There are quite a few airline frequent flyer programs that offer some sort of a paid subscription model, in addition to their free loyalty programs. The idea is that you pay a fixed fee annually, and receive a set of perks in exchange for that.
Continue reading: Paid Emirates Skywards+ Subscription: Do The Perks Justify The Cost?
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Can you clarify regarding the 20% award ticket discount- is it a discount? or a rebate? You used the word "discount" but then in your example you made it sound like a rebate.
So if an award is 204,000 like you said, do you need to have 204,000 to book, and then you get "rebated" the 40k miles? Or can you book with only 164,000? Big difference in the value IMO
I'd also find the louge pass useful when you have a promtional upgrade to business class that does NOT include lounge access. So def see value there as well
From the T&Cs:
Only commercial tickets issued on emirates.com are eligible for discounted Upgrade Rewards.
Only Upgrade Rewards issued online through emirates.com are eligible for this discount.
At least on paper, this seems more restrictive than described by Lucky.
Since I know Emirates isn't the only program to offer a subscription of some sort, could you perhaps do a post briefly summarizing the programs with subs that exist? (I say this as a subscriber over at Accor.)
It is a rebate, not a discount! The terminology on Emirates’ own website is very misleading, and this is why I only paid to join this program once. You have to have the full amount of miles needed for the desired ticket in your account, and then—it’s been a while—at the final stages, you either won’t have to spend that full amount or you get it refunded shortly after booking.
First class return 204,000? Even at 3¢ a point that's only $6000 return. What's the cash price?
Good catch. Based on the T&Cs, it does seem more restrictive than initially described. Limiting it to commercial tickets issued on emirates.com and upgrades processed online narrows the eligibility quite a bit. It would be helpful if they clarified this more transparently in the main announcement.
Only have one data point, but in my case, I was able to book it as a discount, not a rebate. When going through the booking process, it calculated the ticket at 20% off the required points. That being said, getting that to actually work required quite a long time on the phone with Emirates, so it's possible I was given an exception and did not realize it.
The question is about value. It does not seem that there is enough value in this. It depends on what you value too. If you value a lounge, there are Priority Pass lounges if you are not flying business or first. I think it would be tough to get enough value. This also assumes you have flown enough or enough miles with the airline. It certainly makes sure that you will use them.