We may receive a commission when you use our links. Monkey Miles is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com and CardRatings. This relationship may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Monkey Miles is also a Senior Advisor to Bilt Rewards. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
A couple of days ago, OMAAT, discovered that Emirates First Class award tickets were no longer going to be available to non-elite members. This is a massive shift in policy and one that is confounding to say the least – especially because first class redemptions are still accessible to partners, namely Qantas and Aeroplan. How does that make any sense? It’s also weird since Emirates is so bling bling and loves the press that first class yields. Compare the social media impressions on EK first to say Air France or Lufthansa.
I’ve been fortunate enough to fly Emirates First Class numerous times and I think all but one time the plane with with empty seats and upgrades became available prior to departure. It seems that upgrades will still be possible to utilize without elite status, so the idea of first class not being possible to book by non-elites is really only partially true. And will this become a benefit to Skywards+ members? I just flew EK first on an upgraded business class flight booked with a 20% discount via Skywards+
You can see it here with the Emirates calculator
How you’ll be able to still book Emirates First Class
- Credit cards that give status as a benefit
- There are two Barclay Credit Cards
- $99 fee gives silver status for the first year
- $499 fee gives gold status for the first year
- Upgrade Awards
- I’ve used upgrades a few times to book Emirates First Class and this seems to still be accessible to non-elites.
- The biggest downside to this strategy is you’ll pay a lot more miles
- Booking with a partner
- Anecdotally you can still use Aeroplan and Qantas miles to book EK first class
- There are two Barclay Credit Cards
One way to get status would be to add one of these to your wallet and book during the first year you have status.
Overall – will this last?
I just don’t understand why they would want to implement this strategy. While flying Emirates First Class is an absolute treat, it costs A LOT of points and surcharges. For instance, for this past flight I took in First Class, my buddy Dave and I wanted a really fun ride home and we were willing to splurge. We flew business class from Mumbai to Dubai, and then first class from Dubai to Toronto. It set us back 180k miles and $1150 in fees. $200 more if you include the Skywards+ membership fee that allowed us to book the base business class flight that we upgraded for 70k miles.
The Etihad apartments from AUH to JFK are 200k miles ( first class is 160k ) and you’ll often find transfer bonuses ( Cap1 did a 40% bonus and Amex just ended a 20% bonus ). The fees are just $300 vs $1150.
My gut is that this policy won’t last long. Air France has a very selective policy on upgrading Into First Class… you need status and there are restrictions on upgrading award tickets. But Emirates isn’t Air France…Air France has very few planes with First Class and only has 4 seats in the cabin. Emirates has 14 on every single A380 – and just as a comparison, Singapore has just 6 suites in the same space. I’d guess most of these seats are being booked as upgrades or mileage redemptions and the cabin occupancy, and the revenue made off fees, will drop.
What do you guys think?
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Points Boost
- each account anniversary you’ll earn bonus points equal to 10% of your total purchases made the previous year
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Complimentary DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees & lower service fees for a min. of one year when you activate by 12/31/27. Plus, a $10 promo each month on non-restaurant orders
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.