Strategically buying miles & points can represent a great deal, especially for luxury travel. Emirates Skywards has just launched its latest sale on purchased miles. While this is one of the better offers we’ve seen from the program, unfortunately it probably doesn’t represent a good value for most. Still, let’s go over the details.
In this post:
Promotion on purchased Emirates Skywards miles
Through 11:59PM GST on Monday, December 9, 2024, Emirates Skywards is offering a sale on purchased miles. While it’s possible that different accounts may be targeted for different offers, it appears that the standard version of the promotion is for a bonus of up to 45%, which you can unlock if you buy at least 50,000 miles in one transaction (pre-bonus).
Note that this is being marketed as an early bird offer, and then there will likely be a promotion offering a smaller percentage bonus as of December 10.
How much does it cost to purchase Emirates Skywards miles?
Emirates Skywards ordinarily charges 3.0 cents per purchased mile, including all taxes and fees. That’s before any discounts or bonuses. If you’re eligible for the 45% bonus and maxed out this promotion, you’d receive a total of 145,000 miles at a cost of $3,000, which is a rate of 2.07 cents per Skywards mile.
Emirates has promotions on purchased miles every so often. A 45% bonus is among the better offers we see from the program. Even so, buying miles for over two cents each is hard to justify, unless you have a specific use in mind.
How many Emirates Skywards miles can you purchase?
Emirates Skywards limits members to purchasing 100,000 miles per account per calendar year, before any additional bonuses. One other thing to be aware of is that you’re only eligible for Emirates Skywards promotions on purchased miles if you have at least some activity in your Skywards account.
Furthermore, it can take up to 48 hours for purchased miles to post to your account.
Which credit card should you buy Emirates Skywards miles with?
Emirates Skywards mileage purchases are processed by points.com, meaning they don’t count as an airfare purchase for the purposes of credit card spending. Therefore I’d recommend using a card on which you’re trying to reach a minimum spending requirement, or otherwise a credit card that maximizes your return on everyday spending.
In this case the best option is the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card (review) or Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card (review), which offer 2x miles and have no foreign transaction fees. Usually the Chase Freedom Unlimited® (review) or Citi Double Cash® Card (review) would also be good options for maximizing everyday spending.
- Earn 1% cash back when you make a purchase, earn 1% cash back when you pay for that purchase
- $0
- Earn 3% Cash Back on Dining
- Earn 3% Cash Back at Drugstores
- Earn 1.5% Cash Back On All Other Purchases
- $0
- Earn 2x miles per dollar on every purchase
- No Foreign Transaction Fees
- 10,000 bonus miles every account anniversary
- $395
- Earn unlimited 2X miles on every purchase, every day
- No Foreign Transaction Fees
- Global Entry/TSA Pre-Check Credit
- $95
- 2x points on purchases up to $50k then 1x
- Access to Amex Offers
- No annual fee
Is buying Emirates Skywards miles worth it?
Emirates Skywards doesn’t have an award chart, but rather has a redemption calculator that will tell you how many miles you’ll need for a ticket. You’re generally going to find the best value booking premium cabin awards, so to give you some examples of pricing (in business class there’s a big discount for booking roundtrip, which doesn’t apply for first class):
- New York to Milan or Newark to Athens will cost you 108,000 miles roundtrip in business class, or 102,000 miles one-way in first class
- Los Angeles to Dubai will cost you 198,000 miles roundtrip in business class, or 186,000 miles one-way in first class
Keep in mind that Emirates has steep fuel surcharges on many tickets, and those surcharges are passed on to Skywards members when redeeming miles.
In many situations booking through the Skywards program is the best value, though there are other options as well, like booking through Air Canada Aeroplan and Japan Airlines Mileage Bank.
Arguably the best kept secret of Emirates Skywards miles is the ability to redeem them for upgrades. On the day of departure you get last seat availability for upgrades (at the airport or onboard), and you can even upgrade award tickets with miles. This is an opportunity not offered by any other airline.
How much are Emirates Skywards miles worth?
Everyone will value mileage currencies differently, but personally I value Emirates Skywards miles at 1.2 cents each. I tend to value miles pretty conservatively, and there are many ways to get more value from Emirates Skywards than that.
Do Emirates Skywards miles expire?
Emirates Skywards miles are valid for a minimum of three years from the date they are earned. Specifically, they expire at the end of the month of the member’s birthday in three years. There’s no way to extend the validity of Skywards miles, so they do have to be redeemed within that timeframe.
What other ways can you earn Emirates Skywards miles?
Emirates Skywards is transfer partners with all major transferable points currencies, including Amex Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Capital One, Chase Ultimate Rewards, and Citi ThankYou, so there are lots of ways to earn Skywards miles. Sometimes we even see transfer bonuses, which can improve the value proposition of transferring points even further.
Personally I value most transferable points currencies at ~1.7 cents each, though everyone has a different valuation. Some people with transferable points may prefer to accrue Skywards miles that way, while others may prefer to buy Skywards miles outright with an offer like this, and save those points for other redemptions.
On top of that, Emirates has co-branded credit cards in the United States that you can earn Skywards miles with.
Bottom line
Emirates has just launched its latest promotion on purchased Skywards miles. You can receive up to a 45% bonus on purchased Skywards miles, which is an opportunity to buy miles for 2.07 cents each.
If you have a specific premium cabin redemption or upgrade in mind then I’d say this deal could be worth considering. However, there are lots of other ways to earn Skywards miles if you have access to credit cards, so I’d personally pursue one of those methods first. This is ultimately a high acquisition cost.
Does anyone plan on buying Emirates Skywards miles with this promotion?
Hmmm did everyone get this promotion? I just tried to buy some miles but it doesn’t look like I’m getting any bonus miles