Verylvke

Etihad doesn’t belong to any airline alliance, however they’ve got quite a few airline partners and some of the partner redemptions are great in value. I accrued some Etihad miles when flying with Philippine Airlines a few years back, and I’ve always wanted to visit Belgrade, so why not book an award ticket on Air Serbia?

Although I managed it in the end, the process was far from pain-free and there’s very little up-to-date information on the Internet, so I’ll try to give some detailed tips today. First of all, although you are using Etihad Guest miles, you don’t talk to Etihad at all for the booking – the whole process involves Air Serbia only!

[Pricing]

You can find all information on Air Serbia’s website here. As you can see, you could redeem Etihad Guest miles on:

• Award ticket
• Cabin upgrade
• Air Serbia Premium Lounge access
• Additional luggage allowance

Booking an award ticket in business class is the best option. A one-way ticket between London and Belgrade costs 10410 miles in Economy and 14834 in Business, whereas cash prices are usually £150+ and £300+ respectively!

Air Serbia flies to many other major European cities such as Berlin, Paris, Rome, Madrid and Stockholm. Their only long-haul destination at the moment is New York, which costs 44970 / 64082 miles.

Obviously you still need to pay taxes and charges. For London – Belgrade in business class it’s €94.64 (!!), and for Belgrade – London it’s only €22.59.

[Transferring Miles]

Even if you don’t have any Etihad Guest miles, it’s very easy to acquire some. They are a transfer partner of American Express Membership Rewards, so you can transfer your MR points to Etihad Guest miles at the ratio of 1:1.

Although Amex’s website quotes a 48-hour lead time, the transfer is actually instant, which is very useful.

[Ticket Rules]

As explained in their conditions:

• You must book at least 24 hours in advance
• You can change for a €25 fee
• You can cancel for a full refund, less 10% of the Etihad Guest miles

I booked my London – Belgrade trip in business class, and it’s in the I fare bucket. I’m not sure how many award tickets Air Serbia releases per flight, but it seems to be on the generous side.

For my Belgrade – London flight the business cabin had already sold out when I called to redeem, but they somehow still managed to fit me in. A couple of days later they told me it was a mistake and downgraded me to economy instead, alas…

Economy award ticket is booked into the N bucket, which comes with a free 23kg checked bag. You can pay for seat selection and other services, for example:

• Seat selection: RSD 902 – 1578
• Seat selection + priority boarding: RSD 1167
• Sear selection + fast track: RSD 1173
• Premium lounge + fast track: RSD 2322

I paid for seat selection + fast track (€9.99), which lets me select any seat including front / exit row, so apparently a good deal. I can access the premium lounge with my Priority Pass already.

[Contacting Air Serbia]

Once you are ready and have sufficient Etihad Guest miles, you can find your local contact number and call them. All calls are handled by the call centre in Serbia, and they operate long hours. I used the UK number 020 37 695 856.

All the representatives I talked with (and believe me there are many…) are very familiar with the award ticket booking process. Here is what it usually looks like:

• Provide your name, contact information, flight details and Etihad Guest membership number
• Air Serbia has a dedicated back office that checks availability and your Etihad Guest account information
• You’ll be asked to call back in a few hours or the next day
• If everything’s good, they’ll take your credit card details and issue the ticket

So it takes two phone calls and potentially a day to redeem an award ticket, which isn’t the simplest, but not too bad either. I had a nightmare when booking my first ticket though, as my Etihad Guest account turned out to be locked for some reason so I had to sort it out first; then Air Serbia’s back office was unavailable so I had to wait a few more days. But in general, their call centre staff know what they are doing and are very helpful.

I hope you find this article useful!