Your Guide To Emirates Skywards

Airline reward programs make it easier than ever to get discounts, upgrades, and free travel with your favorite airlines. If you often fly with Emirates or flydubai, you’ll want to take advantage of the Skywards loyalty reward program, which earns you miles for flights, hotel stays, car rentals, and experiences.

Although co-branded Emirates credit cards aren’t available to Canadians, you can link your credit card to your Skywards account to earn points on your online purchases.

What is Emirates Skywards?

Skywards is the loyalty reward program offered by Emirates, one of the largest international airlines in the world. You’ll earn rewards like instant upgrades and waitlist priority just by signing up for a free membership. Then, every qualifying flight you take with Emirates or flydubai will earn you reward miles that you can put towards future travel or upgrades.

Emirates Skywards pros:

• 4 status tiers that let you earn perks
• Partners with over a dozen airlines to offer rewards
• One of the largest international airlines serving 150+ destinations
• Variety of redemption options

Emirates Skywards cons:

• No flat base rate for earning miles
• No co-branded credit card available to Canadians
• Tier status doesn’t carry over each year

How to earn Emirates Skywards miles

Flying is a quick way to earn Skywards miles, but it’s not your only option.

Flights with Emirates and flydubai

Since Emirates partners with flydubai, you’ll earn miles for qualifying flights with both airlines. Just book through emirates.com with a connecting flydubai flight or book directly with flydubai.com

Emirates doesn’t provide a flat base rate for earning miles with flights, so you’ll have to use the site’s Miles Calculator to see how many miles you’ll earn for a trip. Emirates awards miles based on fare class, travel class, destination, and your membership tier.

Partner flights

Emirates offers an extensive destination network thanks to partnerships with other airlines, including Air Canada. When you fly with these partners and provide your Emirates Skywards membership number, you’ll earn Skywards miles – although the earn rate varies:

• Air Canada: up to 1.5 miles for every mile flown
• Air Mauritius: up to 2 miles for every mile flown
• Azul Linhas Aéreas Brasileiras: up to 1.5 miles for every mile flown
• Bangkok Airways: up to 1.25 miles for every mile flown
• Condor: up to 2.15 miles for every mile flown
• Copa Airlines: up to 1.5 miles for every mile flown
• GOL Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes: up to 1.5 miles for every mile flown
• Japan Airlines: up to 1.5 miles for every mile flown
• Jetstar: up to 1.5 miles for every mile flown
• Korean Air: up to 2 miles for every mile flown
• Malaysia Airlines: up to 1.5 miles for every mile flown
• Qantas: up to 1.5 miles for every mile flown
• South African Airways: up to 1.5 miles for every mile flown
• TAP Portugal: up to 1.5 miles for every mile flown
• United Airlines: up to 1.5 miles for every mile flown

Hotel stays

Start planning your next trip by booking a hotel through the Emirates Skywards hotel platform. For each qualifying stay, you’ll get 10,000 miles per night.

If you don’t often stay at Emirates Skywards Hotels, don’t worry – you can still earn rewards by booking at dozens of hotels like Marriott Bonvoy, Crowne Plaza, Four Points by Sheraton, Hilton, and Hyatt.

You can also transfer other hotel reward points to Skywards miles:

Car rentals

As long as you book through the Emirates website, your rental car expenses can earn you Skywards miles. Take a look at the rental car companies you can use:

• CarTrawler: up to 5 miles per $1 USD spent
• Avis: up to 6 miles per $1 USD spent
• Budget: up to 6 miles per $1 USD spent
• Europcar: up to 1,200 miles per rental
• Hertz: 5 miles per $1 USD spent
• Sixt: up to 1,200 miles per rental

Retail and lifestyle purchases

If you don’t travel often but still want to take advantage of the Skywards program, you can earn points for shopping.

Download the Skywards Everyday App and link up to 5 credit cards in your account. When you make purchases with a partner retailer, you’ll earn 1 mile for every 3 UAE Dirham (AED) (about $1.15 CAD) you spend.

Check out the current list of Emirates Skywards shopping partners, but be aware that not all offers apply to Canadians.

Buy Skywards miles

If you’re trying to accumulate miles for a big trip, Emirates allows you to purchase up to 100,000 or 200,000 miles per year, depending on your membership tier.

Log into your account and select how many miles you want to buy – they’ll cost you $30 USD per 1,000 miles, giving you a fairly substantial cost of 3 cents per mile.

If you want to buy miles to extend your expiring ones and maintain your current status, you’ll be eligible for a discounted rate. Log into your account to purchase miles that won’t expire for another 12 months.

Emirates Skywards elite status

It’s easy to focus on the miles you earn, but don’t forget that qualifying flights also earn you tier miles. Tier miles are calculated by route, fare, and class. As you earn tier miles or take qualifying flights, you’ll gain status (and more perks).

When you sign up for the Skywards program, you’ll automatically be placed in Blue tier, which comes with basic benefits like instant upgrades at check-in and personalized preferences. Here are just some of the benefits that status earns you:

How to redeem Skywards miles

Travel is usually your best bet for redeeming miles at a high value, but Emirates gives other options for putting those miles to good use.

Flights

As soon as you earn 5,000 miles, you can put them towards a free flight with Emirates, which gives you the flexibility to customize your booking. Choose one-way or roundtrip flights, book any fare class, and pay with all miles or a combination of miles and cash.

Don’t forget to log into your Skywards account before you start searching for flights since you might get member-only offers and discounts.

