One of the key reasons for me to have signed up with the Citi Prestige Credit Card which was launched in India earlier this year, was the plethora of status it comes with in terms of travel. Some of it I need, some of it I don’t.
One of the first requests I filed in to get a Status upgrade was on Etihad. Etihad offers Gold status, which is their second-from-top status to Citi Prestige Members. This could be useful for members in India since you are getting an alternative to Jet Airways’ Gold status, and it comes with pretty much similar benefits on Jet Airways as Jet Airways’ Gold status, apart from being useful on other airlines such as Etihad, Virgin Australia and their other partners.
Now, Etihad has a specially generous offer for Citi Prestige Card holders. You get Gold Status, and you get 5,000 Etihad Miles as well just to get started, which is a ticket on Jet Airways for free.
Also, you get another 6000 Etihad Miles for being able to transfer 20,000 miles to Etihad within the first 6 months of signing up for the Prestige Card, which makes it a nice 30% bonus. If like me, you’re coming from the PremierMiles card, you are basically converting 10,000 PremierMiles to 26,000 Etihad Miles which is a 1->2.6 conversion ratio.
I made my request somewhere in August, and early September, I was informed about the upgrade going through. With Etihad, they always take a very very long time to get you your membership kit. The surprise was, when yesterday the package really arrived. It stated that my membership was valid all the way uptil March 2016. Wow! For me, I expected it to last 12 months from the date of the upgrade, but this is much more than that!
This means I do get lounge access with Jet Airways and all the other Etihad Airways Partners if I get to fly them, along with Priority Boarding and handling as well.
Have you requested your Etihad Gold status yet?
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I transferred 5000 citi prestige points to Etihad Guest on 16 Oct. On 22 nd Oct I got credit for 20000 miles plus 5000 Citi Prestige Bonus miles. But I did not get additional 6000 miles as per your comment. I have signed up Etihad within 2 months after obtaining Citi Prestige card.
I got the Ethiad Gold status in July, I received the membership card only last week, that too after following up a lot via email with Ethiad. Honestly, this gold status was of no use to me while flying international with Jet Airways Economy in September and October end. Both Jet Airways and Ethiad emailed me insisting that though am an Ethiad Guest Gold- I will not enjoy the same privileges as a Jet Gold member. I tried telling them that the opposite was published on their website, but to no avail. Even took the website gold privileges printout, but they just refused the same during check-in.