While Emirates' blingy first-class cabins and onboard bar and shower have caught the eye of almost every award traveler, the carrier's Skywards frequent flyer program has historically been an afterthought. Simply put, there have been cheaper ways to book Emirates award flights with miles that could be earned more easily.
Unfortunately, many of these alternative booking options have changed significantly, and even Emirates Skywards underwent some notable devaluations over the last couple of years. That said, Emirates Skywards still offers some appealing options.
Plus, many of the best rewards credit cards partner with Emirates, which allows you to transfer points directly to your Skywards account.
Here is everything you need to know about Emirates' loyalty program.
Related: We fly the Emirates A380 in all 4 cabins, including the new premium economy
How to earn miles with Emirates Skywards
There are a number of ways to earn Emirates miles — not just by flying but also through the carrier's various partners.
Earn miles via credit cards
As with most airlines, the fastest way to earn a meaningful amount of miles is by leveraging the right credit card welcome bonus and transfer options.
Emirates offers a pair of cobranded credit cards in the U.S., but even if you don't have one of them, Skywards miles are among the easiest to earn, as Emirates is one of the only airlines to partner with all the major transferable points currencies, except for Wells Fargo Rewards.
The following cards all currently offer strong welcome bonuses that you could easily convert to Skywards miles:
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- The Business Platinum Card® from American Express: Earn 150,000 bonus points after you spend $20,000 on eligible purchases with the card in the first three months of card membership.
- The Platinum Card® from American Express: Earn 80,000 Membership Rewards points after you spend $8,000 on purchases within the first six months of card membership.
- American Express® Gold Card: Earn 60,000 Membership Rewards points after you spend $6,000 on eligible purchases with your card in the first six months of card membership. Plus, receive 20% back in statement credits (up to $100 back) on eligible purchases made at restaurants worldwide within the first six months of card membership.
- Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card: Earn 75,000 bonus miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within the first three months from account opening.
- Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card: Earn 75,000 bonus miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within the first three months from account opening.
- Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card: Earn 90,000 bonus points after spending $8,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening.
- Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card: Earn 60,000 Ultimate Rewards points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first three months of account opening, plus a $300 statement credit on Chase Travel℠ purchases within the first year.
However, as transfers are irreversible, be sure that transferring your rewards to Emirates makes the most sense before doing so.
Related: Why transferable points are worth more than other rewards
Earn miles by flying Emirates
If you're a frequent international traveler, you could also earn miles by crediting flights on Emirates or one of its partner airlines to your Skywards account. Emirates awards miles based on the distance flown, the cabin, the fare class and if you hold elite status with Skywards.
Emirates has four cabins to choose from: economy, premium economy, business class and first class. These cabins are then divided into fare classes.
- Economy: Special, Saver, Flex and Flex Plus
- Premium economy: Flex Plus
- Business class: Special, Saver, Flex and Flex Plus
- First class: Flex and Flex Plus
There's no earnings chart published anywhere, so you'll have to rely on Emirates' miles calculator to see how much you'll earn. For example, if you book a round-trip economy class (Special) ticket from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) to Dubai International Airport (DXB) and have no elite status, you'd earn 1,800 miles.
Earn miles on partner flights
Emirates partners with the following airlines, allowing you to earn Skywards miles when you credit flights on those partners to your Emirates account:
- Air Canada
- Air Mauritius
- Azul
- Bangkok Airways
- Condor
- Copa Airlines
- EasyJet (spend partner only)
- FlyDubai
- Gol Airlines
- Japan Airlines
- Jetstar
- Korean Air
- Malaysia Airlines
- Qantas
- South African Airways
- TAP Air Portugal
- United Airlines
With all partners, your earn rate is based on your flight distance and the fare class you book. Unfortunately, Emirates' partner accrual charts aren't especially generous, with all partners capped at 1 and 2 miles earned per mile flown — even for premium cabins.
Earn miles with rental car and hotel partners
There are several ways to earn Emirates miles beyond flights and credit cards, starting with the airline's numerous rental car partners. Emirates partners with most of the major car rental companies around the world, allowing you to earn either a fixed bonus per eligible rental or bonuses of up to 6 miles per dollar spent.
Normally, you're best off booking hotels directly to make sure you earn hotel points and have your elite benefits honored. But if you travel less frequently, you might decide that booking with a third party and earning airline miles is better. Emirates partners with several major booking platforms and individual hotel chains like Hyatt, InterContinental, Hilton and Atlantis, The Palm.
