Etihad Guest to become multi-airline programme

Etihad Guest, Etihad Airways’ loyalty programme, is to expand to become a multi-airline programme, with Seychelles Plus, Air Seychelles’ frequent flyer programme, becoming fully integrated into Etihad Guest’s loyalty platform.

The change will be effective from June 16 and all Seychelles Plus members will automatically receive a new co-branded membership based on Etihad’s loyalty programme.

Some of the features that are available to airlines supported by the Etihad Guest program include:

• Immediate rewards – with the 1MileRedemption feature, fly once and enjoy instant rewards.
• No blackout periods – GuestSeats are available on all flights. If a seat is available, guests can book it.
• Anytime availability – all seats on a flight, including the very last seat, are available at any time. OpenSeats can be redeemed at a mileage cost equivalent to the commercial price of the seat.  
• The widest choice – redeem for flights, products or services using the exclusive Etihad Guest Reward Shop that features over 3,000 miles redemption opportunities.
• The widest choice – using the Miles+Cash feature, redeem flights using a mix of miles and cash and even earn miles on the actual cash spent on redemption flights.  
• Expanded partner network – earn and redeem miles on over 3000 routes worldwide with Etihad Airways, Air Seychelles, and 15 partner airlines, including airberlin, Virgin Australia and American Airlines.

Also, as an Etihad Guest member, guests will automatically be able to earn and redeem Etihad Guest Miles with the entire Etihad Guest partner network worldwide, which includes international hotel chains, car-hire companies and retailers as well as hundreds of brands and thousands of products for miles redemptions in the programme’s Reward Shop.

As part of the integration of Air Seychelles, the existing tier status of Seychelles Plus members will be carried over to new Etihad Guest memberships. For example, Seychelles Plus Gold members will automatically be enrolled as Etihad Guest Gold members.

For guests with memberships of both programmes, the accounts, including mileage balances, will be automatically merged.

The Seychelles Plus programme will cease operation on June 15. Retrospective claims for flights on Air Seychelles will be honoured on or before June 30, 2012.