Questions and Answers

Hi all,

I’m eyeing an Emirates flight for next April, but their lack of card partners are putting me off. Would an AmEx card (Membership Rewards) be worth it with the 1:1 transfer ratio, but low sign-up bonus? Or would I be better off transferring Citi points to a partner and then booking the flight through there?

We’d be looking to off-set the cost of the tickets vs. covering the whole thing.

Thank you!

Emirate’s award chart isnt especially great. You may be better off booking via a partner, depending on the route. I believe you can book EK awards with Alaska, Korean and JAL – each will have their own rules and costs.

[QUOTE=”David W, post: 35849, member: 29″]Emirate’s award chart isnt especially great. You may be better off booking via a partner, depending on the route. I believe you can book EK awards with Alaska, Korean and JAL – each will have their own rules and costs.[/QUOTE]

I was reading up on how to book with partners but I don’t especially understand it. Do I need to have accounts there as well? Is it possible to just straight book with a partner airline and then upgrade later with my points?

You only need miles in the program you are booking with, so in this case, Alaska, Korean and/or JAL.

However, airlines cant upgrade a ticket that was issued by another airline. For example – if you use Alaska miles for an award ticket on Emirates, Emirates cant process any upgrades for you under most circumstances. You have to have Alaska process upgrades, and with their own miles.