Emirates Skywards, the loyalty program of Emirates Airlines, offers travelers a pathway to premium travel experiences through its miles program and elite status tiers. While historically overlooked in favor of partner airline programs with lower award costs, Skywards has become increasingly relevant as a transfer partner of major credit card programs and as other booking options have increased in price. This comprehensive guide will walk you through everything you need to know about earning and redeeming Emirates Skywards miles, achieving elite status, and maximizing the program’s value.
Emirates Skywards is the loyalty program of Emirates Airlines, based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Rather than joining one of the major airline alliances, Emirates has established individual partnerships with airlines around the world, creating a unique network for earning and redeeming miles.
Unlike many airline loyalty programs where miles don’t expire as long as there’s account activity, Emirates Skywards miles have a hard expiration date of three years, regardless of continued account activity. The only exception is for Platinum members, whose miles never expire.
When flying on Emirates-operated flights, you earn miles based on four factors:
Emirates provides a Miles Calculator on its website to help determine how many miles you’ll earn for a specific flight. For example, a round-trip economy class (Special) ticket from New York (JFK) to Dubai (DXB) with no elite status would earn approximately 1,800 miles.
Emirates has partnerships with numerous airlines where you can earn Skywards miles:
Earning rates on partner flights are based on distance flown and fare class, but they’re generally not as generous as Emirates’ own flights, with most partners capped at 1-2 miles earned per mile flown, even in premium cabins.
One of Skywards’ greatest strengths is its extensive list of credit card transfer partners. Emirates is one of the few airlines that partners with all major transferable points currencies:
Note: As of July 27, 2025, Chase and American Express have temporarily suspended transfers to Emirates Skywards.
Emirates partners with numerous hotel chains and booking platforms:
Earning rates vary by partner, but you can typically earn either a fixed number of miles per stay/rental or miles based on your spending amount.
Emirates does not publish an award chart for its own flights, instead using a dynamic pricing model. You can use the Miles Calculator on Emirates’ website to determine how many miles are required for a specific route.
Emirates offers two types of award tickets:
One-way award tickets are only available at the Flex Plus level, which requires more miles. Sample one-way award costs from the U.S. to Dubai:
Important note: First class awards are only available to Silver, Gold, and Platinum elite members.
Emirates operates two fifth-freedom routes from the U.S., which can be excellent value for travel to Europe:
One-way award costs on these routes:
Emirates publishes a distance-based award chart for partner flights, with pricing as follows (one-way, per person):
Partner awards must be booked by calling Emirates or submitting the online partner award form, except for easyJet awards which can be booked online.
Emirates offers a Cash + Miles option that allows you to offset the cost of a paid ticket using miles. You must use a minimum of 2,000 miles, and every 5,000 miles translates to approximately $40 off the ticket price. This typically provides a value of about 0.8 cents per mile, which is lower than what you can get from award bookings in premium cabins.
You can use Skywards miles to upgrade eligible paid tickets. Upgrade costs depend on the route, original fare class, and destination. Most tickets can be upgraded in advance, with these exceptions:
Emirates Skywards has four membership tiers, with qualification based on either Tier Miles or the number of flights taken:
Tier Miles are only earned on Emirates-operated flights or codeshares marketed by Emirates (with an EK flight number). Emirates uses a “Rolling Tier” system, giving members 12-13 months from when they start earning miles to meet the requirements for elite status.
Emirates’ fifth-freedom routes from the U.S. to Europe offer excellent value, particularly in premium cabins:
These routes have significantly lower fuel surcharges than flights to Dubai, making them more attractive redemptions.
Emirates’ distance-based award chart for partner airlines offers good value for short-haul flights:
Emirates’ partnership with Japan Airlines offers competitive rates for premium cabin travel within Asia or to/from North America. For example, a one-way business class flight from Tokyo to Singapore (approximately 3,300 miles) would cost 55,000 Skywards miles.
Using miles for upgrades on Emirates flights can provide excellent value, especially on long-haul routes. For example, upgrading from economy to business class on a New York to Dubai flight starts at around 39,000 miles, which can be a better value than booking a business class award outright.
One of the biggest drawbacks of the Emirates Skywards program is the high fuel surcharges on award tickets, particularly for long-haul flights. A round-trip award from the U.S. to Dubai typically includes:
These surcharges significantly reduce the overall value of your miles, especially in premium cabins.
Unlike many airline programs where miles don’t expire as long as there’s account activity, Emirates Skywards miles expire after three years, regardless of activity. The only exception is for Platinum members, whose miles never expire.
Emirates restricts first-class award redemptions to Silver, Gold, and Platinum elite members only. This means that even if you have enough miles, you cannot book Emirates first class awards without holding elite status.
Emirates does not publish a comprehensive award chart for its own flights, making it difficult to plan redemptions without checking the Miles Calculator for each specific route and date.
Emirates My Family is a program that allows you to pool miles with family members, making it easier to accumulate enough miles for awards.
My Family is particularly valuable for families who travel together occasionally but may not individually earn enough miles for redemptions.
Emirates Business Rewards is a program designed for small to medium-sized businesses to earn rewards on their employees’ travel.
This program is particularly valuable for small businesses that frequently send employees on international trips, as it allows them to earn rewards on business travel while employees still earn their personal miles.
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