The three-year tie-up between Coles and Etihad, which provided some good-value redemptions for Virgin Australia Business Class flights, will be no more from the end of this month.
Update: partnership ends
The Flybuys and Etihad Guest partnership will come to an end on 31 July 2018. This is the final blow to a relationship that has been suspended since December 2017 due to ‘technical issues’.
Here is the full email sent to members:
Our partnership with Etihad will end on 31 July 2018. From this date, linked members will no longer be able to redeem their Flybuys points for Etihad Guest Miles, collect Flybuys points via the Flybuys-Etihad booking portal or link their Flybuys and Etihad Guest memberships.
Flybuys members will continue to collect Etihad Guest Tier Miles based on their shopping at Coles Supermarkets, Coles online, First Choice Liquor, Liquorland and Coles Express until 31 July 2018. All outstanding Etihad Guest Tier Miles will be credited to Etihad Guest accounts by the end of August.
From 1 August 2018, linked members will no longer earn 1 Etihad Guest Tier Mile for every $1 spent at Coles Supermarkets, Coles online, Coles Express, Liquorland or First Choice Liquor.
We’re sorry for any inconvenience and look forward to keeping you up-to-date with new program developments.
Regards,
The Flybuys team
Personally, I’m not surprised by this move, given that Etihad is in a lot of financial trouble.
This move leaves Velocity Frequent Flyer as the only airline transfer partner for Flybuys members. Note that transfers from Flybuys to Velocity are maximised during transfer bonus promotions.
Previous guide
In this guide, we explain how to earn both Etihad Guest miles and Silver status through Flybuys, when it makes sense to convert your Flybuys to Etihad Guest, and step-by-step instructions on how to complete a transfer.
You can maximise your Flybuys bonus by getting the Coles Rewards MasterCard, which earns 2 Flybuys for every $ spent, plus no overseas transaction fees and free Coles Online delivery.
Earning Etihad Guest miles through Flybuys
Given Etihad is a Flybuys redemption partner, anywhere you can earn Flybuys points is an Etihad Guest earn partner as well, including Coles, Coles Online, Coles Express, Liquorland and First Choice Liquor.
The transfer rate is an effective 1 Flybuys point = 0.4 Etihad Guest miles, which is actually fairly respectable given the usual value of 0.5c per Flybuys point for other redemption options.
The partnership also offers 1 Flybuys point per $ spent on Etihad Flights (or an additional 0.4 Etihad Guest miles per $), on top of the Etihad Guest miles earned on your flight.
Earning Etihad Guest status through Flybuys
You can also earn Etihad Guest tier miles, which count toward Etihad Guest elite status, from your spend at Coles and its partners.
You’ll earn tier points at a rate of 1 point per $ spent, with a cap of 2,500 points per month.
You’d need 25,000 tier points to get Silver Etihad Guest status, so this isn’t a shortcut to Etihad lounge access, but could be useful to top up your account as an Etihad frequent flyer.
When should I convert my Flybuys points to Etihad miles?
Whether or not you should convert your points all depends on what kind of redemption you are looking at.
While long-haul flights with Etihad can be quite expensive in terms of points, there are some good value redemptions to be had by redeeming Etihad points for Virgin Australia domestic and short-haul flights. While probably not by design, this fact means the Coles tie-up with Etihad makes more sense for the Australian market.
In many cases, the lower points cost means that redemptions would be achievable through Flybuys alone, especially if you participate in some of their regular bonus point promotions when they suit your shopping style.
If, however, you aren’t going to get the points you need through shopping at Coles and related retailers alone, you can also boost your Etihad Guest miles to reach your target through paying with the right card.
Etihad is a transfer partner of American Express Membership Rewards, and the fact that you can earn 3 points per dollar spent at supermarkets and convert these directly to Etihad on request, means that you could ramp up your Etihad points earn when doing your shopping at Coles by combining both and paying with this card while also scanning your Flybuys card.
It’s worth remembering that Etihad Guest miles expire two years after being earned (or in this case, converted), whereas Flybuys points don’t expire as long as there is regular activity on the account, so you should probably keep your points in your Flybuys account and only convert them when you’re ready to use them.
In this manner, Flybuys has become a valuable flexible points program with its partnerships with Etihad Guest and Velocity.
You can keep your points in Flybuys until you want to make a redemption, and then at that point determine whether you will be better off converting the points to Etihad Guest to use; or instead taking the money as a shopping discount ($50 per 10000 points), and using that money you’d have otherwise spent on your groceries on your travel budget.
Read more in our Etihad Guest-Velocity comparison guide.
How to convert your Flybuys points to Etihad miles
Once you’ve decided to move your Flybuys points across, how do you actually complete the conversion?
1. Sign up for Flybuys and Etihad Guest
If you haven’t already, you will need to sign up for an account with both Flybuys and Etihad Guest. Once you have some points in your account, come back!