Related: 9 things to consider when choosing to book via a portal vs. booking directly
Pool miles
Instead of transferring miles between accounts, Emirates' My Family program lets you and up to seven family members (including children) create a joint My Family account to combine miles. Every time you fly with Emirates, you can select how many miles to credit to your My Family account, with the remainder going into your Skywards account.
This can be a great way for couples and families to combine their efforts and save up miles for awards faster.
Related: Family points pooling: How to transfer and maximize your rewards
Emirates Skywards elite status
Emirates offers four elite status tiers in its Skywards loyalty program, starting from Blue (general members) up through top-tier Platinum. You can qualify either by earning a set number of tier miles or taking a certain number of flights each year:
- Blue: Entry-level member
- Silver: 25,000 tier miles or 25 flights
- Gold: 50,000 tier miles or 50 flights
- Platinum: 150,000 tier miles and take at least one qualifying flight in business or first class
All elite members (i.e., Silver and above) receive complimentary lounge access and priority check-in. Meanwhile, Gold and Platinum members receive perks like guaranteed seats on full flights and priority baggage delivery. Platinum status also provides first-class lounge access. Each tier comes with a mileage bonus, too, with Silver members earning 30% bonus miles, Gold earning 75% bonus miles and Platinum members earning 100% bonus miles.
Related: How to get airline elite status
How to redeem Emirates miles
Redeem miles for Emirates flights
Given that Emirates is not a member of one of the three major airline alliances, your dream Skywards redemptions may be for Emirates-operated flights.
Emirates flies from its hub in Dubai to hundreds of destinations worldwide and has enjoyed incredible success serving as a connecting hub for passengers flying between Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and even North America.
Unfortunately, the Skywards program underwent a slew of devaluations in 2022 — raising award rates and fuel surcharges.
Since Emirates doesn't publish an award chart, you'll need to check the airline's Miles Calculator to search prices for each route you want to travel. Note that this calculator claims to indicate the number of miles you'll earn on Emirates flights, but it also displays the redemption rates when you click "Spend" at the top.
For example, you could fly from JFK to DXB on a one-way Economy Saver fare for 30,000 miles or opt to book the Economy Flex Plus fare for 50,000 miles.
Emirates currently operates two fifth-freedom flights from the U.S, flying an Airbus A380 daily between JFK and Milan Malpensa Airport (MXP) and a Boeing 777-300ER daily between Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) and Athens International Airport (ATH) in Greece. This can be a fun way to get to Europe if you don't wish to fly to Dubai.
Though these flights jumped in price in 2023, they can still provide some decent value. You can book one-way awards on either route at the following rates:
- Economy Saver: 35,000 miles
- Premium Economy Flex Plus: 47,500 miles
- Business Saver: 87,000 miles
- First Flex Plus: 102,000 miles
Unfortunately, with last year's changes, fuel surcharges on most Emirates flights booked through Skywards are quite high. A round-trip flight from the U.S. to Dubai typically includes roughly $450 in taxes and fees for economy, while business- and first-class award tickets will cost over $1,700 in surcharges.
Thankfully, the European routes detailed above are still reasonable, only adding a few hundred dollars in taxes and fees.
Related: Emirates first class still wows: Fully enclosed suites and unlimited caviar
Redeem Emirates Skywards miles for partner awards
You can redeem Skywards miles on all of the airline partners described. Fortunately, Emirates does publish a simple distance-based award chart for all partners. Here are the costs one-way, per person.
These prices are largely in line with other loyalty programs. For example, United often charges 28,400 miles in economy or 80,000 miles in business class to fly from the East Coast to the United Kingdom. If you are looking at round-trip flights to Europe, then you'll be charged less for the Emirates-operated fifth-freedom flights listed above.
Note that Qantas does allow first-class redemptions through Skywards. To view mileage pricing, you can access the partner award chart here.
Related: How should you fly to Dubai: Emirates or United?
Bottom line
Emirates first class remains one of the most aspirational bucket list items for many award travelers. That hasn't changed in recent years. However, after ending its partnership with Alaska Airlines and no longer allowing first-class award flights to be booked through Japan Airlines, these premium awards are generally easiest to book with the carrier's Skywards program — especially with many U.S. credit card transfer partners to pick from.
That said, these flights require many miles and have hefty fuel surcharges, so be sure to check the total costs for your desired dates before going all-in with Emirates Skywards.
Editorial disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airline or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.