Jet Airways redemptions using Etihad Guest miles: a reminder

I’ve emphasised multiple times in the past, that one of the best ways to get yourself a Jet Airways redemption ticket is via Etihad miles, given the miles they charge for the same ticket as compared to Jet Privilege. For instance, a BOM-DEL ticket costs 5660 Etihad Miles as compared to 8500 JetPrivilege miles, and slightly less amount of taxes. Have a look at the redemption chart here.

Now here are some pointers about how to go about redeeming your ticket, and things you should know while redeeming Etihad miles on Jet Airways:

  1. Availability is exactly the same as what you see in JetPrivilege. Hence, if you have a JetPrivilege account and you can check for redemption inventory there, you can then book those tickets by calling Etihad’s call centre. For instance, if the Jet Airways website states there are 2 redemption seats on a particular flight LKO-DEL, then you can have 2. If it says 4, then you can have 4.
  2. You cannot redeem for flights which have their flight numbers starting with 9W 7xxx. These flights are basically still flying with the JetKonnect planes, and hence being codeshared with Jet Airways. So, technically, you can’t get on that flight with an Etihad redemption ticket.
  3. You can only book at least 14 days out. So, don’t bank on Etihad for an urgent last minute redemption.
  4. Award tickets cannot be cancelled, but they can be modified for dates. So, if you’re original plan is not working out, you can get one free rescheduling on the date, and 100 AED for the second rescheduling and onwards.
  5. The only way to get your miles back as per the Etihad T&C is to no-show for the flight. Subsequently, they charge a no-show fee of 2,000 Etihad Miles or AED 200, and a refund processing fee of 2,000 Etihad Miles to refund your miles. Etihad Gold/Gold Elite members are exept from the refund fee.
  6. You need a credit card to pay the taxes. In case of India-issued credit cards, Etihad will organise a call-back from their Abu Dhabi ticketing department where you will need to voice out your credit card details for Etihad to be able to process the payment of taxes. This is because Indian regulations require a 2-step authentication for credit cards and perhaps that is too much hassle to put in.
  7. There may be long hold times. I’ve worked with agents who take 5 minutes to generate the PNR, and also with those who work over 40 minutes on a simple point to point ticket. Be prepared for long holds. Also, if you don’t get a call back within 4-5 hours, call again to get them to escalate you in the queue.

If you can live with the above mention steps, you can sure find some great deals for travel on the Jet Airways network using Etihad miles.

What have been some of your value redemptions on the Etihad network? What are the other quirks of the Etihad redemption for Jet Airways I’m still to discover? Fill me in…

About Ajay

Ajay Awtaney is the Founder and Editor of Live From A Lounge (LFAL), a pioneering digital platform renowned for publishing news and views about aviation, hotels, passenger experience, loyalty programs, travel trends and frequent travel tips for the Global Indian. He is considered the Indian authority on business travel, luxury travel, frequent flyer miles, loyalty credit cards and travel for Indians around the globe. Ajay is a frequent contributor and commentator on the media as well, including ET Now, BBC, CNBC TV18, NDTV, Conde Nast Traveller and many other outlets.

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Comments

  1. I am planning to travel AUH-SXR. Can I claim Etihad Miles? Also should I book through Etihad or jet airways?
    Please suggest

  2. HERE IM SILVER MEMBER OF JET AIRWAYS
    TRAVELLING BY ETIHAD AIRWAYS WITH JET PRIVILEGE CARD THEY DONT UPDATE
    miles for mine traveling.In Jet Privilege, we cannot claim miles for Etihad Airways.
    Due to that, I became a member of Etihad Airways and claim miles.Miles were claimed soon in Etihad Guest.
    So I need to know how can I transfer Etihad Guest miles to jet miles.
    I don’t to be a member of both has if in the jet I am already a silver member of the jet so I have can earn 2905 miles for the last trip what I travel.
    it’s a chance for me to get a gold membership for Jet Privilege.
    I need to transfer Etihad Guest miles to jet privilege miles.

    • @Parmar, we can indeed claim miles for Etihad Airways on Jet Airways itself. You cannot transfer miles from Etihad to Jet however.

  3. AJ,

    NOT SO HAPPY DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN..!

    I got trapped with my Etihad Miles.

    Spoke to Etihad Guest.. From 25 June they changed 9WIndia redemption Chart. Now Del- Bom in Economy is 8550 one way.Del- Pune 9000 +

    The inventory is half of what you see on JP website. So if JP shows 2 seats, Etihad can give you only one.

    Ruined my weekend…

  4. So is it safe to assume the higher values for a given city pair are the correct values? Also, how much are taxes on a award flight such as the one you took LKO-BOM?

  5. @Ajay: Do you have experience of refund if its a no-show? I have award BOM-BKK on Jet Airways which I am sure I will not be able to fly even with date change. Do you think it is better to cancel and get the refund of taxes or take a chance of no-show and get the refund of Etihad miles?

    When checking with Etihad agent they seem to iterate that miles will be forfeited if no-show

  6. This is the weirdest award chart I have seen. I see most city pairs repeating twice. I see different rates at times outbound vs. inbound. Also, there is a separate mileage for literally every city pair and longer distances such as DEL – CJB is much cheaper than DEL-BOM.

    I am not even seeing the 5660 miles for DEL-BOM that you have mentioned.

    What I am doing wrong?

    • @Unclesam I agree it is weird, I think they forgot cleaning up some of the old values while bringing up the chart for 2015. Anyhow, I meant to say LKO-BOM not DEL-BOM. I have a feeling this is designed on basis of average fares on the sector or lowest class fares on the sector, something like that. But the moral of the story is the chart is much cheaper than Jet Airways’ own chart, and hence more beneficial

  7. Thanks for the very useful post.

    So I understand that eitihad redemption is more beneficial than jet, considering the lower number of miles required.

    Is the earning potential also better? As in does it make sense to present eitihad card at the jet counter counter to accrue miles when flying jet?

    • @sanjeev earning wise, Jet is a better program. you get 100% miles on all flights of Jet. And since the earning is more liberal, the burning is more expensive as well! Also, it is a mess when you try to credit partner miles to Etihad.

  8. @Ajay, Thanks for this post. I actually followed your series of posts that you ran at the time of Premier Miles conversion downgrade and decided to transfer points to Etihad.

    When I called them for redemption, the agent appeared clueless and asked me to send a mail to retromail@etihadguest.com. How do you redeem? Can you share a way to get it done with less hassle! Thanks!

  9. Thanks, these are useful points to keep in mind.

    Are they accepting transfer of Citi Prestige (India) points under this offer?

  10. I was stuck during the earth quake in Nepal and had a KTM-BOM flight got on EY miles. Flight was obviously cancelled so I decided to put the miles back in my account. Guess what? I’m not allowed to cancel even though the flight was cancelled. I can change the date for free as you mentioned but don’t think I’ll be visiting KTM any time soon. Really poor customer service. On the whole I’ve found EY to be lagging EK in every aspect except their First Apartments and Residence!

  11. Thanks for the post, whats the best way to earn etihad miles? (apart from the obvious)
    Flying on jet makes earning miles easy.
    One way HYD-BOM = 1000 miles (500 min + 500 bonus miles)
    One way HYD-BOM redemption is 5000 miles.
    So buy 5, get one free 🙂

    • @bluecrabs Etihad keeps running a lot of promotions and then there are the credit card transfers and bonuses. Best way is to fly them of course 😉

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