Etihad Airways Partners plans to align global loyalty programmes

EAP is a partnership comprising Etihad Airways, airberlin, Alitalia, Air Serbia, Air Seychelles, Etihad Regional, Jet Airways and NIKI, which have joined together to enhance their customer proposition and offer more choice to their travelers.

The four frequent flyer programmes operated by the EAP airlines are Etihad Guest - the loyalty programme of Etihad Airways, Air Seychelles, Air Serbia and Etihad Regional; topbonus, the loyalty programme of airberlin and NIKI; JetPrivilege, the loyalty and rewards programme of Jet Airways; and MilleMiglia, the loyalty programme of Alitalia.

Together the airlines offer a combined network of over 400 destinations across six continents.

Bruno Matheu, Chief Executive Officer of Etihad Airline Equity Partners, said, “The steps we’re announcing are just the latest initiative to create an enhanced proposition for guests travelling across the EAP. We want to give all of our guests a high quality, convenient travel experience across all the partner airlines."

“EAP partner airlines have taken key steps to align their products. For instance, all offer fully flat beds in Business Class on long haul flights. Now we want to provide further enhancements, and by aligning services such as tier benefits, we can ensure that our most loyal guests experience the same service on each of the partner airlines," he added.

Beginning October, there have been changes in several areas such as priority check-in, priority boarding, lounge access, excess baggage and tier bonus miles, as part of the ongoing process to speed up the alignment of the various programmes, which is subject to Fare Choices made by the guests for travel on board EAP partner airlines.

Based on the fare choice of the traveller, changes made to the applicable Excess Baggage allowances across all EAP airlines could see Silver members receive an additional 10 kg; Gold members a further 15 kg, and platinum members will receive 20 kg more whenever they fly on an EAP carrier.

For those routes where the weight is measured per piece, all members will receive an allowance of an additional bag up to 23kg in Economy or up to 32kg in First and Business Class. 

The Silver, Gold and Platinum members of all EAP frequent flyer programmes will be entitled to priority check-in, irrespective of the EAP airline they are flying.

Priority check-in offers elite tier members an enhanced experience, at dedicated check-in counters or premium counters when travelling in economy.

Gold and Platinum members of all EAP frequent flyer programmes are also entitled to priority boarding, irrespective of the EAP airline they are flying.