Emirates Skywards Points Redemption - How It's Done

Skywards is the frequent flyer program of Emirates. The program has often been overlooked due to its high fuel surcharges as well as the fact that there are usually better redemption opportunities on Emirates using partner miles such as Alaska Airlines. However, in 2020 Emirates revised its Skywards program by reducing the fuel surcharges, and it was recently announced that Alaska Airlines can no longer book First Class awards on Emirates, so Skywards is back.

Emirates is not a member of a global airline alliance, but it is worth considering. 3 things makes Emirates a good redemption program:

1. It has a large route network.
2. An acceptable onboard product in Business Class.
3. Award rates are quite reasonable.

Skywards is also the only award program except Singapore’s KrisFlyer that accepts points transfers from all four major US credit cards; Amex, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citibank ThankYou Rewards, and Capital One Rewards.

Emirates is a great go-to for places like the Maldives and Seychelles, and in this article, we’ll break down their rules and the online tools available to find fantastic award redemption opportunities in Business Class.

Good rates to the Maldives, Seychelles, Japan, or Australia

Amex, Chase, and, Citibank transfer at a 1:1 ratio and you can expect to pay around $500 in taxes and fuel surcharges, which is reasonable and lower than it used to be.

Some good value redemptions using Skywards are Business Class flights to the Maldives or Seychelles, which cost 170,000 miles round-trip at the saver level. It’s worth noting that saver award redemptions come with some restrictions such as the fact that only round-trip redemptions are eligible.

Partners don't offer much value, with a few exceptions

Emirates is unlike many of the world’s major airlines in that it is not a member of a global airline alliance. But in spite of that, the airline maintains partnerships with a number of different airlines across different alliances, as well as some low-cost airlines such as EasyJet.

Each partner airline has its own award chart that in many cases doesn't offer much value. However, some partners such as Japan Airlines offer exceptional value — in particular for redemptions between North America and Japan/Asia. A round-trip in Business Class from New York to Tokyo will set you back 125,000 Skywards miles, or to push things even further, you can fly to Australia for just 145,000 miles round-trip in Business Class. That’s exceptional value!

Working out the cost in miles for your Skywards redemption

Similar to its competitors in the gulf, Emirates doesn’t publish an award chart. Instead, the price of an award ticket is distance-based, which you can calculate by using the calculator on the Emirates website. For redemptions on partner airlines, on the other hand, Emirates does publish award charts. Each partner airline has its own award chart. 

Working out the cost in taxes and fees for your Skywards redemption

Skywards charges taxes and fuel surcharges for award redemptions on Emirates flights. The best way is simply to calculate the cost on the Emirates website where the exact amount will be shown on the booking page. For partner airlines, the best way to calculate the cost is to find the same itinerary in ITA Matrix or a GDS and subtract the base fare.

These are professional tools that are used by travel agents and enthusiasts. Need help? Download our app and chat with our experts instead.

Searching and booking award availability

Booking Skywards redemptions on Emirates is a fairy straight-forward process, and we’ll focus mainly on Emirates flights in this article since that’s the main reason for using Skywards. As Skywards uses distance-based pricing with no published chart, there aren’t many sweet spots for maximizing the distance flown, e.g. booking complex routings.

Emirates has a very useful and easy-to-use booking tool on its website. In order to search for award availability, you’ll need to be logged into your Skywards account. The results shown will include both saver and advantage level awards. The former is the cheapest and the award type that we’re specifically looking for, so if the price on the booking page doesn’t match the price shown in the calculator, then that’s most likely due to saver award space not being available.

Stopovers and open-jaws are bookable online via the multi-city feature.

Hold your award ticket while waiting for your points transfer

If you want to hold an award ticket, you’ll need to call Emirates. Skywards allows award holds up to 72 hours, which is useful when you’re waiting for the miles to transfer into your account. We know Amex points, for instance, can take up to 48 hours to transfer.

Routing rules and award ticket conditions

Skywards award tickets can be booked either as one-way, round-trip, or open-jaws. One-way awards are charged at 50% of the round-trip points cost. One stopover is permitted on round-trip redemptions, and one open-jaw is allowed as long as it’s within the same zone.

Next up: Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer - Decent award rates on a superior airline

Thank you for getting this far with us, we hope you’ve enjoyed our articles. Next up is Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer.

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