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Collecting Skywards miles or Etihad Guest miles???

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skyhighgirl49139

369

Posts

EW EXPLORER

Latest post on 26 January 2012 - 18:37

Does anyone bank with ADCB, any negative or positive experiences to share. Because I am not sponsored by a UAE company, to obtain the Etihad card they want me to put 100k in a fixed term deposit which can only be accessed after 13 months or once the card is cancelled. I am not so sure about doing this as I have been banking with NBAD for 12 years so I am not familiar with ADCB at all.

242

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 26 January 2012 - 12:49

Hi nspree I totaly agree with you re the new skywards points system for Skywards miles and the Emirates NBD credit card. The amount of miles we now get has more than halved. One of my biggest complaints it that it vertualy impossible to tell if you have been credited with the correct amount of miles as they have split it into so many different earning rates. However i have found out in my case that I have not been being credited with the bonus miles for paying for Emirates flights on line, I have asked for a print out of how my miles have been worked out since they started the new system on October 1st 2011. Once I get that my next battle is for them to admit they have made a misstake. Not going to be easy with Emirates airlines and Emirates NBD involed!!

460

Posts

EW EXPLORER

Latest post on 26 January 2012 - 10:45

Probably got changed so that people who spend the money actually flying on the airline earn more miles than people spending money with other companies (it works this way with the Skywards partners too- generally, you earn less with them than when spending direct with Emirates) Would also be worth looking into if Etihad offer a premium cabin bonus- with Emirates' Skywards, if you fly in Business you get 75% bonus miles on top of the base and First is 150% (this is on paid tickets only, obv but makes them add up fast) Skywards also run promotions under "miles accelerator" and certain routes get bonus miles if you fly on certain dates- it's all on the Skywards website. edited by SkyKitty on 26/01/2012 Yes Etihad do offer extra miles for business and first class tickets.

1336

Posts

EW OLDHAND

Latest post on 26 January 2012 - 09:05

Probably got changed so that people who spend the money actually flying on the airline earn more miles than people spending money with other companies (it works this way with the Skywards partners too- generally, you earn less with them than when spending direct with Emirates) Would also be worth looking into if Etihad offer a premium cabin bonus- with Emirates' Skywards, if you fly in Business you get 75% bonus miles on top of the base and First is 150% (this is on paid tickets only, obv but makes them add up fast) Skywards also run promotions under "miles accelerator" and certain routes get bonus miles if you fly on certain dates- it's all on the Skywards website. <em>edited by SkyKitty on 26/01/2012</em>

skyhighgirl49139

369

Posts

EW EXPLORER

Latest post on 25 January 2012 - 20:20

bump

skyhighgirl49139

369

Posts

EW EXPLORER

Latest post on 25 January 2012 - 19:55

bump

460

Posts

EW EXPLORER

Latest post on 25 January 2012 - 16:48

Thanks Dibdab, is that a Infinite card you have as not sure which is best the Classic, Gold, Platnium or Infinite. The Classic and Gold card have no joining fees for life but does anyone know the annual joining fee for the Platnium and Infiinte cards? Any other good deals with credit cards that earn you miles on either Emirates or Etihad etc.... We have the platinum card, not sure about fees for the others but you can find all of the info on the link below. I am not sure what the criteria are for being eligible for the different level cards but the 'higher' the card the more miles you earn per dollar. http://www.adcb.com/riseabove/index.asp <em>edited by dibdab on 25/01/2012</em>

92

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 25 January 2012 - 15:58

Thanks for all the helpful info! It does however seem to be much of a muchness! Therefore Im still unable to make a decision! We've been with EmiratesNBD skywards for 3 years, we used to earn so many miles, but now as I say, its really reduced. it is a consideration to have a card each, but realistically if we're both saving miles for the same airline, its got to be more beneficial? I think theyre wising up to the fact that so many of us now spend all our money through our credit cards (and pay it off each month just to earn points) and theyre probably not too impressed at all our free flights and free business upgrades! it does seem that theyre really pulling back on this, I imagine the amount of points we earn on any credit card will continue to reduce. Having said that though, I have heard that Citibank are still offering a slightly better conversion? If anyone can clarify that? Emirates NBD are only paying 1 mile per USD on local spends (used to be 2), but grocery shopping now only gets 0.25 per USD, and utility bill payments or government payments only get 0.10 per USD!! Oh well, was good while it lasted :(

1280

Posts

EW OLDHAND

Latest post on 25 January 2012 - 15:54

I have an Etihad credit card from ADCB and i think its superb. They always credit my account with the miles, i use my cc to pay everthing so i can earn miles and have earned enough to fly home on the miles alone each year. I have never had a problem with them. Yes, in Abu Dhabi the lounge is **** but i know in Dublin, the lounge is superb.... My hubbie keeps an emirates cc and earns his miles so we use that to fly to india each year or more. Best of both worlds... would you consider each keeping one?? The lounges for Emirates in Dubai are awful - go to the lounges in other countries/cities - Manchester/Bangkok, and they are amazing!

skyhighgirl49139

369

Posts

EW EXPLORER

Latest post on 25 January 2012 - 15:21

Does anyone have any feedback on the Emirates Citibank credit card that earns you skywards miles.

STILLadviceseek...

