Awesome: Emirates Skywards Hugely Reduces Award Fees

too gaudy for my taste

As a First Class travel expert (paid ticket only), I can tell you that Emirates service in First has dramatically gone down (pre-covid). I seriously doubt they would dramatically improve as international travel and border gradually reopen

This is cool news indeed, as I was going to fly Emirates for the first time this summer as part of the return from an Italy trip that's not happening. Now I'll probably dip into my stash of Amex rewards and try first class when we reschedule.

"Hugely Reduces". Not clear whether you're going for "hey guys" vernacular or just poor word choice.

That is great!!

Does Emirates provide the discount for multi city tickets too?

Such as NYC-ATH, MXP-NYC?

Any change on partner surcharges?

I've yet to experience EK F, but not sure I want to until the on board bar is re-open.

@Lucky
The link to the Emirates calculator is broken.

Good to see this.

Lets hope this is just the first in a series of positive moves from many FF programs to increase value in this time of such thin demand.

Well, I can dream...

@Endre
There is no such thing as a "first class travel expert (paid ticket only)"

How did you get to that award search? That looks much more functional than the one I was able to find on their website.

@Jules Unless it was fixed in the last 8 minutes, it works fine

You haven't mentioned an equally important change. Saver awards are gone. Only Full Flex awards are available. So, 1) the rates are higher, 2) EK awards are not available thru partner programs.
I've covered it all here, when EK lowered the YQ a couple of days ago.
https://cariverga.com/emirates-reduces-yq/

@Cariverga - What do you mean EK awards are not available through partners? I can clearly see them on Alaska's booking engine.

Yesssss !

Lucky, you are the best! I just cancelled my skyward ticket from Riyadh to Madrid which I booked 6 days ago!. The tax went from SAR 1742 to SAR 588. Saved me USD $300. When i spoke to the agent , he told me it would take up to 7 days for the miles to redeposit and 21 + days for tax to refund back to my CC. BUT.........it took only 2 mins for my miles to be back to my skyward account! I am SO happy and I am not worry about getting that SAR 1742 back after a month at all.

THANK YOU LUCKY!

OMG this is such great news!! Thanks so much for sharing! I've had my eye on a NYC-ATH award for my brother's honeymoon for a long time, now it seems a lot more reasonable! I have the same question as Izz, is it possible to book JFK-MXP ATH-EWR as at the roundtrip price?

Now if only they would lower their mileage tickets to what they used to be! 105 k for J versus 75k on JAL F to Asia is no comparison

Huge! Tjdhhanks for sharing.

It would be nice if they worked on increasing the time that you can hold your miles before they expire. It should be like Qantas, who allow your miles to be held For ever as long as there are miles going into your account either by flying, or from incentive programs.

Any idea if you can still book the JFK to DXB to MXP for the same cost as JFK to MXP non stop? I can't find any availability anymore. I prefer the stopover in DXB (plus more time in EK F).

So now Emirates is better than Alaska for redeeming it looks like? For LA/NY - DUB or vice versa at least.

What if they reopen the bar onboard?

Anyone who flies on a commercial aircraft for the next 24 to 36 months (time frame to get a robustly tested vaccine/therapeutic that is likely to be available to the masses) is what he/she deserves.
Just saying!

Wish their miles would never expire

Mahnnnnn, for a round trip First Class ticket from Kuwait to Dubai, it costs just 45000 Skywards miles. Guess how much I have? 44,970 miles holy smokes. (i regret wasting miles in Emirates Official Store to buy an iPhone case). but guess what? im thinking of booking this trip in 2021, given First Class would be entirely useless on a 1 hour 45 minute flight, given the soft product cuts.

@Glenn Could you provide an example? I haven't seen any C or F awards thru Alaska. I do see Y awards, though, which IS weird.

As borders are closed to Europeans in the US and to Americans in Europe this has no use whatsoever.

All good, until you realise they've almost doubled the cost of flights.

This is great! EK used to not have any carrier surcharges back 8-10 years ago so am glad of this news!!!

Does this mean Emirates award bookings on Alaska for dates after July 31st will be cancelled?

It's ironic that Emirates is reducing fuel surcharges after oil prices have risen to their highest levels in 18 months.

Maybe those fuel surcharges had little or nothing to do with the price of oil/fuel in the first place?