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Emirates removing free chauffeur cars on Emirates Skywards reward flight bookings

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It seems that Emirates Skywards has decided to follow the lead of Etihad Guest and remove free chauffeur cars on Business and First Class reward flights.

This is disappointing, as it helped offset the ludicrously high (even by British Airways standards) ‘taxes and charges’ added to Emirates award tickets. 

Emirates chauffeur cars removed from reward tickets

We have used Emirates chauffeur cars on reward tickets a few times, and coming back from Heathrow it was a £60-£70 saving over booking an equivalent Mercedes for cash.  The car pictured above is the one I got before my last Emirates A380 First Class redemption reviewed here.

The change is showing on the chauffeur drive terms and conditions page here.

How to earn Emirates Skywards miles from UK credit cards

How to earn Emirates Skywards miles from UK credit cards (March 2024)

Emirates Skywards does not have a UK credit card.  However, you can earn Emirates Skywards miles by converting Membership Rewards points earned from selected UK American Express cards.

Cards earning Membership Rewards points include:

Membership Rewards points convert at 1:1 into Emirates Skywards miles which is an attractive rate.  The cards above all earn 1 Membership Rewards point per £1 spent on your card, which converts to 1 Emirates Skywards mile. The Gold card earns double points (2 per £1) on all flights you charge to it.

Category

Emirates and Emirates Skywards

Comments (144)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • pommy ray says:
    8 Jan8 January 08:19

    wow so nearly gold status from one trip!
    any idea how many avios you get on these sort of trios roughly? thanks

  • RTS says:
    8 Jan8 January 08:39

    This reminds me, I have 2.5k of Emirates miles due to expire at the end of this month… What can I do with them?

    • Matt says:
      8 Jan8 January 09:00

      I sent mine to Heathrow rewards when I flew emirates once for work

    • Alan says:
      8 Jan8 January 09:11

      Transfer to Heathrow Rewards is a decent option (can’t rem the minimum)

    • RTS says:
      8 Jan8 January 11:20

      Ah it is 6k min for heathrow rewards. cant do anything with 2.5k. Looks like they are going to charity.

      • Matt says:
        8 Jan8 January 14:55

        Maybe your options are:
        1) Presumably doing a min transfer (500?) from Amex MR to Emirates will refresh your total miles expiry?
        Or
        2) Send 3.5k across and then transfer onto Heathrow rewards.
        No idea if there is value is option 2).

        • Genghis says:
          8 Jan8 January 15:03

          2) It’s 6k Emirates -> 2k HR. I.e. sending across 3.5k MR (value say £35) to then convert to Heathrow Rewards would only yield £20 in total.

  • Andrew says:
    8 Jan8 January 08:42

    Bits:-

    “As a British Airways American Express Card member you have been selected to receive an exclusive 20% discount on your next hotel and car hire booking worldwide.”

    Pay in full using Avios or one of the Avios part cash options. No cash only options. Booking from 8 to 31 January. Travel up to 31st December.

  • Mr. AC says:
    8 Jan8 January 08:56

    Question to Rob or experienced travelers: I will need to book flights for my whole family soon for August (likely 6 economy tickets INTO London). When should I expect some relevant promo from BA (e.g. 4 economy segments = extra Avios like last year in February I think) or another one of those X off Y Amex Travel offers? Any rhyme or extrapolation possible based on previous years?

    • Stu N says:
      8 Jan8 January 10:18

      There is an Amex Travel offer at the moment – £600/£200 off and variations thereon. If you don’t have it you’ve probably missed the boat to be honest. They come around fairly infrequent in my experience – couple of times a year, maximum.

      You can’t rely on BA Bonus Avios offers either and they aren’t that lucrative anyway – you normally get double base Avios, which for short haul economy in the lowest fare bucket might be an extra 125 Avios. Might be different for long haul but it’s not vast amounts of Avios at stake for a single booking.

      So, if it were me and I was happy with the pricing for the flights at the moment, I’d just book them.

      • Mr. AC says:
        8 Jan8 January 10:58

        Thank you! I’ve already taken advantage of the Amex Travel offer you mentioned recently.

