TravelingForMiles.com may receive commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on TravelingForMiles.com are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. TravelingForMiles.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers.
Some links to products and travel providers on this website will earn Traveling For Miles a commission which helps contribute to the running of the site – I’m very grateful to anyone who uses these links but their use is entirely optional. The compensation does not impact how and where products appear on this site and does not impact reviews that are published. For more details please see the advertising disclosure found at the bottom of every page.
The Emirates Skywards loyalty program has launched a promotion which offers members the opportunity to speed up the march towards status if they purchase the right kind of fare.
The key here really is the phrase “right kind of fare” because, unsurprisingly, the cheapest fares that Emirates offers don’t qualify for this promotion.
Still, this could be useful for flyers who book the more flexible fares offered by Emirates so here are the important details:
- Book fares between 26 November and 23:59 Dubai time on 3 December 2018 (inclusive)
- Travel on Emirates or flydubai between 26 November 2018 and 31 March 2019
- Earn double tier miles on eligible fares
- Registration is required (by 23:59 Dubai time on 3 December) via the Emirates app, the Emirates website or the flydubai website.
- Customers must choose ‘Flex’ or ‘Flex plus’ fares when flying on Emirates and ‘Free to Change’ or ‘Business Basic’ when flying with flydubai to qualify for this promotion.
- Only new bookings made during this promotion will earn bonus tier miles.
What This Means
The best way to size up this promotion is to take a look at an example fare….so here’s what a New York – Dubai fare looks like in Economy Class….
…and in Business Class….
What you’re seeing are the prices for the outbound portion of a roundtrip fare and, as you should be able to see, the difference in cost between the fares that don’t count for this promotion (e.g. saver) are considerably cheaper than the fares that qualify.
That’s why this promotion will probably not work for most leisure travelers
If, on the other hand, you’re a business traveler whose job requires an element of flexibility in the fare then this promotion may work quite well for you.
What Are The Skywards Tiers?
As the chart above shows, Skywards has 3 elite status tiers (not including the Blue status that everyone gets) and they’re earned at 25,000, 50,000 and 150,000 Skyward Tier Miles.
You’ll find all the Skywards benefits on this page but there they are in summary form:
How Many Tier Miles Do You Earn?
Skywards Tier Miles are earned in a similar way to redeemable Skywards miles and they depend on the fare purchased and the class of travel.
In the case of this promotion we know that on Flex fares and above qualify so here are some example earnings for a New York – Dubai roundtrip booking.
Economy Class Earnings
Business Class Earnings
First Class Earnings
Thoughts
The cheapest roundtrip qualifying fares on a New York – Dubai itinerary will earn the following Skywards Tier Miles in this promotion:
- Economy Class – 18,000 Tier Miles
- Business Class – 42,000 Tier Miles
- First Class – 60,000 Tier Miles
If you’re not someone who already credits flights to Emirates Skywards its hard to make an argument here that says you should start crediting flights now…..but existing Skywards members may be able to do well out of this.
Essentially a single qualifying roundtrip between New York and Dubai will get you 28% of the way to top tier status so, presuming you’re already credited some flights to Skywards, this could be a very nice boost….especially for those who have been struggling to requalify.
As I suggested right at the very beginning – this isn’t a promotion I expect many leisure travelers to find attractive but I suspect there will be a good number of business travelers whose path to Skywards status just got a lot easier.
