How To Redeem Miles For Emirates First Class: Costly, And Elite Status Required!

Ben, you're partly incorrect - Qantas has less award availability - this is correct. However over the last few years, I've booked at least 4-6 First class seats - business class availability is almost none existent while first class does pop up time to time. Sometimes I'd prefer business to save miles but have to book First because that's all there is.

Points required is slightly more than skywards with the recent devaluation.

Thks for posting this...timely info. Ek and KE are the only F products I have not flown. I'm want to fix that problem in 2026!

I would like to ask if you have found any Emirates First award through Qantas in last 6 months. As far as I am aware, only Oceania routes show availability, other routes are zeroed out.

This is huge: "elite status requirement doesn’t apply if you’re trying to upgrade to first class, or if you’re booking through a partner program" because that's the only way(s) I've been able to get it. Not gonna bother 'earning' Skywards status; just buy business, and if the confirmed upgrade to EK F is available, instantly transfer the 35-70K-ish points from your preferred program (like Amex).

I'm rooting for you, Steve. It's an exceptional product, even on the older 1-2-1 configured 773, especially on the newer 1-1-1 773, and certainly the a380 (because of the shower). When it does happen, save room for the seemingly never-ending caviar and Dom Pérignon.

The upside of the changes are that F redemptions have become leaps and bounds easier out of the U.S. Even the game changer out of ORD has had availability on and off and rarely did before.

I'd recommend EK (and other airlines) adopt the following regarding access to F award inventory. It rewards those with tier status but does not completely foreclose access to others. EK Platinum has access 12 month out. EK Gold at 9 months. EK Silver at 6 months. Partners at 3 months. Everyone else (as with upgrades) on the day of travel.

I have booked 2 Emirates First awards through Qantas in the last 6 months: Munich to Dubai and Dubai to Sydney. I’ve always found good availability with Emirates across all cabins through Qantas rewards.

Any suggestions for someone in the UK getting and keeping Emirates status. I have BA Gold Guest List, but they don't appear to have a good status match programme and in the UK we have no credit card opportunity. Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

The catch with upgrading from biz to first at the last minute is that you have to have the miles available and ready to redeem in your Skywards account, or initiate a transfer that processes immediately (usually the case, but not always). So if for someone reason the upgrade doesn't clear or isn't available, those miles are 'stuck' in your Skywards account. That's not great if your Emirates redemptions are infrequent, and also has an opportunity cost because the points transferred could have been used somewhere else.

Another option, although in my experience it is not at all attractively priced, is to upgrade at the airport using cash. This is available on biz redemptions, but only at the airport, not prior. Last month I flew EWR-ATH on a biz redemption (booked before the increase in the surcharges, so 174,000 miles R/T and $244 in fees) and asked at EWR how much a cash upgrade would cost. Answer: USD 2,600 O/W. Not worth it to me, but was good to confirm that the option does exist.

If you're GGL I would be surprised if the easiest way wouldn't be to just travel on Emirates for a couple of flights instead of sticking to OW/BA. Heading to the US it might be worthwhile positioning in Milan or Athens while eastbound is even easier (as you just fly out of LHR).

I was able to snag a First class award (DXB-SEA) using Qantas points a few months ago (a trip I'll be taking next month). It's the old 777 product, and it cost me a bunch of AMEX points (thankfully before the devaluation), but I'll be happy to get to try it once.

Still don't understand why anyone would redeem 200k+ miles +$1000 in taxes for EK F experience when there's 10 other much cheaper/better options. The only good thing about EK vs competitors is slightly more expensive wine. Just buy your own bottle of P2 or Opus One and you'll still come out way ahead.

Ive also had success buying economy tickets and upgrading twice. Actually a much cheaper option if you can get a cheap economy ticket.

If CapitalOne is still a 1:1 transfer partner, and I know I want to redeem miles in F this year or next, should I just go ahead and transfer them now before C1 also devalues EK transfers?

