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Emirates ramps up its UK regional services

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Emirates has confirmed a further ramping up of its UK regional flights.

This is what is happening:

  • Glasgow will see an A380 returning from 26th March
  • Birmingham will see an A380 returning from 1st July
  • Stansted will see the second daily flight, on a Boeing 777-300ER, returning from 1st May
Emirates ramps up UK regional services

The Stansted service is the key one for anyone obsessed with First Class products, as this is the only UK route to have the new ‘game changer’ (as they call it) First Class suite.

This is up there with the latest Singapore Airlines A380 First Class suite as the best first class product in the air – you can see my Emirates 777-300ER First Class review here.

I mean …. any suite which projects a camera feed from the outside onto the wall of your cabin if you happen to not be sitting in a window suite really must be tried out!

I’m not sure how Emirates is currently releasing reward availability for this flight. When I did it, back in 2019, First Class suites were only loaded a couple days before departure. I flew to Dubai without a seat home and crossed my fingers that the return would pop up – which it did.

If you’re interested in redeeming miles for these flights, here is our guide to earning Emirates Skywards miles from UK credit cards.

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 (38)

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

  • Will in SJC says:
    16 Jan16 January 04:54

    The abuse BA get over on FT re CW always makes me smile when you consider it against EK. EK is still no direct aisle access for all in J (despite a new seat a couple of years back) and their game changer F is still limited to a handful of secondary routes. Just imagine if that was BA- I think the FT servers might have melted!!

    • Will in SJC says:
      16 Jan16 January 04:58

      For context I mean the slow roll out. old F on EK is ahead of BA.

    • Willie says:
      16 Jan16 January 05:59

      One might argue that the aisle seats have direct aisle access…

      • memesweeper says:
        16 Jan16 January 06:54

        I’m sure they do – what he said was “ EK is still no direct aisle access for all ”. For all being the key words here.

    • Rob says:
      16 Jan16 January 08:52

      Shows what some investment in food, drink and IFE can do for your image.

      • meta says:
        16 Jan16 January 09:52

        I have to say that I am not a huge fan of Emirates F (only flown on A380). Whilst the drinks are excellent, I don’t like the seat and the food much. Etihad F (flown apartment and on 787) is much classier, food and the seat much better though wines not as good as Emirates.

        Then you fly JAL or ANA F and Emirates pales in comparison. But we all have different preferences.

      • KS says:
        16 Jan16 January 10:04

        And picking you up from within a 70 mile radius of the airport.

    • Harry T says:
      16 Jan16 January 09:50

      Flew EK 777 J for the first time this weekend. The seat seat is premium economy at best and very embarrassing for the airline. Food, service, IFE and general attitude are better than BA. I wouldn’t consider flying the EK 777 in business again though, as it is extremely uncomfortable and gave me back ache. The A380 J seat was acceptable.

  • The Streets says:
    16 Jan16 January 07:05

    Anyone had experience of redeeming their dining credit in Japan as the process looks different to elsewhere

    • Ikaz says:
      16 Jan16 January 07:36

      Yes, I used it last year for a friend:
      -booked on pocket concierge in their name and prepaid
      -they went and consumed a bit extra, which was charged to my card
      -received credit the next say
      You just need to book a place that is pre-pay, not all of them are

  • Ffwd says:
    16 Jan16 January 07:10

    Are you the only person on the planet who thinks BA is better than EK in either J or F?

  • Andy says:
    16 Jan16 January 07:22

    Ironic that you get the “game changer” first class seat flying from STN for thousands and thousands yet have to use the rubbish escape lounge.

    • Blair Waldorf Salad says:
      16 Jan16 January 09:21

      It is rubbish but they do a segregated area for EK before each flight similar to Aspire in AMS.

    • Chris W says:
      16 Jan16 January 11:22

      I’ve never understood why they chose STN to operate their best first class to.

      • Blair Waldorf Salad says:
        16 Jan16 January 12:08

        Essex catchment area full of influencers/Love Island contestants? That’s always been my theory.

        • Rob says:
          16 Jan16 January 12:26

          There is a LOT of business from the science and technology clusters around Cambridge. This is who it is aimed at.

          • Blair Waldorf Salad says:
            16 Jan16 January 15:13

            For personal flying? I can’t see any corporate travel policy providing for the use of F cabins to the extent it sufficiently supports EK 777 new F on an ongoing basis.

  • Paul says:
    16 Jan16 January 07:28

    BA get abuse (deservedly in my view) on much more than just CW. Avionics fees, recent devaluation, ET, hand baggage, operational performance, dire IT… there is a long list

    • The Original David says:
      16 Jan16 January 07:50

      Don’t think I’ve ever paid extra fees for the avionics, you could be being ripped off there…

    • TGLoyalty says:
      16 Jan16 January 09:37

      Emirates has had its own huge devals and taxes/fees make BA look generous

  • tony says:
    16 Jan16 January 07:32

    The difference between the J product on EK’s 777 v 380 is comical. Even stranger is the fact that the BHX-DXB flight is significantly more expensive than LHR.

  • Erico1875 says:
    16 Jan16 January 07:41

    Tim is an IT Genius. The Amex map is great.
    I am surprised Barcelona only has 2 venues

  • Jess says:
    16 Jan16 January 08:15

    First club suite in Stansted but no decent lounge access.. smh

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