Emirates launches “Season of Rewards” promotion (bonus miles, tier miles & discounted awards)

Emirates Skywards has announced a new promotion which it’s calling “Season of Rewards” and which is set to run through to 31 August 2026. The campaign provides opportunities for Skywards members to earn bonus miles and tier miles as well as offering members discounted redemptions with select partners.

What the campaign offers

The Emirates Season of Rewards promotion has four primary components and all require members to register through the Emirates Skywards site.

Promotion 1 – Cash + Miles savings

For bookings made for travel on on Emirates, flydubai, easyJet and Jet2 taken by 31 August 2026, the airline is adjusting the value members can get out of their miles when making a Cash + Miles redemption.

During the promotion period, 2,000 Skywards Miles can be used to reduce an eligible Emirates or flydubai cash fare by $30, compared to the standard rate of $15. The same rate can be enjoyed when paying for excess baggage, lounge access and seat selection.

This promotion is open to all individual Emirates Skywards members who:

• Are existing members, or who enroll as a member by 11.59pm on 31 August 2026 (Dubai time).
• Have individual Emirates Skywards accounts with a minimum balance of 1 Skywards Mile for issuance of a ticket.
• Book and complete issuance of an Eligible Ticket on Eligible Flights and Eligible Fares by 11.59pm on 31 August 2026 (Dubai time) for an Eligible Journey.

An eligible journey is defined as:

• On Emirates, any journey that originates anywhere on the Emirates network for outbound travel between 21 May 2026 and 31 August 2026 (inclusive).
• On flydubai, any journey that originates anywhere on the flydubai network for outbound travel between 21 May 2026 and 31 August 2026 (inclusive).
• This offer is applicable to all destinations on the Emirates and flydubai network.

An eligible fare is defined as:

1. On Emirates: Special, Saver, Flex or Flex Plus in either Economy Class, Premium Economy Class, Business Class or First Class.
2. On flydubai: Lite, Value or Flex in Economy Class and Business in Business Class.

Also during the promotion period, eligible Emirates Skywards members will receive a 50% improvement in Miles pricing on all Jet2 and easyJet routes. For example, during the promotion, 4,500 Skywards Miles can be used to reduce an eligible easyJet or Jet2 cash fare or ancillary service by GBP49. Ordinarily, 9,000 miles are required to achieve the same discount.

Make sure that you read the full terms and conditions before booking.

Bonus Tier Miles

Skywards members traveling on Emirates or flydubai flights through 31 August 2026 will earn a 20% bonus on Tier Miles.

This offer comes on top of the temporarily reduced tier thresholds which are in force through 31 August 2026 and which are 20% lower than the standard thresholds that are usually in place.

For the promotion period, these are the Skywards elite status thresholds:

• Silver – 20,000 Tier Miles (normally 25,000 Tier Miles)
• Gold – 40,000 Tier Miles (normally 50,000 Tier Miles)
• Platinum – 120,000 Tier Miles (normally 150,000 Tier Miles)

To earn the bonus Tier Miles:

• Travel must be on an Emirates‑marketed flight operated by Emirates or flydubai, or a flydubai‑marketed flight operated by flydubai or Emirates, irrespective of the cabin, fare brand, channel or date of booking.
• Any travel that has been booked or flown using Classic Reward tickets or on any codeshare and interline flights are not considered an Eligible Activity. For the avoidance of doubt, any flights that would not normally earn Tier Miles will not be considered an Eligible Activity.

Apparently, the bonus Tier Miles will be posted to an Eligible Member’s Emirates Skywards Account within 48 hours of completing an Eligible Activity, as long as the Eligible Member has quoted their Membership number at the time of booking.

The bonus Tier Miles will be calculated as 20% of the Tier Miles that would normally be earned in respect of an Eligible Activity.

Bonus miles with partners

For travel completed by 31 August 2026, Skywards members can now earn 50% bonus miles on qualifying transactions with partner hotels, car rental agencies, partner airlines, and Emirates Holidays packages.

• 50% bonus Skywards Miles on hotel stays, including Emirates Skywards Hotels, Marriott Bonvoy, IHG Hotels and Resorts, Jumeirah and more.
• 50% bonus Miles on car rentals, including Hertz, Avis & Budget, Europcar, Sixt and CarTrawler.
• 50% bonus Miles with partner airlines, including United Airlines, Air Canada, Aegean Airlines, Japan Airlines and more.
• 50% bonus Miles on Emirates Holidays packages.

This bonus is capped at 10,000 miles per partner.

Eligible partners include (but are not limited to) brands such as Marriott Bonvoy, IHG Hotels and Resorts, Jumeirah, Hertz, Avis, United Airlines, Air Canada, and Japan Airlines.

Reduced easyJet & Jet2 reward flights

Emirates is offering a 50% discount on the mileage cost for reward flights booked with partners easyJet and Jet2 when travel is taken by 31 August 2026.

Usually, reward flights for travel on easyJet and Jet2 start from 9,000 miles. During the promotion period, reward flights on these two partners can be booked from 4,500 miles.

Quick thoughts

We really should start with the big irony here.

While Emirates is pushing this promotion as a way for members to get extra value out of the Skywards program, it has conveniently failed to point out that it’s doing so less than two days after it significantly raised the cost Classic Rewards and Upgrade Rewards.

In fact, not only has Emirates raised the cost of awards and upgrades, it has also failed to tell members exactly what the increases are and, instead, preferring to let them to discover the bad news for themselves as they search for ways to use their ever-devaluing mileage balances.

Still, as far as the bonus Tier Miles promotion goes, this should be nice for anyone chasing elite status with Emirates, but readers should be aware there seems to be a little confusion and uncertainty surrounding the lowered Tier thresholds.

According to a report on Flyertalk, the Skywards team has said that the lower thresholds only apply to members who have a Tier Review date before 31 August 2026.

On the Emirates press release, however, there doesn’t appear to be any such restriction as the relevant line reads “[w]ith reduced Tier Miles required during this period, it’s now even easier for members to renew or upgrade their membership status“.

Make of that what you will.

Bottom line

Right now, no airline program seems to love a devaluation more than Skywards, so it’s a little surprising to see Emirates following up its latest hammer blow to members’ mileage balances with offers of bonus points and discounted redemptions.

Still, that’s what appears to be on offer right now, but we strongly advise anyone who plans to make the most of any of these deals to read the relevant terms and conditions very carefully and to register (where required) before engaging in any “qualifying activity”.