Can I earn Avios if I fly with Emirates?

Can you earn Avios points if you fly with Emirates?

Normally, flights on Emirates are not eligible for collecting Avios or tier points.  Emirates is not part of the oneworld alliance and does not have any formal codeshare or joint venture agreements with British Airways. However, there are a few exceptions to this.

In this article we’ll look at what the rules are when it comes to earning Avios and British Airways Executive Club tier points on Emirates flights – because it CAN be done.

Though Emirates doesn’t have a codeshare agreement with British Airways, it does have a codeshare in place with Qantas, the Australian airline, on certain routes.

Since Qantas is part of oneworld, you will be able to earn Avios and Executive Club tier points on these flights, as per the British Airways terms and conditions:

[You can earn Avios and tier points on] Flights marketed by Qantas or Qantas Airlines affiliates and operated by Qantas, a Qantas affiliate, BA, another oneworld carrier, or another third party under a codeshare agreement

You can see the text on this page of ba.com under the Qantas section.

This makes it a good opportunity for those who are part of British Airways Executive Club to experience an Emirates flight without neglecting your Avios and tier points balance.

To make this work you MUST book your Emirates flights with a Qantas QF flight number, not an Emirates EK flight number.  When you make the booking you will be able to identify the flights that are operated by Emirates – but they will still have a Qantas flight code, starting with prefix QF.

Qantas and Emirates only codeshare on a limited number of flights.  These are primarily from Europe to Dubai and from Dubai to Asia.  A few years ago my wife did this, flying to Singapore from London on Emirates.  She earned Avios and tier points on all legs – this article explains it.

You can’t book Emirates flights with a QF flight number on the Emirates website.  Some, but certainly not all, routes can be booked on the Qantas website.  In general you will need to use a third party such as Expedia or a travel agent.

Try it out – go to expedia.co.uk, search for a flight from London to Singapore, put in ‘Qantas’ as your preferred airline and it will offer you the Emirates flights with a Qantas flight number.  These are the ones you need to earn Avios and British Airways Executive Club tier points on Emirates.

The number of Avios you will earn depends on your fare class, but you can see how many Avios you will earn on Qantas flights here.

(This article is part of our ‘BA Q&A’ series which explains how British Airways Executive Club works.  You can see all of our ‘BA Q&A’ articles here. )

(Head for Points is the UK’s biggest frequent flyer website with 2.5 million monthly page views.  Want to learn more about earning and spending Avios?  Click here to read our latest news stories and click here to join the mailing list for our weekly or daily email newsletters.)

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2024)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.