harismith

NYC<>AUH = 6852 Tier Miles and 1 Tier Point

If one needs 25,000 tier miles and 20 tier points to make Silver, would one really have to fly 137,000 miles to earn Silver on Etihad because the tier points earned were low?

Dogmatick

It is one or the other, four of those flights would be sufficient

Tier points is only really worth looking at if you are in the Middle East doing lots of short hops and even then likely in Business

Silver, however, is largely pointless I'm afraid - no lounge access and slim chance of an upgrade

eddibabyyeah

I think the OP is mixed up with the terminology used. When you fly EY you earn Guest miles and Tier miles.

Guest miles are the miles which you redeem for flights, upgrades......
Tier Miles are the number of miles which count towards your status
Tier Segments are the number of flights which count towards your status

Achieving Silver or any other level is based on TIER miles or SEGMENTS.

Silver is not worthless. You earn more guest miles, lounge access in AUH, extra baggage, fast track security (outbound) & priority checkin. The chances of OP-UPs are smaller than a gold. But they do exist. As silver, I had 4 OPUPS from Y-J in the last 18 months. So, not completely useless.

Jrunway

I don't think silver comes with fast track security, however, it is indeed not totally worthless.
http://www.etihadguest.com/en/programme/benefits/

harismith

Thank you.

British Balikbayan

Doing two NYC-AUH return trips within a 12 month rolling period will give you 27,408 tier miles, enough for Silver. You DON'T need tier segments as well, it's either.

In my opinion Silver is worth having. It used to provide lounge access at all airports but now only at AUH. But since then, access to business class check-in desks has been made available which is a massive plus, especially in airports where the economy queue is very slow. In addition there is a generous check-in baggage allowance bonus and bonus guest miles (the ones you spend). If you fly on a breaking deal, you would double your guest miles as a Silver member. However, I never received an op-up in 40 flights while I was Silver.

I recently attained Gold status which as a leisure only traveller takes some doing to earn 50,000 miles in 12 months. I had one segment upgraded on my first trip as a Gold member. I now have full lounge access at all airports except the First Class lounge at AUH and can also take in a guest. I now earn even more bonus miles and get priority baggage on all routes and priority security at some airports.

Mike