Emirates Skywards Offering New Member Bonus

It’s fairly rare to see a frequent flyer program offer a welcome bonus to new members without any sort of activity requirement, so this offer is pretty noteworthy.

Skywards offering 2,020 bonus miles to new members

Emirates is offering a bonus of 2,020 miles for anyone who signs up for the Emirates Skywards program with the promo code EXPO2020. There’s no activity required, though the miles may not post instantly. This offer is obviously being done to celebrate Dubai hosting EXPO 2020, which has been delayed by a year due to the pandemic, and will be kicking off later this year.

There’s no published end date for this offer, so I’d recommend taking advantage of it sooner rather than later, as it could be pulled at any time. One downside to Skywards is that miles expire 36 months after they’re issued, regardless of activity.

Emirates will be offering several promotions for passengers and Skywards members in celebration of EXPO 2020. For example, a few weeks ago Emirates launched the “Mile-A-Minute” promotion, offering Emirates passengers one Skyward mile for every minute they spend in Dubai (the major catch is that you’re capped at 5,000 bonus Skywards miles, which you’d reach within four days).

Why there’s value in the Emirates Skywards program

The Emirates Skywards program has grown on me a lot in recent years, and there’s quite a bit of value to be had with the program:

• Emirates Skywards is transfer partners with all four major transferable points currencies, so there are plenty of ways to earn Skywards miles and top off your account
• Emirates first class is one of my favorite first class products in the world, and if you want to redeem miles for it, booking directly through the Skywards program is the way to go
• Emirates significantly reduced carrier imposed surcharges back in 2020, which had great implications for award tickets
• Emirates has a phenomenal upgrade program — day of departure you can upgrade flights with no capacity controls, and you can even upgrade a business class award ticket to first class

Bottom line

Emirates Skywards is offering 2,020 Skywards miles to anyone who signs up for the program with promotion code EXPO2020. This is a great promotion given that there’s no activity required beyond just registering. So if you’re not yet a member, this is a great time to register.

Will anyone be able to take advantage of this Skywards offer for new members?

(Tip of the hat to Frequent Flyer Bonuses)