NEW: Use small expiring amounts of Emirates Skywards miles for gift cards

Emirates Skywards is one of those frequent flyer programmes which has a ‘no mercy’ policy on miles expiry.

You need to use your miles within three years of earning them or they will expire. This often means that people who only earn small quantities find themselves with an upcoming expiry date but not enough miles for a long haul Emirates flight.

There are some ways of cashing out small amounts of Emirates miles:

• you can redeem Skywards miles for Arsenal football tickets, both general seats and the Emirates Skybox. Other sporting events pop up during the year – I expect Wimbledon tickets to appear this following the recent signing of a sponsorship deal.

• you can transfer miles INTO Heathrow Rewards.  The minimum is 6,000 miles which gets you a £20 Heathrow shopping voucher.  You can also top-up your account with Heathrow Rewards points.

• you can redeem Skywards miles for easyJet travel credit

• you can use your miles to book a hotel via this Emirates / Rocketmiles site

None of these are ideal, especially if your balance is small.

Redeem Emirates Skywards miles for gift cards

Helpfully, Emirates has just launched a new redemption option.

Via the Emirates Skywards Miles Mall, you can now redeem your miles for digital gift cards for UK retailers.

The rate is not great but, at the same time, it isn’t terrible either. It is a better return than the existing deal of using 6,000 miles for £20 of Heathrow shopping credit. You also only need just 2,000 miles to take part.

Different retailers have different redemption rates so you need to trade off convenience vs value:

• Tesco, for example, has a weak redemption rate. 2,000 miles only gets you £6.55 of e-gift card.

• Caffe Nero, on the other hand, gets you £7.86 of e-gift card for 2,000 Skywards miles

If you redeem for one of the retailers offering £7.86 per 2,000 miles then you are getting almost 0.4p per mile. Whilst not amazing, it is certainly better than watching them expire.

You can check out the options over at the Miles Mall here.

We published a complete guide to earning Emirates Skywards miles from UK credit cards which you can find here.

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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.