2. Link your accounts
You will need to add your Etihad Guest membership number to your Flybuys membership. It’s not the easiest thing to find, so here’s a guide:
- Log in to the Flybuys website
- In the menu at the top, click on My Account and then Linked Accounts:
- Find the Etihad Airways box and click the Link Now button:
- Enter your Etihad number and click Submit:
- You should receive a confirmation screen showing that your account has been linked
It’s worth linking your account as soon as possible so that you start accruing tier miles (see later in this guide). There’s no obligation to convert your Flybuys points because you have linked your account, so you can still make your decision at the point you want to redeem your points.
3. Convert your points
If you have made the decision to transfer your Flybuys points to Etihad Guest, converting them is quite easy:
- Log in to the Flybuys website
- In the menu at the top, click on Rewards and then Travel & Fun:
- Scroll down to Flights & Hotels, then click on the box for Etihad Guest miles:
- In the page that comes up, choose how many Flybuys points you want to convert (minimum 10,000) and click the Get it now button:
You’ll need to transfer a minimum of 10,000 Flybuys points for a minimum of 4,000 Etihad Guest miles.
Points take up to two business days to convert.
Remember that Etihad miles expire after two years whereas Flybuys points do not (as long as there is continued activity on the account such as shopping), so it’s worth converting just a few days before you plan to make a booking and holding your points in Flybuys until then.
4. Turn off automatic redemptions
If you have any products from Coles Financial Services e.g. credit or prepaid cards or insurance, you may have the option to automatically be prompted when you shop to redeem 2000 points for $10 off your shop.
If it exists, this setting can be found in your My Account page once you have logged into the Flybuys website. I would recommend turning this off so that you (or a family member) don’t accidentally spend your points you are saving up for flights!
What else do you get out of the Etihad and Coles partnership?
The tie-up also gives you tier miles (status credits) towards Etihad Guest elite status based on your shopping, however unless you’re also doing a reasonable amount of paid flying with Etihad (or partner airlines and crediting towards them) you would have to be spending near to the maximum of $2500 per month on groceries to obtain Silver status by the end of the year.
For most people, this won’t be a consideration, but if you have tier miles from flying it could be enough to tick you over the line to a new status level.
Summing up
There’s good value to be had for the right redemptions if you convert your Flybuys points to Etihad Guest at the right time.
Combining the points from your shopping with points from credit card spending in a flexible rewards program, could quickly see you flying in style in domestic Business Class from Virgin Australia – not bad from your weekly grocery shop.
The alternative, is of course to transfer them to Velocity, which is a much more widely-understood program. Either way, if you know how to get the most out of your Flybuys points for flights by transferring them to one of these programs, you should hopefully get more value from them than using them at the checkout.
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AustBT just announced in an article today that Etihad and Flybuys will be ending their partnership at the end of the month (July 2018).
Looks like Velocity will be the only airline transfer partner for now.
https://www.ausbt.com.au/the-flybuys-etihad-guest-partnership-will-end-on-july-31
I noticed EY Guest have just in the last few days credited all my missing Guest Tier Miles derived from Flybuys, for months of Oct, Nov and Dec 2017.
Hammish, those Nov 2017 tier miles you state you got seem like an input error – to earn 93355 tier miles you would have to have spent $93,355 at Coles and affiliates. I would guess somebody had keyed in an extra digit in your favor; a nice New Year present 🙂
Thanks for sharing.
Look at the recent events impacting Etihad – a change of CEO, one of their partners going out of business and another being on life support are more than enough prompting to review everything the airline is doing.
Etihad’s loyalty program is not a revenue source in the same way it is for Australian or US airlines. The tie-up with Flybuys needed to pay dividends for both parties and perhaps it has not. The fact that the best redemption options were on non-Etihad metal speaks to this.
Recent promotions allowing transfers to Velocity at a far higher ratio than to Etihad Guest need to be considered as well. We’re talking about a very broad segment of the population when discussing Flybuys members, and the readers of Point Hacks are not representative of of that segment. Seeing a redemption would afford one more Velocity points, coupled with bonuses and the fact that it’s simple to see that an Australian airline offers flights that “must” cost less due to the smaller distances involved (and the lack of promotion of the Virgin-Etihad partnership) may have seen the points transfers very heavily biased towards Velocity.
All speculation of course, but none of it unreasonable.
My guess is that Etihad systems have cacked themselves since the major ‘upgrade’ they have gone through in Oct 2017. I had so many issues with Etihad Guest’s website ever since and spoke to at least five individuals from their global contact centres, with all problems pointing to the said system upgrade. And because Etihad’s processes traditionally and at best are inadequate, they are now scrambling for solutions. I would also like to bring up the section of the statement published on the FlyBuys website about the already linked FlyBuys members continuing to get status miles in the Etihad Guest programe. Well, I am an already linked member (have been since the inception of the partnership between FlyBuys and Etihad Guest) and the last time my account has been credited with status miles is Sep 2017, or just before the Etihad’s system upgrade. I raised this with Etihad Guest service centre by email and have so far only received their acknowledgement but not yet an explanation. So, whilst waiting for a definitive response, I did a bit of research of my own – I checked my Etihad Guest account details since the migration to their new system platform. In the account profile, there is a field dedicated to FlyBuys membership details. Guess what is stated as my FlyBuys membership No? The Etihad Guest membership No.!!! It’s no wonder the information cannot flow between FlyBuys systems and Etihad Guest systems when various fields contain wrong information. It’s a standard, substandard story that must be accepted when dealing with Etihad and their processes (am not a fan of theirs). I honestly am not surprised, and can’t wait to see how it all pans out.
