Ugh, one of the best sweet spots of the Emirates Skywards program, at least for members based in the United States, has just been devalued.
In this post:
Emirates increases carrier surcharges on US flights
Emirates Skywards has pesky carrier imposed surcharges on award tickets, though the amount that you’ll pay varies based on the route. For first and business class travel, the airline has historically had super high surcharges for award flights connecting through Dubai, while the carrier’s fifth freedom flights have had much lower surcharges.
This has been especially useful for members in the United States, since Emirates has three handy fifth freedom routes — Miami (MIA) to Bogota (BOG), New York (JFK) to Milan (MXP), and Newark (EWR) to Athens (ATH). Unfortunately that seems to have just changed, as flagged by Tim.
For example, the fifth freedom flights from the United States to Europe now have $433.50 in taxes and fees for a one-way award in first or business class. As a point of comparison, previously you would’ve paid a total of $105.30, so surcharges have increased by $328.20 per direction.
For the fifth freedom flight from Miami to Bogota, you now have to pay $267.50 for a one-way award in first or business class. As a point of comparison, previously you would’ve paid a total of $63.60, so surcharges have increased by $203.90.
These are just the one-way costs for one person, so if you’re traveling roundtrip as a family, we’re talking about thousands of dollars in additional fees, potentially.
These higher fees come at a time when oil prices are actually down. For that matter, Emirates seems to have mildly decreased its surcharges for many flights to and from Dubai. For example, from New York to Dubai, a one-way award in first class now has a total of $834.90 in taxes and fees, while previously the total was over $1,000.
So it almost seems like Emirates has just tried to make its carrier surcharges a bit more logical and consistent, as much as I hate to see it.
There aren’t many great deals left with Skywards
There’s simply no denying that Emirates Skywards is becoming a progressively less interesting frequent flyer program:
- Emirates Skywards has started restricting first class awards to elite members (though it’s easy enough to earn Skywards status)
- While Emirates Skywards partners with most major transferable points currencies, we’re seeing devaluations to the transfer ratios, so they’re largely no longer 1:1
- We’ve seen Emirates Skywards consistently increase the number of miles required for many types of awards, in addition to increasing fees in markets where they previously weren’t that bad
Obviously I’m not at all happy to see these changes. I think it’s important to understand the philosophy of Skywards leadership, as it’s a little different than at some other airlines. Emirates doesn’t take the same approach to loyalty programs as in the United States, where airlines essentially operate as loss leaders for their loyalty programs.
Instead, Skywards is viewed as being more part of the commercial organization, and is intended to drive loyalty, first and foremost. So the reality is that Emirates doesn’t really care to offer great value awards to those just looking to transfer points. Now, personally I think there’s a better approach to take, but hey, each airline can run its program how it wants.
It’s hard to make the argument that redemptions in Emirates business class represent a great deal. While Emirates first class redemptions are expensive, it’s an absolutely phenomenal product, in my opinion, and there’s no denying the airline invests a lot in the experience.
I mean, if you’re into wine, you can easily drink your carrier imposed surcharges, based on all the good stuff they’re pouring. 😉
Bottom line
Emirates Skywards has drastically increased carrier imposed surcharges on fifth freedom award flights, including the three of these routes the airline operates to and from the United States. While these flights previously represented a sweet spot of the program, I’d say that’s no longer the case.
What do you make of this Emirates Skywards devaluation?
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.
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 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
@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.
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.
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.
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
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
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 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.
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.
These surcharges are normally paid on cash fares as well.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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...
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 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.
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.
I've also noticed that EK collects (extravagant) taxes ex-Brazil even though local law should actually prevent them from doing so.
Emirates Skywards is a shit program with terrible service. Good riddance.
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…