flybuys pauses partnership with Etihad
flybuys members can no longer exchange their points for Etihad Guest Miles.
After forging its alliance in October 2015, it appears that flybuys has pulled the pin on its partnership with Etihad Airways.
When you visit the Etihad page on the flybuys website, it now explains that linked members can no longer redeem their flybuys points for Etihad Guests or earn flybuys points by booking Etihad flights via the flybuys portal. And if you haven’t already, you can't link your flybuys and Etihad Guest accounts from today.
If you have already linked your two loyalty accounts, you’ll continue to earn 1 Etihad Guest Tier Mile for every $1 (up to 2,500 miles per month) spent at Coles Supermarkets, Coles Online, Coles Express, Liquorland or First Choice Liquor.
Previously, the partnership offered a transfer rate of 1 flybuys point for 0.4 Etihad Guest Miles. You could only transfer your flybuys in multiples of 10,000, meaning you’d get a minimum of 4,000 Etihad Guest miles per transfer.
Although exchanging your flybuys points for Etihad Guest Miles may be over for now, the website says these changes will be in place “until further notice”. So there could be potential for the previous partnership to relaunch in the future.
If you’re looking for other ways to get frequent flyer perks from your Coles grocery shop, remember that flybuys members can still exchange their points for Velocity Points. You can exchange 2,000 flybuys points for 870 Velocity Points (or 1 flybuys point for 0.43 Velocity Points). You can use finder’s points calculator to see how many Velocity Points you could earn based on your average supermarket shop.
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