In what is a very sudden global wind-down of the long-standing partnership between American Express Membership Rewards (MR) and Etihad Guest, American Express is removing Etihad Guest as a miles transfer partner globally. This is a synchronized worldwide shift impacting major credit card markets, including India, the US, the UK, Canada, and Germany. Here are all of the other important details that you would need to know about this particular update.
American Express To End Etihad Guest Points Transfer
The timing of this decision has caught many people off-guard. Etihad has aggressively tried to scale its direct consumer presence in India via brand partnerships with Swiggy, Flipkart, and BOBCARD.
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Neither of the financial entities has publicized the foundational corporate reasons behind the split. This signals a larger, broad-scale mutual strategic pivot.
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Where To Move The AmEx Points Now?
AmEx retains a robust stable of alternative baseline travel, frequent flyer, and hospitality transfer channels. Here’s where you can move your points instead of Etihad.
Top Alternative Frequent Flyer Partners
- Asia Miles (Cathay Pacific)
- British Airways Executive Club (Avios Ecosystem)
- Qatar Airways Privilege Club (Avios Ecosystem)
- Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
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Top Alternative Hotel Partners
- Marriott Bonvoy
- Hilton Honors
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Summing Up
To sum up, American Express is ending its membership guest points transfer partnership with Etihad Airlines. The move was quite sudden, and a number of flyers have been caught off guard by it. What is more, the reason for this move has not been publicized by either AmEx or Etihad.