    • Rob says:
      8 Jan8 January 10:21

      Rarely any plan to these things except there is usually a promo in September for the back to work rush post Summer. Not that this helps you!

  • CV3V says:
    8 Jan8 January 09:01

    Seeing as its Bits, OT but to report back on experience of Wyndham to Caesars Total Rewards status match. Mentioned in the past that status matched through to Total Rewards Diamond (= high roller!), via Wyndham for an upcoming Las Vegas trip. The benefits of this status are; no resort fee, $100 celebration dinner credit, room upgrade, 2 free show tickets per month. Recently back from Las Vegas and confirm I was able get every benefit, combined with partners status match we actually got $200 dinner credit and 2 sets of show tickets. For our 6 night stay my low estimate of the value of this is $750, would be more dependent on what show you go see, and I haven’t valued the room upgrade. In our case $200 dinner credit was used up in full at Hell’s Kitchen (which was surprisingly good), 2 tix to Penn and Teller, 2 tix to a random show and a double room upgrade (aided by $20 ‘tip’ at check in) to a larger room with strip view.

    • Matt says:
      8 Jan8 January 09:23

      Wow sounds great! Any experience what I’ll get during my upcoming Venetian stay being Spire Elite? I’ve let my Ambassador status lapse as not expecting any other IC stays in 2019. However I may change my mind if Spire Ambassador treatment is very good (but I expect not?)

      • CV3V says:
        8 Jan8 January 09:35

        Caesars Total Rewards relates only to Caesars Hotels, of which there are quite a few. I am IHG Spire Ambassador and decided to stay in a Caesars hotel instead so i could avoid paying resort fees. The other Total Rewards benefits would still apply regardless of hotel. The improved status with Total Rewards only lasts for a few months, so should be timed to coincide with your stay – match IHG to Wyndham then to Total Rewards (takes a couple of weeks).

        • The Original Nick says:
          8 Jan8 January 14:52

          @CV3V, I’m currently in the middle of booking my Mum’s Vegas trip for her and her friend. I’ve matched her Hilton Gold to Wyndham Diamond just last week. They are planning on booking the Caesars Palace for 5 nights which is beginning of March. Should I book the hotel now and try and then get a status match to Caesars Total Rewards from Wyndham Diamond just before they go?

          Thanks.

        • CV3V says:
          8 Jan8 January 17:00

          @ Nick – double check, but hotel bookings for Caesars hotels are refundable. So I would go ahead and book to lock in the rate just in case, you can always then cancel and book again. When booked as a Diamond the resort fee shows as being zeroed, but I imagine if you book before being diamond the hotel will still zero at check in/out. You need to check the current status match offer, but if their stay is in March I would go ahead and sort the status out now.

          When booking, for whatever reason, I found that the hotel rates were cheaper in the morning, they would then increase in the afternoon, and then a few mornings later be dropped again. This is why I know the rates are refundable as I cancelled a few times, even though they do take a deposit, it is refunded.

          As a Diamond you get to see the ‘comp’ rates (i.e. free nights) which are available at some hotels, and hotels such as Ballys can come in as low as $30 per night, The Linq at $15 per night (The Linq is badly located next to the Uber pick up and bus drop off, avoid).

          **Important**- with the status match to Total Rewards they do not load the $100 credit until you show up at the Total Rewards desk (in each Caesars hotel), then they validate that you exist (!) and the credit is loaded to your account on a Thursday. This was ok for me, but I would suggest emailing or phoning Total Rewards in advance to avoid this potential issue. IF it does become an issue you need to ask the rewards manager to issue you with a replacement dinner voucher.

          Also, I recommend Groupon Las Vegas for some cheap Cirque Du Soleil tickets, there are no bad seats, so a cheap ticket is ok.

    • Bagoly says:
      8 Jan8 January 09:27

      I’m intrigued on the mechanics of how you tip at check-in to get a better room.

