As one of Virgin Australia’s closest airline partners, Etihad offers plenty of reward redemptions on flights to and from Melbourne and Sydney, and across its global network.
If you’re eager to lock in a European escape, then using your Velocity Points for Etihad flights is one of your best options, particularly if you want to fly in Business Class. Just be aware that Etihad only opens up premium cabin redemptions to partner airlines, like Velocity Frequent Flyer, 30 days before departure. Etihad reward seats also attract a hefty carrier charge, which is on top of the taxes you need to pay.
Despite the high costs in taxes and charges, Etihad remains an appealing and unique way to redeem Velocity Points, with its premium cabins competing with close rivals Qatar Airways and Emirates.
In this guide, we get into the details of how to redeem your Velocity Points with Etihad.
Which Etihad flights can I use Velocity Points on?
You should be able to use your Velocity Points on any Etihad flight that is available for booking and that has reward seat availability.
However, note that Etihad restricts partner airlines, such as Virgin Australia and American Airlines, from accessing Business Class and First Class reward seats until 30 days before departure. There’s no time restriction on booking Etihad Economy seats using Velocity Points.
We imagine most of you will be interested in Etihad’s one-stop service from Australia to Abu Dhabi, and then onwards to Europe. In Australia, Etihad currently flies to Sydney and Melbourne. The daily schedule usually features a Boeing 777, though you can also find a Boeing 787-9 on Australian routes. Presently, Etihad does not fly its Airbus A380s to Australia.
Etihad, of course, has a much wider network than just Europe, the Middle East, Australia and the US. But given the need for extensive backtracking to get to Asia or the southern countries of Africa, we won’t focus on these.
Visit Etihad’s ‘Destinations’ page to visualise the airline’s latest active routes on an interactive map.
How many Velocity Points do I need for Etihad reward seats?
Ultra-long-haul flights, like Etihad’s service from Abu Dhabi to Sydney, Melbourne or the US, are usually very expensive in premium cabins if you’re paying by cash.
As a result, using Velocity Points for these flights still has some great value. The cap is 139,000 Velocity Points in Business Class for a booking that can reach up to 28 hours of flying!
Below are some examples of redemptions on Etihad using Velocity Points.
| Route (one-way) | Economy | Business Class |
|---|---|---|
| Abu Dhabi to London | 27,000 pts | 57,000 pts |
| Abu Dhabi to New York | 50,000 pts | 92,000 pts |
| Sydney/Melbourne to Abu Dhabi | 56,000 pts | 104,000 pts |
| Sydney/Melbourne to London via Abu Dhabi | 75,000 pts | 139,000 pts |
| Sydney/Melbourne to New York via Abu Dhabi | 75,000 pts | 139,000 pts |
For all destinations, you can use Virgin Australia’s Mileage Calaculator or another a tool like Great Circle Mapper to calculate the flight distance, then find the relevant points total on the Velocity Frequent Flyer website.
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American Express Velocity Platinum
What are the Etihad carrier charges for Velocity?
Velocity has ‘Etihad Airways Reward Seat Carrier Charges’ ranging from US$30 in Economy to US$320 in First Class. The carrier charges depend on the length of your flight in miles, and are charged per flight segment per passenger, not per booking.
| Distance (one-way) | Economy (USD) | Business (USD) | First (USD) |
| 0 to 1,000 miles | $30 | $150 | $280 |
| 1,001 to 2,000 miles | $40 | $165 | $290 |
| 2,001 to 3,000 miles | $50 | $180 | $300 |
| 3,001 to 4,000 miles | $55 | $200 | $310 |
| 4,001 miles and more | $60 | $230 | $320 |
Unfortunately, the Reward Seat Carrier Charges are the biggest disincentive to using Velocity Points for Etihad flights. But they’re still far better than the full-fare cash equivalent!
How do I book Etihad flights using Velocity Points?
You can easily book Etihad flights with Velocity Points online via the Virgin Australia website.
