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Get 2020 free Emirates miles – and Emirates returns to Newcastle

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Emirates has launched a new promotion, tied into Expo 2020 which opens in Dubai this Autumn, for anyone opening an Emirates Skywards account.

Open a new Skywards account and you will immediately receive 2,020 miles – for free.

These can be used for a $20 discount on an Emirates flight. More interestingly, you might find them useful if our recent article on using Emirates miles for Arsenal tickets appealed.

Emirates 2020 free Skywards miles

It looks like tickets for Arsenal matches against weak opposition will cost 5,000 Emirates Skywards miles, based on the Norwich City game. With 2,020 miles in the bag from this promotion, you would only need to transfer 3,000 points from American Express Membership Rewards to have enough for a ticket.

Details of how to receive your 2,020 Emirates Skywards miles can be found via this link. Don’t forget to use the EXPO2020 promo code.

Emirates returns to Newcastle Airport

Emirates returns to Newcastle Airport

Just days after announcing that it would be back to 73 weekly UK flights at the end of October, Emirates has announced that Newcastle Airport is also returning to its map.

There will be four weekly flights, starting from 15th October.

Services will operate on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, leaving Newcastle at 21.10 for a 07.25 arrival into Dubai. The return leaves Dubai at a handy 14.30, arriving at 17.10.

Flights are currently scheduled on a two-class Boeing 777.

Heathrow goes ‘all A380’

In a separate announcement, Emirates has confirmed that its Heathrow service will be back to ‘all A380’ from 1st November.

At present, one daily service is operated with a Boeing 777.

Outside the UK, Emirates has brought forward its plans to introduce extra flights and capacity to Barcelona, Brussels, Dublin, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Lisbon, Madrid, Munich, Rome, and Zurich.


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.

Comments (22)

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  • Jonty says:

    Rob, what is this weak opposition to Arsenal of which you speak?

  • Ian says:

    10% off Morrison’s on Amex Platinum or 7% off one of our main BAPP. I also have 7% on my supplementary BAPP (which I will not use)

    Now do I spend at 10% or I suspect better to use 7% on my wife’s BAPP and work towards her 5k spend for 10k Avios?

    Despite Amex telling her that supplementary cards will also have the 10k bonus offer it never arrived!

    10% or 7%?

    • Reney says:

      should you also factor in the earning rate of 1.5 avios on the BAPP vs 1 MR on the plat?

    • Alan says:

      Not showing for my Amex but on Airtime Rewards finally on my account, plus Virgin. There’s a limit to how much Amazon credit I need though 😂

  • Blair says:

    Sadly one can’t set up a new Skywards account to then transfer the 2,020 miles for free. It costs $15 per 1,000, and 200 would be left behind orphaned. Still a discount on buying the miles so may be worth doing to have in one’s back pocket if one was ever just shy of a redemption.

    • Rob says:

      Emirates has family account pooling for free I believe

      • Blair says:

        (Looks into this)

      • Andrew says:

        Can this be used with Family pooling though? just tried this and looks like the 2020 points get applied to the account immediately on creation. You can them select the option to assign 100% of your miles to the family pool, but I believe that is only for subsequently earned miles.

  • Mike says:

    Harry T and all – congratulations

  • Hbommie says:

    Better flight times from NCL to Dubai.

  • Alan says:

    Shame the Heathrow Rewards option is no longer, that would have given a useful way to use the points.

  • Adam says:

    Flying EK from Manchester in November. Any guesses on when the lounge is likely to reopen?

    • Blair says:

      Once they go to 2 flights a day they told me. So check, i Think by Nov you’ll be ok.

  • Babyg says:

    20,000 points: Harry T – it was rigged! congrats 🙂

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

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