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New ‘Extraordinary Milestones’ Increase Etihad’s Extraordinary Challenge Prize Pot to 20 Million Miles
With over 50,000 participants already signed up, Etihad has added an extra 12.5 million miles to the prize pot, bringing the total up for grabs to 20 million Etihad Guest Miles.
There’s still plenty of time to get involved. The challenge runs until 25th May 2026, and most of the eligible routes don’t launch until September through to December.
As a reminder, here’s how the main challenge works:
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The first person to visit 15 new destinations wins 5 million miles
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Second place wins 3 million miles
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Third place wins 1 million miles
Now, some new ‘Extraordinary Milestones’ have been added, making it easier to win:
- 25,000 Etihad Guest Miles to the first 100 people to visit 5 of Etihad’s new destinations
- 100,000 Etihad Guest Miles to the first 100 people to visit 10 of Etihad’s new destinations
This makes it much easier to walk away with a prize and definitely gives a much bigger incentive. It’s a fun challenge; however, even with an additional 200 winners, there are still over 50,000 sign-ups.
Eligible new destinations include:
Already Launched
- Prague
- Atlanta
- Warsaw
- Sochi
Launching Soon
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Taipei – 7th September
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Peshawar – 29th September
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Medan – 2nd October
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Phnom Penh – 3rd October
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Addis Ababa – 1st October
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Krabi – 9th October
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Tunis – 1st November
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Chiang Mai – 3rd November
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Hanoi – 3rd November
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Hong Kong – 3rd November
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Algiers – 7th November
Mark Potter, Managing Director Etihad Guest at Etihad Airways, said:
“Having seen the desire and determination of so many, we wanted to reward Etihad Guest members even more by giving flight to their ambition with more prize miles and potential for 200 additional winners.”
You can register here to be eligible to win and track your progress. A live dashboard shows your ranking in each category as you race against other (anonymous) travellers.
The winners will be ranked by the GMT departure time of their final qualifying flight. In the event of a tie, Etihad will verify booking timestamps, starting with the final flight and working backwards to determine who booked first.
Other Challenges
This challenge remains one of the most popular since the success of the SAS challenge. It’s worth mentioning here that Turkish Airlines has closed the 6 continents challenge we reported here to anyone who hasn’t already purchased at least one eligible ticket.
Sign up to the challenge here >>>
Win 500,000 Miles and 500,000 Reward Points Linking Your Flying Blue and Accor Accounts
To celebrate 20 years of Flying Blue, a prize draw has been launched in partnership with long-term partner Accor. You can now earn even more rewards by linking your Accor and Flying Blue accounts.
For a limited time, you can enjoy even more benefits by signing up. You will have a chance to win 500,000 Miles and 500,000 Reward points by linking your accounts and entering the prize draw. When you link accounts, you can earn both miles and Accor Points for your stays and flights.
You’ll also receive a sign-up bonus of 10XP and 2 Status Nights, with half awarded after your first eligible stay and the rest after your first Air France or KLM flight.
If you fly with Air France/KLM, stay with Accor or both; it’s worth linking your accounts. You’ll get a sign-up bonus and earn both Flying Blue miles and ALL points on eligible bookings.
There are also other benefits, such as the ability to convert miles into points or vice versa. 4,000 Flying Blue Miles = 1,000 Accor Points of 2,000 Accor Points = 1,000 Flying Blue Miles.
When linking your accounts, you will also ‘accelerate’ the miles you’ve earned with both programmes in the previous calendar month.
If you’ve already linked your Accor account to Qatar Airways Privilege Club (to earn Avios), switching to Flying Blue will overwrite that link. You can only change airline partners via Accor once every 12 months, so make sure Flying Blue is the right long-term fit before committing.
You can read our guides to the Qatar Privilege Club and Flying Blue for more info.
Wizz Air Now Accepts AMEX + New Cashback Offer
You can now use AMEX cards to pay for Wizz Air flights thanks to a new partnership. The airline becomes the last major airline to partner with AMEX.
To celebrate, American Express is offering a limited-time cashback deal: eligible cardmembers who spend £150 or more with Wizz Air by 4th August will receive £15 back. This also applies to onboard spending.
Bookings must be made directly via the Wizz Air website or app. The offer is valid once per cardmember and limited to the first 90,000 who enrol. You must save the offer to your card before booking your flight. Go to the ‘Offers’ tab on the AMEX website or app and click ‘Save to Card’. If you have multiple AMEX cards, check them all.
Not all AMEX cards have this offer available. The only points cards of interest are the Preferred Rewards Gold card and the Marriott Bonvoy American Express. It’s a shame to see the AMEX Platinum is excluded. The 21 eligible AMEX cards here include cards such as the AMEX Rewards Credit card, Platinum cashback cards and the branded Nectar and Vitality cards.
If you have the offer and book a flight, you’ll receive a 10% cashback return, plus Membership Rewards Points for paying with AMEX. Remember, if you pay via the American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Card, you will earn 2 points per £1 spent on travel, as opposed to 1 point with other cards.