Bleh: Emirates Skywards Hikes Fees On US Fifth Freedom Award Flights

Emirates Skywards is a shit program with terrible service. Good riddance.

I've also noticed that EK collects (extravagant) taxes ex-Brazil even though local law should actually prevent them from doing so.

Open ended question but where are folks finding the best deals these days? I think AA still has some good deals. Aeroplan for me still has the best value on the most widespread basis. And occasionally Virgin will have low points deals even if higher surcharges (would rather pay Virgin 29k points and $800 versus AA 57.5k points and $800 for a BA flight from LHR-JFK for instance).

If TY points transfered to Aeroplan I could see an argument for shifting most of my spending to Citi...

Sadly, in premium economy redemptions, especially when traveling with family. At least it gets you outta the back row and you're able to unload miles to save thousand$ in cash.

The past few years have been brutal. All you hear is passengers getting charged more taxes and dilution of point value with less to no availability.

For once, woukd love to see an airline reduce the taxes or points it charges. That would be so refreshing.

Makes no sense. Why wouldn't everyone just upgrade from Miles Economy Flex ticket? Looking at the same date Ben used, the Eco ticket is 30,000 miles + $122.50 and another 39,000 miles to upgrade. Am I missing something?

The Virgin programme does offer some interesting redemptions both on their own metal (dynamic pricing, limited routes, varying surcharges with premium economy ones usually being reasonable) and partner airlines (distance-based except DL and AFKL- and many Skyteam airlines don't charge high surcharges).

If you're looking to earn flown miles instead of transferring credit card points, Air Europa and Aegean both have decent redemption charts and reasonable elite qualification thresholds.

This isn't confined to the USA. BCN-MEX also comes with a ridiculous surcharge now, presumably any other fifth freedom routes will be affected too.

Above all, it’s just ridiculously outdated, mediocre product. 2-3-2 seating with sloping seats in business class on 777s…? Not that the dorm vibe on the A380 is much better…

Carrier surcharges are the biggest joke. The whole point of a rewards flight is that its "free". Surcharges or taxes that aren't on paid flights also shouldn't apply to award flights.

Unfortunately we don't have the best lobbyists on this issue. Maybe the credit card companies can fight for this as they also fight to maintain their swipe fees.

I’ve found good value with skywards by looking for fares with guaranteed upgrades available and then buying an economy ticket. Flew Düsseldorf to Dubai on the a380 for $500 and I think 25k miles. Felt like a very low redemption with high carrier charges. Did the same for Dubai to Hanoi but wished I hadn’t bother upgrading for the old 777

Whether or not Emirates is a good product depends on the aircraft they use. I flew on them a few months ago and the configuration was 2-3-2 business class and for what they charge I found that unacceptable. If I knew that in advance I would have chose premium economy of a 2-4-2 configuration.

These surcharges are normally paid on cash fares as well.

Emirates announces the aircraft type at the time of booking so you should know that in advance. All their A380’s have a 1-2-1 layout while almost all of their 777’s have 2-3-2

@Lucky "I mean, if you’re into wine, you can easily drink your carrier imposed surcharges, based on all the good stuff they’re pouring. "

Haha - good one Ben. Loved my Emirates past F experiences, tough to get value out of the program now.

Not sure you can do that if you're redeeming partner miles with a programme that passes on surcharges...

Also, those 39,000 mile upgrades are not automatically available, especially at the time of booking, and are often only offered at checkin if they are offered at all.

It was available for Ben's JFK to Milan example. Their site specifies if avaiable at booking.

That sounds like a solid strategy! How do you usually check if the upgrade is guaranteed before booking? Just looking on the site or using a tool? Curious which fare classes this works best with too.

I transferred 390k miles to Emirates just for this. For NYC to Milan. Ugh. Emirates has to be the most useless program aside from Delta. Will go out of my way to avoid them in the future. Don’t care if they improve their hard product. Airlines should be punished who introduce capricious fees

Emirates has to be the most useless program aside from Delta. Will go out of my way to avoid them in the future. Don’t care if they improve their hard product. Airlines should be punished who introduce capricious fees

I haven’t booked one for a year so not sure if it’s changed but there’s a picture of a seat next to a fare class that has “upgrade available” rather than “eligible”.

I just did a dummy search and couldn’t find any examples but maybe have a play around on the desktop site to get a feel for what’s there.

As the most profitable airline in the world, Your inability to redeem at rates that you desire will not impact Emirates bottomline in any meaningful way. I suspect EK has done the analysis and has determined the increases will just make them more profitable or at least just as profitable.

I am as unhappy about this as anyone but I am completely willing to pay a few hundred extra for the opportunity to fly EK F for pennies on the dollar when it's all tallied up.

Complete hyperbole to say it's tough to get value out of the program. But please, by all means perpetuate these misconceptions. Every one of them is more insurance for the rest of us.