Etihad sale with up to 20% discount on ex-India routes

It is the time to sport, with Rio 2016 currently going on, and Etihad is celebrating the summer of sport with a sale that offers discounts of up to 20% on pretty much all of its routes, for bookings that are ex-India. The booking period ends 21 August 2016, for travel between 1 September 2016 and 31 May 2017 - which, if you ask me, is quite a liberal travel period. Here's more.

There isn't a separate landing page as such for this promotion, though the advertisement / promo page that also contains the T&Cs, is here. The only thing you need to do to get the discount, is apply the promotion code SPORTIN, when booking on Etihad's website. For that reason, you could technically say that the discount is available only on online bookings, and not through agents. 

In case you were wondering why Etihad's offer refers to this period as the "summer of sport", that's simply because they are not official partners of Rio 2016, and so they cannot use the term "Olympics", "Rio 2016" or anything on those lines!

I tried out a few routes for random dates. The level of discount varies quite significantly based on the travel sector. For some of the more mainstream routes (eg, BOM-LHR via AUH), I could get an 8-10% discount, but never as high as the full 20%. 

Applying the promotion code, I get the following fares instead:

On the other hand, I could get discounts of up to 15% on the MAA-AUH sector, in business class, where the total fare changed from about Rs 53,000 to Rs 45,000 when I applied the promo code.

The same route in economy class brought the fare down from Rs 23,000 to Rs 21,000, which is a little less than 10%.

But that's just me...YMMV.

Etihad A330 business class seat

The detailed T&Cs for this promotion are:

1. To book, visit etihad.com and enter your flight requirements as normal. Before clicking to select your flight enter the promotion code SPORTIN in the ''Do you have a promotional code” section – this is under the ''Guest'' tab within the booking engine. Once the code is entered click the “Search Flights” Button to select your flight and the discount will be applied automatically. Your flight selection will now be complete, so continue to make your booking and payment as normal. 
2. To take advantage of the 20% off discount, bookings must be made between 11 August and 21 August 2016 and travel must start and finish between 1 September 2016 & 31 May 2017 (Travel between 8 September to 15 September, 24 November to 29 November and 15 December to 9 January excluded).
3. Offer valid on all Etihad flights from India to our global network in Economy Class and Business Class only. 
4. Offer is valid for Return and One-Way travel. 
5. Offer is valid on Etihad Airways flights and EY Codeshare flights with Etihad Airways Partners.
6. Discount is only valid on the fare and not Taxes, fees and charges.
7. Offer is not valid on Economy Flex fares and Business Flex fares.
8. Discounts can be availed only if booked via the link: etihad.com, offer is not valid on bookings made through any other channels.
9. No cash or credit alternative is available.
10. Other terms & conditions may apply.

Conclusion

Overall, it seems like you could get a better deal in business class compared to economy class. Also, clearly the sector being flown matters, in the sense that this isn't a flat 20% discount. Finally, you'll be able to get the discount only on direct bookings on Etihad's website, and not for bookings done in any other manner. That said, some of the discounts look pretty decent, so if you search around, you might get lucky with a full 20% discount.

Readers: Is an up to 20% discount good enough to get you to book with Etihad under this promotion? Have you found any good routes with a discount higher than the 15% I've found? Do let us know in the comments below.