Emirates wants to launch a new UK credit card

Emirates wants to launch a new UK credit card – and they are serious enough to be asking people to pick a preferred design.

Emirates sent out a survey to some UK members of Emirates Skywards last week.  It offered entry to a prize draw to win 50,000 Skywards miles in return for your thoughts on launching a new Emirates credit card.

The survey wanted to know what people had done after the old MBNA Emirates Skywards credit card, picture below, was closed in 2018.

After asking what card you had replaced your MBNA card with, it went on to ask what other airline credit cards you held and whether you still had an interest in holding an Emirates Skywards card.

It then asked questions about why you chose your current main credit card provider (good app, good service etc).

So far, so standard.

What benefits would you want from a new Emirates credit card?

It went on to ask what you would want from an Emirates credit card.  Pick from:

Earning a ‘generous’ number of miles per £1

Earning miles on balance transfers

Earning a sign-up bonus

Earning Skywards tier miles each year you renew an annual fee card

Discounts on flight tickets

Airline benefits (priority check-in etc)

Ability to spend airlines miles from the card on hotel bookings 

Ability to spend airline miles from the card in High Street shops

It then moved on to asking what sort of card design you preferred.

Can Emirates get a new credit card off the ground?

It’s good to see Emirates keen to launch a new UK credit card.  We saw a similar survey from Hilton a few months ago, so there may be a spike of activity on the way.

The question, though, is who will issue them.  As I have written before, if 1% of the money going into Starling / Monzo / Revolut / Atom / N26 online current accounts was being dedicated to launching an online-only low-cost credit card company, we could find a model which would survive in the world of low interchange fees.

The rest of Europe has adapted but the bloated UK market, which still expects to make oversized profits from credit cards, has not.  LinkedIn has over 6,500 employees of Barclaycard listed, for example, and that will only be a percentage. 

Capital On Tap, which recently launched an online-based UK Avios payment card for small businesses and already had 50,000 customers for its ‘no rewards’ card, seems to have around 50 staff based on my last visit ….

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How to earn Emirates Skywards miles from UK credit cards (April 2025)

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:

• American Express Preferred Rewards Gold (review here, apply here) – sign-up bonus of 20,000 Membership Rewards points converts into 15,000 Emirates Skywards miles. This card is FREE for your first year and also comes with four free airport lounge passes.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

• The Platinum Card from American Express (review here, apply here) – sign-up bonus of 50,000 Membership Rewards points converts into 37,500 Emirates Skywards miles

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

• American Express Rewards credit card (review here, apply here) – sign-up bonus of 10,000 Membership Rewards points converts into 7,500 Emirates Skywards miles. This card is FREE for life.

Membership Rewards points convert at 4:3 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 0.75 Emirates Skywards miles

The American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card earns double points (2 per £1) on all flights you charge to it, not just with Emirates but with any airline.