I agree this is probably tech related. I have had two issues since their upgrade – I was caught in the unable to reset password problem that many others were too, and have been waiting 8 or so weeks for a points refund from a cancelled redemption. Really poor job by Etihad on their upgrade.
Thanks Shaussie, I’ve just noticed the same issue with my Flybuys number and have contacted Etihad.
Two other issues I’ve experienced in case people haven’t noticed:
1. Linked Family Membership accounts not crediting Miles to the Head of Family account
2. Upgraded flights from Y granting 0 Miles despite paying a fare.
I’ve gotten the upgraded flight awards sorted but am waiting on the rest of the issues.
My feeling is that FF points schemes are going to degrade rapidly, especially here in Australia. The virtual QF monopoly, the RBA ruling on inter change and FF points, the bulldozer approach of QF to issuing points and limiting redemption options and finally the demise, which will accelerate , of airline alliances.
Anyone know what’s up with Ethiad availability lately?
I am searching flights from either NY or DC to Australia and they seem to be booked over everyday. Are they not releasing any seats on these flights anymore?
Flying in to the US from Australia seems easy enough with availability but not the other way around.
This may be a silly question but are the Etihad Guest Tier points that i have accrued from my Coles shopping worthless if i dont fly Etihad? I initially misread the article and thought they would be regular miles that i could redeem… After they add the December points it looks like I will be just short of the 25,000 required for silver (they dont appear to have capped them at 5,000/m).
Not a silly question, but as you suspect, the tier points are only usable against improving your tier status. Interested to hear if you manage to get to silver from Coles spend without stepping on a plane… please report back!
Unfortunately I have fallen short of the 25000 miles required. While I would have been short anyway they did cap my December points to 5000 (Nov remained uncapped – still shows 8214). So it looks like it would have been impossible to achieve Silver status without flying.
Hi Keith, I have manager at attain gold status without ever setting foot on a plane, I now have
Guest Tier Miles You have:
110110 Guest Tier Miles
To attain Etihad Guest tier you need:
14890 Guest Tier Miles
I only need 14890 tier miles to attain platinum. I have used the Virgin lounge on my last 2 Virgin flights with my Etihad gold card.
I think Etihad might have capped my tier miles, as I haven’t had any new miles added to my account in the last 2 months.
How did you earn those tier points in that case, all from flybuys (but without the cap imposed) or from flights as well?
No, all from Flybuys, Coles and first choice liquor.
3063 in October
93355 in November
5000 in December
And 2500 every month after that. Nothing since the 31st of March, I was hoping to get the 2500 a month until September to bring me only a couple of thousand away from platinum..
Does anyone else think this new deal might spur along the negotiating between QFF and Woolworths? The email I received last night from QFF, which basically said nothing, didn’t state the relationship was over.
A few questions I cannot find any answers to on Flybuys website…
So what happens to your existing Flybuys points are they converted into Etihad Guest Miles immediately?
Do you continue to earn Flybuys points and have the option to convert or do the Flybuys points convert to Etihad Guest Miles automatically? I’m assuming no “double dipping” with earning both Flybuys and Etihad Guest Miles.
Flybuys can have multiple members per account. Does this mean that only 1 person can link their Etihad Guest account to Flybuys?
It really doesn’t seem as simple as the Woolworths/QFF partnership.
Flybuys points are converted to Etihad Guest miles on request only.
You can continue to earn / redeem flybuys as normal if you’re not interested in Etihad Guest miles.
My assumption on the multiple account question is that the flybuys account can only be linked to one Etihad Guest account. Not tested yet.
Hi Keith,
Nice wrap-up, looking forward to hearing more info about what redemption opportunities there are.
i.e.
Especially short haul do they do MEL/SYD-AKL like emirates?
What is the cost of a MEL-PER on VA
And if i jog your memory back to the melbourne meetup, i did tell you i was saving my points for that one day…..
Post coming soon, and yes, I should have been going for flybuys all along…
Awesome,looking forward
Look forward to hearing more about this. I have 135,000 flybuys points so this maybe a great option for me.
I almost backwashed my coffee when I saw this news today.
While I was checking my flybuys account yesterday, I saw the Etihad logo in my account and wondered what it was but it was not clickable. I guess, the news was revealed today.
I don’t value the Etihad Guest program due to the miles expiration rule in comparison to Qantas or Velocity style expiration. I don’t fly often enough to accrue enough for redemption.
Kudos for Etihad in attempting to shake up their program into the Australian market. Still lack of miles earning opportunities here.