Etihad Airways will launch flights to Israel on 6 April 2021. The twice-weekly flights to Tel Aviv will operate using a two-class 787 Dreamliner.
Israel has been added to the Abu Dhabi ‘green list’. Abu Dhabi residents returning from trips to Israel will not be required to quarantine.
How many Etihad Guest miles do you need to get to Israel?
Etihad Guest rewards flights to Tel Aviv are already loaded and bookable online. The redemption rates look like this in Economy:
Economy GuestSeat
- One-way – 21,475 Guest miles
- Return – 42,794 Guest miles
Business Class GuestSeat
- One-way – 52,629 Guest miles
- Return – 104,832 Guest miles
Remember Etihad Guest redemptions no longer require any additional cash fees. You only have to pay the miles above.
Cash + miles option
Etihad also offers an option to reduce the number of miles required by part paying with cash. You can use the slider that appears on the final payment page to adjust the Cash + miles combination that suits you best.
Cash + miles can be excellent value. The minimum number of Guest miles required and the cash element are:
Economy
- One-way – 6,049 Guest miles + AED 510
- Return – 12,092 Guest miles+ AED 1,015
Business Class
- One-way – 18,903 Guest miles + AED 1,115 One-way
- Return – 37,654 Guest miles + AED 2,221
Using Etihad Guest miles on El Al flights to Israel
El Al and Etihad have signed an agreement to work together in several areas including codeshare services and reciprocal ‘earn and burn’ on frequent flyer programmes.
That means El Al’s flights between Dubai and Tel Aviv may be bookable with Etihad Guest miles. El Al Israel Airlines plans to operate 14 weekly flights between Tel Aviv and Dubai from 13 December 2020.
However, Etihad has not yet added El Al to the list of redemption partners. It too early to tell how many miles would be needed to redeem on El Al flights and whether there will be restrictions.
Once these are available, you will need to contact Etihad to book on to an El Al flight.
Members of Matmid, El Al’s frequent flyer club will also be able to redeem miles for flights on Etihad Airways flights between the two capitals and beyond.
If Skywards is more your thing check out my post on using Skywards Miles to fly to Israel.
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