Best Ways to Book Etihad Airways Business Class with Points and Miles

Headquartered in Abu Dhabi, Etihad Airways is the national airline of the United Arab Emirates. This airline is known for offering excellent in-flight customer service and having an exceptionally advanced fleet of aircraft. Etihad Airways also offers a great business-class product, including lie-flat beds on nearly every aircraft type in their fleet, complimentary champagne, delicious meals, amenity kits designed by Giorgio Armani and more.

Unfortunately, cash prices for Etihad business-class tickets can be quite high, putting this experience out of many travelers’ price ranges. Luckily, you can also book Etihad business-class tickets with points or miles, which keeps your out-of-pocket cost to a minimum. And, in many cases, redeeming for Etihad business-class flights can provide excellent value per point.

There are several frequent flyer programs through which you can book Etihad business class, but most of these programs charge a different rate. So, in this article, we’re going to look at the programs that offer the best rates for Etihad business-class awards. But, first, we’re going to look at what kinds of amenities you can expect in Etihad business class.

What to Expect in Etihad Business Class

Etihad Airways has several different aircraft types in their fleet, each of which offers a slightly different configuration in business class. The premier aircraft type in the fleet is the Etihad Airbus A380, which offers Business Studio cabins featuring partitions for maximum privacy, state-of-the-art entertainment monitors and seats that convert into lie-flat beds. Travelers in Business Studio also have access to Etihad’s “Dine Anytime” feature, which allows passengers to order their meals anytime they choose.

Etihad Boeing 787 aircraft also offer the Business Studio product, which is essentially the same as it is on Airbus A380 aircraft.

Etihad Airbus A350 aircraft don’t offer the Business Studio product. However, the business-class product on these aircraft definitely isn’t too shabby. You’ll still get a comfortable space with a high degree of privacy, an electronically controlled seat that reclines into a lie-flat bed and a large table space.

Boeing 777 aircraft also offer lie-flat beds. However, the degree of luxury on these aircraft is slightly lesser than the other aircraft mentioned above.

Finally, the Airbus A320 aircraft (which is a smaller aircraft designed for short-haul flights) offers the least luxurious business-class product in the fleet. The seats don’t recline into lie-flat beds and there isn’t an entertainment monitor. It’s essentially just the same as economy class with more comfortable seats and more legroom. However, if you’re traveling in one of these aircraft, your flight will probably be very short.

No matter which type of aircraft you’re flying on, you’ll have access to the Etihad Business Lounge if there is one at your departure airport. These lounges offer excellent amenities, such as shower suites, world-class cuisine and a selection of delicious mocktails, so your business-class experience can start before you’re even on board the plane.

Once aboard the plane, all long-haul (longer than six hours) business-class passengers in all aircraft types will receive an amenity kit including ESPA skincare hand cream, ear plugs and an eye mask. You’ll also receive a stylish bag designed by Giorgio Armani that contains a lip treatment, facial mist and lotion.

And, of course, business-class passengers will receive gourmet meals inspired by Emirati cuisine as well as the cuisine of your destination. You’ll also receive a complimentary beverage of your choice upon boarding on select routes.

Best Programs Through Which to Book Etihad Business Class

As mentioned previously, there are several frequent flyer programs through which you can book Etihad business-class flights. However, each frequent flyer program prices Etihad award flights differently. So, let’s look at some of the best frequent flyer programs through which to book tickets in Etihad business class with points or miles.

Air France-KLM Flying Blue

According to user testimony, you can find Etihad business-class awards at amazing rates through the Air France-KLM Flying Blue program. However, Etihad business-class award availability through this program can be very difficult to find.

We recommend using an online award search tool such as AwardTool or PointsYeah to search for Etihad business-class availability over a wide variety of dates through the Flying Blue program. However, you’ll probably have to search far in advance of your travel dates if you’re going to have any success.

However, if you are able to find Etihad business-class award availability through Flying Blue, you’ll most likely get excellent value. Many users have reported finding flights between Abu Dhabi and major cities in North America (such as Toronto, New York, Chicago and more) for under 100,000 miles each way, which is excellent. Seeing as transatlantic round-trip Etihad business-class flights often cost $5,000 and up when purchased with cash, these redemptions would offer excellent value per mile.

Unfortunately, after extensive searching, we weren’t able to find any such availability through the Flying Blue program. But, it may be worth doing a few quick searches through AwardTool or PointsYeah to see if you can score an Etihad business-class award at a great rate.

