Etihad Guest is one of the newest frequent flyer programs in the world. Launched on August 30, 2006, the program has quickly grown to 80,000 members in 143 countries and the managers of the program expect as many as 150,000 members within a year — 50 percent more than they originally expected. What is really impressive is that in such a short amount of time, the program has already welcomed 140 members into its Gold elite tier and over 300 have been welcomed as Silver members. Gold members must earn 50,000 tier miles or 40 tier segments for their status, and Silver must earn 25,000 tier miles or 20 tier segments. At launch, Etihad Guest had 20 partners and 150 award offers. Now, the program has 45 partners and over 350 award offers. They have also been busy offering promotions to their members such as an online raffle for a golf championship. The Etihad credit card, which was introduced in November, has also met with success and new cardholders sign up daily.