, over the last year, they have been less frequent.

How many miles can you buy?

Etihad Guest members can buy up to 100,000 miles per calendar year. Platinum Guests have a higher limit of 150,000 miles per year.

A Family Membership is one way to increase the number of miles you can buy every year. Etihad Guest allows you to include up to 9 people in a Family Membership.

A family could potentially buy and pool up to 900,000 Guest miles annually. That figure would be even higher if any of the members had Platinum Guest status.

The annual purchase limit of 100,0000 miles is sometimes temporarily increased during bonus promotions.

How do you buy miles?

First, log in to your Etihad Guest account. Second, click on the ‘Accelerate your miles‘ heading under the Earn Miles tab. Scroll to see the option to Buy more miles.

Select the number of miles you want to buy from the dropdown tab. Add your credit card details and confirm payment.

The miles should appear in your account almost instantly. You may need to log out and log in again for your balance to refresh.

If you have an Etihad Guest co-brand credit card, make sure you pay using that card to earn extra Etihad Guest Miles on the transaction.

The Cash Plus Miles option

Another way to buy Etihad Guest Miles is to select the Cash Plus Miles option when booking reward seats.

The Cash Plus Miles option allows you to buy half of the miles needed for a reward booking. This used to be much better value than buying miles directly, even during a promotion.

However, that no longer seems to be the case. Cash Plus Miles appears to price at the same rate as regular miles, which is $0.02 cents per mile.

One advantage of using the Cash Plus Miles option is that there is no limit on the number of miles you can buy each year. 

Any alternatives?

It is also possible to transfer points from 41 other loyalty programmes. Transfer partners include a wide range of banking, hotel and retail brands:

• American Express Membership Rewards
• Citibank PremierMiles
• ADCB TouchPoints
• Al Masraf Rewards
• Emirates NBD Plus Points
• Emirates Islamic Choice Points
• FAB Rewards
• HSBC Premier Reward Points
• Joud Rewards – Al Hilal Bank
• Standard Chartered
• ALL – Accor Live Limitless
• Hilton Honors
• World of Hyatt
• IHG Rewards Club
• Marriott Bonvoy
• Radisson Rewards
• Shangri-La
• ADNOC Rewards
• SHARE points
• Air Miles Shopping Rewards
• Smiles by Etisalat
• Joyalukkas

Many of these programmes also offer frequent bonus promotions when you buy miles.

Check out my post on the six best ways to earn Etihad Guest Miles without flying.

Is buying Etihad Guest Miles worth it?

It depends on what you plan to do with the miles. I would only purchase miles with a specific use in mind.

Buying a small number of miles to top up your balance when you are a little short makes sense. If you are going to buy Etihad Guest Miles, I would try to do it during a bonus promotion. Thankfully, these happen reasonably regularly.

You can buy Etihad Guest Miles here. Alternatively, read the complete guide to buying Emirates Skywards Miles here.