Arsenal football tickets bookable again with Emirates Skywards miles or Amex points

In a further sign of a return to normality, Emirates has released Arsenal football tickets for Emirates Skywards members who have miles to redeem.  You can also use American Express Membership Rewards points via a transfer.

The timing of this is terrible, of course, given that the calamity last night means that Arsenal will have no European football next season and disillusionment with the team will only grow.  Will there be a repeat of the scenes at Manchester United last weekend?

Here’s the good news.  Tickets, both standard and in the Emirates Box, are available for the Brighton game on Sunday 23rd May.  The kick-off is 4pm.

Here’s the bad news.  Pricing for the Emirates Box has gone crazy.  I have no idea what the team at Emirates has been smoking.

Take a look at this:

Whoa …. 125,000 miles for the Emirates Box?

This is bonkers beyond belief.

When Emirates first started offering seats in the Emirates Box, they cost 15,000 to 30,000 miles each depending on the quality of the opposition.

The Emirates Box is VERY good.  It is the best located box in the stadium and you get good quality drinks and hot food before, during and after the game.  Here is a review of a past trip although I have been 7-8 times since.  I tend to take the cheapest games, because my son would prefer to see Arsenal hit four past a weak team than watch them draw 0-0 against Manchester United.

The pricing has crept up in recent years and I have used 40,000 miles per seat for the last few I have attended.  This is still not cheap (80,000 miles for me and my son, which I got by transferring 80,000 American Express Membership Rewards points) but was worth it as a treat once or twice per season.

But 125,000 miles for one seat?  Against Brighton?  You only need 90,000 miles for a Business Class return flight to Dubai.

I initially thought that the box was operating at reduced capacity for distancing reasons and so Emirates had hiked up the cost in response.  This isn’t the case.  If you click through to book, you see that all 24 seats in the box are being sold.

Are there really 24 people willing to use 125,000 Emirates miles to watch Brighton in a dead rubber game in an 80% empty stadium?

7,500 miles for standard admission IS great value

The smart money will use 7,500 miles for a standard ticket.

Only 10,000 seats are being sold for this game.  The vast majority of Arsenal season ticket holders won’t be able to get in.  You can get in for a handful of Membership Rewards points.

How to book

Full details and booking is available on this page of the Emirates website (log in required).

You cannot get a refund if the time or date of the game is changed and you can no longer attend.

Tickets cannot be transferred.  The person who is named on the Emirates Skywards account MUST attend.  It is difficult to get around this because you need to collect your tickets on the day from the Arsenal offices and ID is required.

Transfers from American Express Membership Rewards to Emirates Skywards are instantaneous if the accounts are already linked and should be pretty quick even if they are not.

Note that you are restricted to FOUR tickets per game per Skywards account.

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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:

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

• The Platinum Card from American Express (review here, apply here) – sign-up bonus of 40,000 Membership Rewards points converts into 40,000 Emirates Skywards miles

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

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.