starflyer

Can anyone point me to a thread or document comparing the frequent flyer programs of Emirates, Etihad, and Qatar? The existing information on the upcoming changes in 2010 to the Emirates Skywards program suggests a large devaluation in the program. Thank you.

edy4eva

I recall an article in Business traveler a while ago comparing most FF programs in the middle east. If I find it I will post a l ink.
Given that Skywards is changing significantly and that no earning/redeeming tables have been published thus far, it would be too soon to judge whether it will be a devaluation or the other way around.

But put it this way, Etihad Guest is a photocopy of Skywards; it was 2 features that Skywards lack: Firstly, the ability to book one way awards. And secondly, as a family head unit you can earn 100% of the flown miles of the family members (whereas Skywards is only 20%).
Not to mention the 25/20 and 50/45 required miles to gain/keep the higher tier.
In my own view though, the FF program will always be a secondary factor when deciding which airline to fly; Etihad has some extremely good fares in the middle east, but Emirates has a much bigger network and no narrow body jets thank you very much.

ung1

Currently, the earning levels on Etihad and Emirates are the same, as are flight redemptions. As edy4eva pointed out, retaining status on Etihad requires fewer miles (it's actually 20 and 40 for silver and gold respectively). One advantage with the Etihad Guest program is that Silver FF's can use lounges worldwide, unlike Skywards where it's only in Dubai. On the other hand, Etihad doesn't usually have any mileage bonus programs like EK does, and the miles required to upgrade to a higher class are significantly higher on EY (eg 63,000 for a one way upgrade from AUH-JFK as opposed to 45,000 for DXB-JFK).

Qatar is great if you fly J of F as the bonus on the highest fare tickets are upto 100% and 200% respectively. The miles required for redemption are lower for some regions (35,000 for a return award for SE Asia compared to 50,000 on EY/EK and 15,000 to North India compared to 25,000 on EY/ EK, but fuel surcharge is not included). The miles required for upgrades are higher than EK, but lower than EY, but are per sector (so you would need more if you were flying out of DXB/ AUH instead of Doha). However, qualification for tiers is very different on Qatar (actually similar to what EK is about to introduce with zone based points), so it really depends on where you fly because you could end up just shy of reaching a tier) Also, only Gold members earn 100% family miles - Silver earn 75% and Burgundy earn 50%. Oh and yes, miles are valid for 5 years as opposed to 3 years on EK/ EY.

I just looked at Qatar's tier qualification levels. It's actually better than EK/ EY if you fly from DXB/ AUH to Europe frequently. Three round trips in Y would earn you Silver, whereas on EK/ EY one would have about 22,000 tier miles (if you flew all the way to the UK), which wouldn't be enough for silver. Same applies if you're flying to SE Asia, though it's in the opposite direction.

Hope that helps!