425

Posts

EW EXPLORER

Latest post on 25 January 2012 - 15:04

you used to be able to use 35000 touch points for 5000 skywards miles, then it went to 45000 touch points for 5000 skywards miles, and now its changing to 80000 touch points for 5000 skywards miles at the beginning of feb, so although I'm a fan of ADCB i'm thinking the points business for skywards is getting less attractive

skyhighgirl49139

369

Posts

EW EXPLORER

Latest post on 25 January 2012 - 14:55

Thanks Dibdab, is that a Infinite card you have as not sure which is best the Classic, Gold, Platnium or Infinite. The Classic and Gold card have no joining fees for life but does anyone know the annual joining fee for the Platnium and Infiinte cards? Any other good deals with credit cards that earn you miles on either Emirates or Etihad etc....

460

Posts

EW EXPLORER

Latest post on 25 January 2012 - 14:06

Can anyone tell me what the charges and fees are associated with acquiring the ADCB credit card and also using it. Are there any other cards that you can use to collect miles that dont have high percentage fees to use them? We pay AED 1000 each year for the ADCB Etihad card and as we pay the full balance off every month we pay no interest - other than that we don't pay any other charges. It is well worth us paying the fee as we make our money back many times over with the Etihad miles.

angelinaballeri...

984

Posts

EW GURU

Latest post on 25 January 2012 - 13:18

EIB - has a flat fee per month if you don't pay off your balance and i think up to 4000 skywards miles per month. on a AED per mile exchange rate.

skyhighgirl49139

369

Posts

EW EXPLORER

Latest post on 25 January 2012 - 13:16

Can anyone tell me what the charges and fees are associated with acquiring the ADCB credit card and also using it. Are there any other cards that you can use to collect miles that dont have high percentage fees to use them?

460

Posts

EW EXPLORER

Latest post on 25 January 2012 - 13:07

We have the ADCB Etihad card - we spend absolutely everything on it and then pay off in full each month. We earn loads of miles, have had numerous free flights with them over the past 18 months since we had the card. Including most recently return Business Class to Thailand. However as someone else has said they have recently changed their redemption miles so you now have to have more miles for most destinations for the free flights. I am not sure how they compare to Emirates, we have always used Etihad as started out in AD when we first came here. I think the benefits of the card are pretty good - automatic silver membership which gives you access to lounges (not the Etihad lounge in AD at the moment as it is small so they have had to limit it only to Business and First Class passengers but you do get access to the Al Reem lounge which is fine - and other airport Etihad lounges are great). You also get 2 one way transfers to AD airport each year which is great if you live in Dubai. Also 2000 extra miles in months where you spend a certain amount (which we always do because put everything on it like I said). I think there are a few other benefits too but can't think what. I'm a huge fan!

511

Posts

EW GURU

Latest post on 25 January 2012 - 11:53

Quite sadly I calculated how many miles I would have earned for 12 months of purchases, based on my previous year spending to see which card to go for. When comparing I got about 36K with Emirates and about 80K with Etihad. Etihad give the bonus miles on application, plus various spending bonuses etc. I put everything I can on my credit card. It 4 months, I have managed to earn around 50k miles (including the joining bonus of 25k). The only annoying thing is that they have recenly put the redemption amounts up, so wheras before you only needed 40k for a return trip to the UK, you now need 63k, and a flight to NZ used to be 60-70k and it is now 120k!!! So I think that's a bit of a cheek! I don't think Emirates is much better for that though.

192

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 25 January 2012 - 11:15

I have an Etihad credit card from ADCB and i think its superb. They always credit my account with the miles, i use my cc to pay everthing so i can earn miles and have earned enough to fly home on the miles alone each year. I have never had a problem with them. Yes, in Abu Dhabi the lounge is **** but i know in Dublin, the lounge is superb.... My hubbie keeps an emirates cc and earns his miles so we use that to fly to india each year or more. Best of both worlds... would you consider each keeping one??

993

Posts

EW GURU

Latest post on 25 January 2012 - 11:07

i dont know about credit card linked stuff, but on their own SKywards is better for lounge access, booking with miles, while Etihad Guest is much much better for using miles for shopping. From what i saw there is a wider variety of stuff you can buy at Etihad online

Monkey Face44709

803

Posts

EW GURU

Latest post on 25 January 2012 - 10:54

I have this ADCB card. I am an Etihad Guest Gold member. I would not recommend it to anyone. The benefits are limited, no access to any of the business class lounges (just the standard ones which are in a different terminal than you would probably fly from). The customer service from both the bank and airline is frustrating at best (what a surprise). It's hard to keep track to make sure your miles are actually being credited to your account because there is a lack of consistency. Sometimes they lump it together, sometimes they do it one transaction at a time, and the Etihad Guest website is often down. The Skywards cards offer more benefits, upgrades, lounge access, etc..

92

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 25 January 2012 - 10:41

Morning all, my husband and I currently travel with Emirates and collect Skywards miles through Emirates NBD bank. Theyve recently changed all the rates though so it makes a big difference with the amount of miles we get, theyre much harder to earn! We're thinking of changing our loyalties to Etihad and using an ADCB credit card to accumulate miles. Does anyone have any experience of Etihad and their rewards scheme compared to Emirates? I know theyre a great airline, Im more concerned about earning and spending miles (for upgrades), the ease of it, frequency, is one a better program than the other? Appreciate any advice! many thanks

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