Flight upgrades

If you don’t have enough miles for an entire flight or simply want to enjoy a fancier fare experience, you can upgrade these fares:

• Economy Class to Premium Economy
• Economy Class to Business Class
• Premium Economy to Business Class
• Business Class to First Class

You can pay for the upgrade with miles during check in, but ask about availability – some fare upgrades (like Premium Economy Classic rewards) might not be available.

Hotels and vacations

You have fewer hotel redemption options than earning ones, but you can redeem miles if you book through the Emirates Hotels and Vacations platform. Enter your travel details to see over 400,000 hotel and vacation locations in over 900 destinations worldwide.

Once you earn at least 5,000 miles, you can put them towards free or discounted stays. If you don’t have enough miles to cover the cost of your whole trip, you can use a combination of miles and cash.

Emirates experiences

Whether you’re hoping to catch a memorable concert, performance, or sporting event in your hometown or on your travels, you can purchase tickets or bid on them with your Skywards miles.

Here are just a few of the current experiences you can buy or bid on:

• Ice skating at the Dubai Ice Rink
• NBA games in the U.S. or U.A.E.
• Football games in Spain and Portugal
• Movies at Reel Cinemas
• Rugby or golf in the U.A.E.
• Tennis at the Australian Open

Retail purchases

Once you reach 2,000 miles, you can treat yourself to a little retail therapy. Shop the Emirates Official Store to pick up Emirates merchandise like travel bags, toy planes, hats, headphones, shirts, and more.

Unfortunately, Canadians can’t shop with the Skywards Miles Mall, so your options are limited when it comes to redeeming miles for merchandise.

Transfer miles

If you want to share the wealth (er, miles), Emirates allows you to transfer miles to a fellow member. You’ll pay $15 USD per 1,000 miles you transfer, and you can send up to 50,000 miles every year.

Gift miles

To gift someone your miles, you’ll pay $30 USD for every 1,000 miles gifted. You can give up to 100,000 or 200,000 miles per year, depending on your recipient’s membership tier.

While Emirates lists a donation option on its website, it isn’t clear which charities you can donate your miles to.

How much are Skywards miles​ worth?

While Emirates Skywards Miles can be earned with plenty of different partners, you can only redeem them for flights with Emirates themselves.

In Canada, Emirates only flies from Dubai to Toronto and Montreal. Once you're there, you can also access flights to places across India, Africa, and Asia.

Depending on where you live, Emirates also flies to many major cities in the U.S.

Our average value for a Skyward Mile is 1 cent. It was based on research into 6 flights booked 4 months in advance.

• Dubai from Toronto, Montreal, New York, and Seattle
• Toronto to Delhi
• Montreal to Cape Town

Why so low compared to programs like Aeroplan, where the average point value is 2 cents? Emirates has high taxes and fees. Our average bill for these reward flights was $702, which puts a damper on the value you can get.

Of course, if you can save up, you can turn to business or first-class flights instead. We didn't look at first class (would take a lifetime to save up, as you'll see below), but Business flights double your value to 2 cents.

Comparison to Aeroplan

Air Canada (and its partners) can fly you to almost the same destinations as Emirates, but we’ll do a direct comparison: Toronto to Dubai.

Here's how Economy compares between these airlines. The flights were for the same travel dates booked 4 months ahead of time.

The difference in the taxes and fees between the programs is stark – but since Air Canada is also cheaper, it reduces the difference in value that an Aeroplan point provides. And, of course, since you can book any seat, it takes no effort to find a seat on rewards.

Let’s look at first class on Emirates. It’s easy to find reward flights with Aeroplan – and first class isn't cheap!

Even with rewards, the cost here won’t be cheap. Here's what Emirates and Air Canada want for this once-in-a-lifetime flight:

Emirates has some stunning value here, even with the high taxes and fees (which itself is more than an Economy flight!). Unfortunately, there’s no easy way to earn Skywards miles in Canada. Our only real option right now is through Marriott Bonvoy, but at a 3:1 ratio, you would need 981,000 Marriott points to redeem for this.

With the high value of this flight, it's one of the very rare instances where you’d be better off simply buying the miles you need.

For most Canadians, though, collecting Skywards miles won’t be worthwhile unless you’re saving long term for a first-class trip.

Want to see our Emirates Airlines flight research? You can view it here.

FAQ

How do I find my Emirates Skywards number?

You can find your Emirates Skywards number on emails from Emirates, by logging into your account online or in the mobile app, by calling customer service, or by asking via Emirates’ online chat feature.

How much are 10,000 Emirates Skywards miles worth?

The value of 10,000 Skywards miles depends on what you’re redeeming them for (which also depends on your membership level). The best way to get the most value for your points is to log into your Emirates account and play around with the Miles Calculator.

Is it worth joining Emirates Skywards?

If you occasionally fly with Emirates, flydubai, or one of its partners, it might be worthwhile to join Emirates Skywards. Although miles expire 3 years after their earn date, the program is free to join and you’ll get immediate benefits like instant upgrades and unlimited Wi-Fi messaging as a Blue tier member.

Can I convert Emirates miles to cash?

No, you can’t directly transfer Emirates miles into cash. Emirates allows you to participate in Cash + Miles, but it’s essentially a statement credit. When you’re ready to book travel with Emirates, you can use a combination of cash and miles to reduce the overall cost of your trip.

Do Emirates miles expire?

Yes, the miles are valid for 3 years from the date of the flight (or qualifying trip).