      Do you put a $20 note in the passport as you hand it over? (this became so prevalent at Minsk passport control that they have official signs warning that it will be prosecuted as bribery)

      • Genghis says:
        8 Jan8 January 09:30

        $20 note in between passport and credit card seems the done thing.

        • CV3V says:
          8 Jan8 January 09:37

          Yup, at check in when handing over passport having a $20 bill sticking out and ask if any upgrades are available. If there are they will keep the bill, if not they (should) return it. A colleague has also used the same trick.

        • Gary says:
          8 Jan8 January 10:15

          Yeah this worked for me but with $50 note at cosmopolitan on a Marriott reward stay last year. Upgrade from standard reward night to 1bed suite with strip view and soaking tub for 5 nights

        • Sam says:
          8 Jan8 January 15:00

          Does this work if you are a certain status? Staying at the Hilton in Cape Town for a week in a couple of weeks…standard room. I am a HH member but no points etc and the most basic member…

        • Max says:
          8 Jan8 January 16:29

          Never have to give passport in Hiltons anywhere in the USA – so would not work with me

      • Ali says:
        8 Jan8 January 20:36

        after all these years and trying the 20 dollar trick myself I still don’t understand why the advice is to conceal the tip. Every time I’ve handed it over in this way it’s either fallen out awkwardly or the front desk person has laid it out openly on the desk for the cctv cameras

    • Chris says:
      8 Jan8 January 10:53

      How long does your Total Rewards status last? Just trying to time my request

      • Mark says:
        8 Jan8 January 11:41

        I think you get until the 1st of Jan, so if you do it now, you should get a year. I am debating wether to stick with my Cosmo booking via Marriott or move to caesars. Swaying to wards cosmo atm but it is 200k in points with cash upgrade.

  • Alan says:
    8 Jan8 January 09:33

    OT bits. Saw this and couldn’t help a chuckle wondering how much of this was due to Amex 10% off offer – I certainly spent thousands on GCs! https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-46792086

    • Liz says:
      8 Jan8 January 09:42

      I thought exactly that too! We don’t shop in Morrisons at all but we ended up spending over £500 on some vouchers, wine, whisky and fish!

      • soloflyer1977 says:
        8 Jan8 January 09:56

        same here. Had a fun exercise at Morrissons just before Christmas buying £300 JL vouchers in 6 separate transactions (£50 x 6) They must have thought I was mad going to a different cashier each time 🙂

        • Alan says:
          8 Jan8 January 10:37

          Thankfully I found one that has self-scan that doesn’t use scales 😀

    • Nick_C says:
      8 Jan8 January 09:54

      I bought £200 of John Lewis gift cards to use in Waitrose. Combined with the regular “spend £40, get £8 off” vouchers, that’s a 28% discount. Aldi can manage without my custom for a few weeks.

      Wish I’d bought more.

      • Victor says:
        8 Jan8 January 11:13

        Was great for manufactured spend too. I managed to earn around 40,000 MR points for virtually no outlay at all.
        And got £200 in Morrisons more vouchers too.

      • RussellH says:
        8 Jan8 January 11:43

        Visited a Waitrose just after Christmas while away from home, as we had been given a gift card.

        TBH the prices seemed extortionate cf Tesco or Morrisons, or even Sainsbury’s at home; never mind Aldi or Lidl.

        • Mark2 says:
          8 Jan8 January 11:54

          You need to take the difference in quality into account.

        • Nick_C says:
          8 Jan8 January 12:40

          Take off 20% (or 28% with a discounted gift card) and their prices become very reasonable. Goods on offer become ridiculously cheap.

        • Callum says:
          8 Jan8 January 12:54

          That’s because they are – there’s a reason why Waitrose has a reputation for being for posh snobs!

        • Cat says:
          8 Jan8 January 18:16

          Waitrose sells confit duck in a can. It is a beautiful thing. It’s worth going to Waitrose for that alone.

          Callum – you seem to be implying that people who shop at Waitrose are posh snobs, on a forum filled with people who love to fly in first class.