- On the Virgin Australia homepage, begin your search by selecting your departure city and toggling the ‘Use Velocity Points’ button on. This will show you all available reward seats on Virgin Australia and partner airlines.
- Select your trip date(s) and number of passengers, then click ‘Let’s Fly’.
- If available, you’ll see Etihad flights on the search results page. Reward bookings are denoted by a purple ‘Reward Seats available’ tag under the relevant flights. (For the best value, ensure you’re booking reward seats and not Points Plus Pay!)
- On the payment screen, move the slider to the minimum Velocity Points amount. Though hefty, we recommend using cash instead of (a very high number of) points to cover the fees and taxes. The points and cash totals on the payment screen should mirror the search results.
Our beginner’s guide to booking reward seats has more details on how to book using Velocity Points.
Summing up
It’s well worth understanding the ins and outs of how to redeem your Velocity Points for Etihad flights.
The 139,000 Velocity Points cap for multi-flight redemptions in Business Class still offers some value for Etihad flights in Business or First Class. Given how many opportunities there are to build up your Velocity Points balance, these are fairly achievable goals.
However, with the per-sector Etihad carrier charges imposed by Velocity, you need to take into account both the cabin you are flying in and the number of sectors you are booking in order to calculate the true points + cash cost to you (and your travelling companions).
Etihad is a great airline to fly, with awesome availability and excellent cabins, service and lounges. But you will be paying a premium to fly with Etihad when using your Velocity Points.
This guide was previously written by Matt Moffit.
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Good information, but I couldn’t find any flights in the Virgin search tool that used Etihad. I searched the cities mentioned in this article(and many other cities), using various dates and origin cities, and the airlines it shows is Singapore, Qatar, United or All Nippon(very low charges in premium cabins). Not one Etihad flight to be seen.
Have I got my searching wrong or does the article need a revamp, given that most comments date back to BC(Before Covid)?
Hi, is there anything way to transfer my velocity points to Etihad miles before their partnership finishes?
Hi Tina, unfortunately not. You can book Etihad flights while the partnership remains valid for travel up to 11 months in advance, although Etihad only releases Business and First Class reward seats to Velocity around one month in advance.
I’m trying to book business with Etihad using Velocity points. Brisbane to Manchester then Dublin to Brisbane. I have 650000 points but happy to pay extra in cash. There are seats, however it doesn’t come up anywhere for velocity points. Am I doing some thing wrong?
Hi Gillian, Etihad business rewards were very popular when they came back online back in November 2021. If you can see Economy Rewards but not Business, chances are it’s all sold out.
To note that the 139,000 point business class upper limit does not apply, if you add (to your itinerary) a feeder flight on VA to connect to the Etihad sector(s).
As always, great advice Platy. Yes, Virgin and Etihad are on separate points tables, so you can’t mix and match flights between those two airlines without increasing the price.
Have a work trip from Syd to Dublin by Etihad in July and looking at options of an upgrade. SIlver Velocity member with about 400k points. Is it better to buy Etihad economy tickets outright, transfer Velocity to Guest points and then request an upgrade ?
Any other hacks which might be beneficial to me?
Used to love Etihad First from SYD or MEL via AUH to JFK in First (777 from MEL, A380 to JFK) – limo in NYC to Upper West Side, TSA Precheck/Customs in AUH so landing at JFK was treated as a domestic arrival, shower before landing at JFK – and all with American Airlines miles – no nasty surcharges and far fewer miles – and I guess First is finished
Hi Guys. Used VA points to fly 2 x pax Mel to London Etihad reward last year in business. Excellent service. Id like to do the same flights next year but purchase an upgradable SQ or Etihad economy ticket and use points to upgrade. I will have around 600k VA points. Can you please advise on how to do this? Thank you kindly
Glad to hear you enjoyed the experience. Unfortunately, you can only use Velocity points for upgrades on Virgin Australia flights—more here. I would recommend using your Velocity points to redeem a Business Class ticket on Singapore Airlines or Etihad.