Flying Blue miles are very easy to earn for U.S. consumers since the program is a 1:1 transfer partner of every major U.S. credit card rewards program, including American Express Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Brex, Capital One Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou Points and Wells Fargo Rewards.

Air Canada Aeroplan

Another frequent flyer program through which you could potentially score an Etihad business-class award reservation at a good rate is Air Canada Aeroplan. Unfortunately, just like Flying Blue and every other partner frequent flyer program, finding Etihad business-class award availability through the Aeroplan program can be quite difficult.

However, in March 2025, Air Canada Aeroplan began pricing Etihad Airways awards flights using a dynamic pricing model, which means that prices for these award flights are most likely higher now than they used to be.

Nonetheless, if you’re able to find an Etihad business-class award through this program, it may still provide solid value per point. And, once again, your best bet for finding Etihad business-class award availability through this program is to use online third-party search tools like AwardTool or PointsYeah to search a wide range of dates.

Air Canada Aeroplan is a 1:1 transfer partner of American Express Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Capital One Rewards and Chase Ultimate Rewards, which makes it easy for U.S.-based travelers to earn points with this program. If you fly with Air Canada often, you may even want to consider signing up for The Aeroplan® Credit Card from Chase, Air Canada’s co-branded credit card for U.S. consumers.

Etihad Guest

Finding Etihad business-class award space through partner programs can seem nearly impossible at times. So, if you have a ton of points or miles to spare and you don’t want to spend a lot of time searching for award availability, the Etihad Guest program is a good option for booking an Etihad business-class award.

Through Etihad Guest, you should have no trouble finding OpenSeat award availability in business or even first class. However, it’s going to cost you an absurd amount of miles. For instance, we searched for a round-trip business-class award flight from Abu Dhabi (AUH) to New York (JFK) in September 2025, and the total cost was a whopping 609,406 miles plus 4,725 United Arab Emirates Dirham (about $1,286).

And, unlike most business-class award redemptions, redeeming Etihad miles in this case actually gives you poor value per point. The cash price of the same exact flights on the same dates would be 22,635 United Arab Emirates Dirham. So, considering the taxes and fees, this redemption would give you a value of about 0.8 cents per mile, which is very poor (especially for a business-class award).

So, if you have a ton of Etihad miles or credit card points to blow and you don’t care about the value per mile you’ll get, then booking Etihad OpenSeat business-class flights through Etihad Guest is an easy route.

It’s worth noting that Etihad Guest offers a different kind of award ticket, known as a GuestSeat ticket, at much better rates than OpenSeat tickets. Unfortunately, GuestSeat award availability is just as difficult to find as award availability through partner programs like Air Canada Aeroplan or Flying Blue.

Several major U.S. credit card rewards programs allow 1:1 transfers to Etihad Guest, including American Express Membership Rewards, Capital One Rewards and Citi ThankYou Rewards. However, considering that most credit card rewards programs have limits on how many points you can transfer annually, it could take you years to transfer enough points to the Etihad Guest program to afford an Etihad business-class award.

The Bottom Line

Emirati airline Etihad Airways is known for providing an excellent on-board experience that starts with Etihad’s state-of-the-art fleet of aircraft and continues through their staff’s attentive customer service and the amenities available in all cabin classes. For these reasons, Etihad business class (in particular, the Etihad Business Studios product) has been in high demand for years, driving up cash prices and making availability harder to find.

And, when cash prices for transatlantic Etihad business-class flights consistently exceed $5,000, the only way for many travelers to experience this product is to book with points or miles. Unfortunately, finding award availability in Etihad business class is a tall task.

While you can find Etihad business-class award flights at favorable rates through partner frequent flyer programs like Air Canada Aeroplan or Flying Blue in theory, you’ll need to search for flights many months in advance and use third-party award search tools such as AwardTool or PointsYeah to have any chance of locating award availability. And, even then, there’s a high chance you won’t find an Etihad business-class award seat through these programs.

Business-class award availability is far more plentiful through Etihad’s own frequent flyer program, Etihad Guest. However, you can expect to pay large sums of points for Etihad business-class flights through this program (unless you can find GuestSeat availability, which is very difficult).

So, there’s really no good way to consistently find Etihad business-class award availability at favorable rates. Your best bet is to use online award search tools to try to locate award availability many months in the future.