      • Scallder says:
        8 Jan8 January 14:25

        My spend £40 save £8 vouchers have dried up since mid-December 🙁 Alongside that and saving 7% on gift card purchases through Zeek shop and felt was doing extremely well. Moving back to Sainsbury’s now the vouchers have stopped…

        • tom1 says:
          8 Jan8 January 21:24

          mine dried up too. Im not sure if it’s since I opted in to ‘digital’ vouchers in the app instead of paper ones.

          Last year, after the last GC promotion, the last lot of vouchers went from £8 off £40, to £10 off £200!

    • Rob Walker says:
      8 Jan8 January 10:13

      Yep,I went fairly mad too. JL had Macbooks reduced from £1250 to £799 just before Christmas as the colour was no longer a current model (the spec was still identical.) So a nice additional £80 saving. I was going to kepp it but ended up selling it on ebay for £900 instead.

      Lots of vouchers to pay my Wife’s Next account bill, Currys to buy myself a Google Home Max, etc etc etc!

      • Alan says:
        8 Jan8 January 10:39

        Hope you had one of those max £1 selling fees offers from eBay too – I saved £60 in selling old DSLR kit with that.

        • Liz says:
          8 Jan8 January 11:14

          We had decided to splash out and buy a new Sony 55” Tv with OLED and thought about buying all the John Lewis vouchers but decided in the end to buy it from a local company that does free delivery and installation and put it on my IHG card. Hubby not happy he couldn’t have it before Xmas because I had already hit Spire Elite with my IHG card – I wanted the spend for qualifying pts in 2019 – by waiting they reduced the price by £200 so a win win. Now all installed and both enjoying it!

          • Alan says:
            8 Jan8 January 11:25

            Haha great result – hoped he coped with some extra drinks from Morrison’s to make up with the TV over Xmas 🙂

    • Polly says:
      8 Jan8 January 11:38

      We did too, plenty of paper vouchers too for future use, can be used for anything, petrol, GCs etc etc..

    • Alan says:
      8 Jan8 January 12:38

      I didn’t even think of buying Gift Cards. We just bought stuff for Christmas. Rookie mistake.

      • Alan says:
        8 Jan8 January 12:40

        Ahh yeah – I did a wee test purchase then when it went OK I kinda went for it 😛 If I hadn’t found the self-scan/no-scales option I probably wouldn’t have managed quite as much though! Didn’t get any paper vouchers though, sounds like they would have been a good option.

        Morrison’s related – beware the new app-based system doesn’t activate your fivers immediately, can take a few hours (even overnight). On the upside they seem to work like cash and are fine for paying for GCs.

    • Scallder says:
      8 Jan8 January 14:23

      The 10% perhaps, however I can’t see how Morrisons (or Tesco/Superdrug et al) would be able to recognise the revenues for gift cards sold at the full value. So if Morrisons sold a gift card for JL for £50, I would expect that they could only recognise the cut they take on selling the 3rd party gift card. So say it’s 2% then they should only be able to recognise £1 of revenue, and not the full £50. All based on IFRS 15.

      • Alan says:
        8 Jan8 January 14:27

        Yeah fair point, GCs won’t have driven revenue quite as much but I know I bought more in store at the same time. Would be interesting to know how much went through on that offer across the UK though!

  • Simon says:
    8 Jan8 January 09:51

    O/T. Had a flight booked as part of the Iberia promotion cancelled by the airline. Rang them and was given some alternatives but cancelled the flight for a refund.

    Anyone aware if they are likely to clawback the 9,000 avios I got for booking originally?

    TIA

    • Neil says:
      8 Jan8 January 09:58

      My refund posted yesterday and my avios balance remains unchanged…so far

      • Simon says:
        8 Jan8 January 11:32

        Cheers Neil, was thinking of clearing out the Iberia account but combine my avios is such a pain when you have a household account.

    • tom1 says:
      8 Jan8 January 21:28

      eligible for EU261?

  • Bagoly says:
    8 Jan8 January 09:56

    Hmm, this is the second link to something in the BoardingArea stable recently.
    If HfP were quoted, I’d be buying on expectation of an imminent bid!

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