Thanks Matt. What about signing up with Singapore or Etihad, transferring velocity points to one of these programs and then booking upgradable economy ticket/upgrading to business? Can it be done?
I’m a VA platinum FF who goes family pooling, so I’d like to get that status credits for the economy ticket for 2 of us. Thanks again
You can transfer your Velocity points to KrisFlyer but not to Etihad Guest. With upgrading tickets, most sale fares are ineligible and chances of upgrading are low, so I wouldn’t recommend that avenue. Here is some more info on maximising Velocity Status Credits by flying on partner airlines and using Velocity family pooling.
so what are the alternatives for the best points redemption for long haul Etihad First class?
it seems velocity points for say east coast to Europe are 406k points with 1200usd ($1550 AUD)
with the most flexible amex points, you can also transfer to eithad program which for the same route is 442k etihad miles PLUS $1330 in taxes
which makes them very similar,
are these the best and cheapest way using credit card points??
The main three would be Etihad Guest, Velocity points and American Airlines AAdvantage miles. See more here.
That’s a shame. I flew this route once in early 2016 and it was a great flight in business class. However Eithad killed their service anyway when they added the ludicrously expensive per sector charge to the booking, making the cost of a business class redemption prohibitive.
Hi Keith
I just did a search on Etihad’s site for a SYD – LDN flight in Business. The GuestSeat is 162,214 points + $355. Does this sound right to you? That would make it more point heavy than all the other airlines flying in the same cabin to the same destination.
Cheers
That sounds about right. It is more points-heavy, as you say. The upside is that the taxes are probably a little lower (not a lot, mind) than Qantas, for example, but availability is usually much, much better to key cities in Europe than with Qantas and Emirates. Alternatively you could redeem through Velocity but with high fees. At least there are some options.
Keith, can you clarify whether I can use my velocity points to upgrade flights we already have with Etihad? We bought the cheapest economy flight tickets for trip from Brisbane to Paris and it would be brilliant if we could use points to upgrade.
Cheers
Great article Keith
With this strategy am I upgrading through velocity or Etihad?
I was under the impression that it is not possible for me to upgrade to business with velocity if I’m not a platinum member, I don’t fly enough to become a platinum member.
Cheers
Craig D
Hi Craig – this is for outright redemptions, not upgrades. You could be redeem through Velocity or through Etihad, but you’ll need to have points in either of those programs. Status doesn’t really matter, just that there are available seats to redeem for.
If I go from Male ( Maldives) to Abudhabi (transit) or 1 day stopoveR to melbourne. Can this be considerred as 1 redemption points of 152k? Thank you
As long as you aren’t stopping over in Abu Dhabi for >24 hours then it’s one redemption, not two.
Have booked a reward flight business to Abu Dhabi. In the inclusions and exclusions area it said no lounge access is provided. However, when I called the membership services line they say it is provided. Have you had any issues with lounge access for Business Reward?
Lounge access should be included with Business Class reward flights, yes… although limo transfers are a bit hit and miss I think.
I travelled business reward flights using VA points to Munich (and departed from Paris) and had no problems using lounges and limo’s. Call Etihad to arrange the limo as this could not be done online.
Hope this isn’t too silly a question, but is it only the GuestSeats – e.g., GuestBusiness and GuestFirst that can only be booked for 139,00 and 203,000 VA points?
That’s right Jimmy!
Hi,
noticed the following when looking to change some award flights one economy and one business, was checking availability on Virgin site along with Edihad guest.
Syd to Frankfurt Economy apr-17
On the Virgin site (I dummy check every date across a couple months) no availalbilty would show up for Fri/Sat flights and the odd thursday even though on EY site it would show 5+ seats availalbe, however calling call centre they could see and book fri/sat flight, ie when I changed my flight I booked a Friday departure than wasn’t showing availability on Va site.