@ aeroandquiver -- Assuming you're fairly sure you're going to make that redemption (and have studied availability), then yes, I'd make the transfer before the ratio changes.

@ Mick -- Upgrading from economy to business and then from business to first? I don't believe that should be allowed, so is there some trick I'm missing? 🙂

@ Omar -- I'm curious which options you consider to be materially better and more reasonably priced? I'm not saying there aren't any, but in general, first class award space isn't exactly easy to come by nowadays.

@ Drew -- I've had luck just having the Amex transfer page up while I check-in and inquire about an upgrade with miles, and then making the transfer on the spot.

@ Antwerp -- I can't say that I've found availability to be better, but I'm happy that you've had good luck. I actually find that Emirates is sort of at a low point when it comes to first class availability well in advance, but maybe I'm just having bad luck.

NH, JL, LH, QR, SQ (and more recently QF is making an appearance), TG on some regional routes are all relatively attainable for reasonable prices. 10 is a bit of an exaggeration but not by much.

Singapore First (98k)
Etihad apartment (65-100k)
ANA the room
AF La premiere (If you have status).
All equally of more impressive and with less than $1000 in fees.

NH, JL, AA, BA, LH, SQ, QF, TG, EY, QR are all attainable to varying degrees, and I've flown all of them in the last 24 months (some multiple times). By your own valuation you're paying like $4-5k for a one-way on EK; you're better off just buying a ticket in many cases.

@ Maxwell Azaria -- I'm not arguing there aren't any other first class redemptions. But my point is that it's not like many are as readily available as Emirates, to as many destinations.

Sure, for those of us who specifically seek out products and are super flexible, that's useful. But for most people, flying the ANA A380 on the few days it's available from NRT-HNL is of limited use.

Air France La Premiere? That costs a minimum of 350K miles across the Atlantic. ANA The Room? There are a total of six seats currently available for the entire year. Etihad Apartments? YYZ-AUH actually costs more miles than with Emirates, if booking through Etihad Guest (and AA has access to virtually no space). Singapore first class? Is there a route out of the US where you'll consistently find first class available at any sort of a reasonable price?

@ Omar -- I completely agree with you that award pricing has become so high that in many cases you can get a better deal by paying cash, if positioning yourself strategically.

But as I mentioned in my response to Maxwell, there just aren't many other airlines that release a good amount of first class award space, to the point that it's widely useful to a lot of people.

@Lucky - Have never been able to find a clear answer to this online: if you use miles to upgrade an existing business class award to first class at the airport or on the plane is the cost at that point only the additional differential in miles or are you also charged any addt’l cash differential for fuel surcharges that you would have incurred for a first class vs. business class award at the original time of booking?

Just one data point: Three weeks ago I searched out mid January to DXB in F and seats were available from IAD, ORD (Game Changer), IAH, and YYZ over a few days period. I did not check standard 777 markets or west coast. Now, I will say that from DXB it was slim pickings to Asia. I did manage to get HKG which positioned me close enough to my final. My theory is that if you are looking at specifically DXB from the U.S. there are a lot of options as not many have the Barclays credit card here or fly with EK enough to get status. Once you get into the Middle East, Oceania, and Asia I imagine that significantly changes.

Try using the multi city search tool on the QF website - I find availability to be better through there.

@ BD -- There are no additional surcharges. That's because the fuel surcharges in first and business class are typically the same.

Hi Ben, Hope you can assist. When I search first class using the +/-3 day feature I receive this error message "Sorry, we were unable to retrieve prices for your search. Please try again or get in touch with us(Opens page in a new tab) for help". I've changed browsers, cleared cookies/cache and just can't seem to figure out how to eliminate the error. Is anyone else having this issue? THanks, John

Thanks!

Wasn't there some new policy that came out recently about change/cancellation issues with emirates award tickets. Am I misremembering that?

@ben
I have an award business class ticket coming up, MIA-DXB-MCT, and I know you’re based in Miami. In your experience, are the Miami agents well trained in upgrading?