Numerous airline frequent flyer programs this week have launched promotions when buying miles, and Emirates is the latest airline to offer bonuses when purchasing miles.
Get Up To A 20% Bonus When Purchasing Emirates Skywards Miles
Through December 25, 2022, the Emirates Skywards program is offering up to a 20% bonus on purchased miles. However, this offer is less valuable compared to the promotions in the past, it is still a reasonable offer to get miles at a lower rate.
The 20% bonus is applied when purchasing more than 5,000 miles up and to 100,000 miles but I am seeing some members are getting a tiered offer too. While the standard bonus offer is as above, some are also in tiers.
- Buy between 5,000 ~ 15,000 miles, and receive a 10% bonus
- Buy between 16,000 ~ 30,000 miles, and receive a 15% bonus
- Buy between 31,000 ~ 100,000 miles, and receive a 20% bonus
How Much Emirates Skywards Miles Can You Buy
Members are only able to buy a maximum of 100,000 miles per calendar year excluding bonuses so you are able to receive up to 120,000 miles during this promotion.
How Much Does The Emirates Skywards Miles Cost
Given that you can buy up to 100,000 miles, the cost will be the usual price of US$3,000 which makes the value 0.3 cents per mile. But with the 20% bonus, you can purchase miles at 2.5 cents per mile.
Again, as I mentioned above, this promotion offers the lowest bonus in years so even if the rates are below the regular pricing, I would only buy as last resort.
Redeeming Emirates Skywards Miles
Emirates Skywards miles are best when redeeming on the Emirates flight itself. I have redeemed quite a few Skywards miles on flights out of Seoul to Dubai and it had the following redemption rate:
- A round-trip from Seoul (ICN) – Dubai (DXB) costs 105,000 in business class.
- A one-way upgrade to first class from Seoul (ICN) – Dubai (DXB) costs 50,700 miles.
- A round-trip from Seoul (ICN) – Dubai (DXB) costs 197,500 in first class.
What I like about the Skywards program is the ability to upgrade using miles at the check-in counters and even on board and you can even use the miles to upgrade an award ticket! Sometimes Emirates offers great business class fares so, with the current promotion, you can get two upgrades to first class seats.
On the other hand, Emirates recently increased its fuel surcharges thus the surcharges awards spike up on flights departing from some regions. That is where the alternative way of booking Emirates comes up.
You can simply book Emirates from the Japan Airlines Mileage bank program or the recently-partnered Air Canada Aeroplan too.
Summary
Through December 25, 2022, Emirates Skyward is offering up to a 20% bonus when purchasing miles. Although you can buy miles at 2.5 cents per mile, this promotional offer is the lowest I have seen and unless you are utilizing the miles for an award redemption or upgrades on a planned schedule, I wouldn’t consider buying to keep for long-term use.
I am sure Emirates will launch better buy miles promotions next year.
Please provide me a link to purchase skywards miles.
Hi @Muhammadh, you can buy Skywards miles here.