Zurich to Sydney business class
Same as above but this time blackout days Fri(some), Sat-Mon pretty much all tues-thu available (Once again the fri, sat-mon would show availalbe on EY site)
Now I haven’t rebooked this flight yet( to far ahead dates haven’t opened up yet) but when I was talking to call centre about Frankfurt I informed them of the availability issue on website (weren’t sure why). They agreed to just take a look at some days (Sat-Mon) that weren’t showing as availalbe on website and see if they showed availalbility and yes that could book for any of the dates they checked.
The thing is when I come to change dates for the Zuh-syd flight I’m look to fly Sun/Mon, I have to do it through call centre anyway but checking website is just going to say nothings available.
If I was doing a new booking and trying to book throguht website it would be one of those situations of ringing the call centre and getting the $60 fee waivered due to the fact that whilst I should be able to book it myself the site won’t let me for a date/flight that is actually available according to VA.
Anyone else come across this before?
Great article, I have heaps of Qantas points, can I redeem them on other airlines, through their websites?
You can redeem them on Qantas partner airlines but through Qantas – either on Qantas.com or over the phone.
Hi,
I’m trying to book Melbourne-Dublin first class but when I go on the etihad website it says I don’t have sufficient points. I have enough velocity points but unsure how to bring that up on etihad site.
Regards,
John
You have to book Etihad First Class using Velocity points over the phone as it won’t show on the Velocity site. But you can research availability (look for “Guest Seat”) on the Etihad website, and then call Velocity to book, ignoring the Etihad pricing.
We are flying to the UK with Etihad later this month. We are members of Velocity and Etihad guest. With regards to points which airlines frequent flyer number is the most economical. I looked at points required for Etihads business redemption and this seems a lot more than points required by Virgin. Also on our first flight with Etihad we credited our points to Velocity and seemed to get many more points than we did the next time with Etihad.
I know if we take the points for Velocity we will then not reach our Gold Status, but in terms of flights being Gold does not seem to offer that much.
Where would you accumulate the points, with Etihad or Virgin.
Thankyou for your help,
Yes, on a point per point comparison basis Velocity will yield better value normally than using Etihad Guest miles. Etihad Guest earn rate for flights, especially during bonus promotions, can be more lucrative (but not usually for cheap Economy fares). Gold is handy for lounge access, but you should check with each program with your specific fare and see how many points you’ll earn to compare.
Thanks Keith, great info.
I managed to get my wife and I business class reward fares on Etihad Zurich-Syd through Melbourne on the new 787 and a380 for July next year (the a380 to Melb starts June 2016). Can’t wait! Do you know if this ticket gives us lounge access in Zurich and Abu Dhabi? Thanks
Nice one. Yes, you’ll get lounge access as if you were on a paid business ticket.
Thanks Keith. On Virgin’s booking tool I can only see Business seats.
Ah, of course. Use the Etihad site and an Etihad Guest account to search for availability, and then give VA a call to redeem, it should hopefully match. Or give them a call and your dates and get them to do the hard work.
Thanks! Is it possible to book Etihad routes not offered on the Virgin Australia website with Velocity Points (e.g. Sydney to Sao Paulo)?
Absolutely! Just have to be done through the call centre.
Thanks for the guide.
Just a heads up that yesterday I called Virgin to book BNE-AUH-JFK and was only allowed to book the 10:20am AUH-JFK EY101 connection as one sector with the BNE-AUH leg, as it is the “designated connection”.
I originally wanted to spend a day in Abu Dhabi and take the following days 2:55am EY103. However they would have charged this as two separate flights.
Interesting – seems like they must only long connecting flights in that 24 hour window if a sooner one isn’t available.
Did a search for F award ticket on EY A380, ex SYD to AUH and vice versa. No availability even ~350 days in advance.
Thanks for a helpful guide.
Great article. How do you book the First Apartments using Velocity points?
Hey Adam – First apartments are researched and booked in the same way as Business Studios, just cost more.