How to use Emirates Skywards miles on Qantas, Japan Airlines, easyJet and other airline partners

A lot of Head for Points readers find themselves flying on Emirates occasionally.  Unfortunately, it is easy to find yourself with a pile of orphaned Emirates Skywards miles.

Emirates is the largest airline globally not to be part of an airline alliance.  This makes it a little more difficult to use your Skywards miles, since there are fewer airline partners than usual.

The easiest way to avoid having orphaned Emirates Skywards miles is not to earn them in the first place.  However, the old trick of booking via the Qantas codeshare flight number and crediting the flight to British Airways Executive Club no longer works.

We last looked at this topic a couple of years ago. Three things have changed since then:

• the number of Emirates Skywards miles required for partner flights has increased by around 20%

• the value you get when redeeming Skywards miles for easyJet credit has improved substantially to around 0.45p per mile

• Air Canada and United Airlines have been added as new partners

Non-flight redemptions can be a good deal in the UK

If you have got some Emirates miles, our preferred redemption is for their interesting ‘culture and sport’ packages.  The current offers are here.

Redeeming for seats in the Emirates Box at Arsenal is a great experience (review here) and they also have some interesting UK tennis redemptions throughout the year. The problem is that many of these deals are now restricted to elite members of Skywards.

You can also redeem your Skywards miles for Heathrow airport shopping credit via Heathrow Rewards at 0.33p per point (6,000 miles = £20).

You can use Emirates Skywards miles on flights as well ….

I don’t intend to look at redeeming on Emirates itself as this is relatively straightforward.  Instead, I want to look for any hidden value that is available via their airline partners.

Emirates has quite an interesting partner network. This includes Qantas, easyJet and Japan Airlines.

Whilst each partnership has different miles earning and spending rules, we have taken a look at the ones that appear to be the best value for money for UK residents.

None of the HfP team have experience redeeming Skywards miles on partner airlines, so we are keen to hear your feedback in the comments if you have.

If you want to earn Emirates Skywards miles, here is our full guide to collecting them from UK credit cards.

Using Emirates miles on Qantas

You can see the Qantas spending chart on the Emirates website here.  For comparison, here is the British Airways redemption chart for partner airlines if using Avios. Annoyingly, the mileage segments don’t match up nicely with the British Airways chart but here are some comparisons.

These are for one-way business class flights on Qantas:

• 4,001 – 5,001 miles is 92,500 Skywards miles whilst 4,001 – 5,500 miles is 77,250 Avios

• 6,001 – 7,000 miles is 125,000 Skywards miles or 92,750 – 108,250 Avios

Let’s look at longer flights.

For British Airways partners, all flights above 7,000 miles are priced at 154,500 Avios. With Skywards, all flights above 7,000 miles are priced at 145,000 Skywards miles (one-way, business class).

This means that the longest flight in Qantas’ route network, London-Perth at 9,009 miles, is roughly equal in cost whether you use Avios or Skywards miles.

Cancellations and refunds with Skywards are subject to a US$75 charge on fully unused tickets.

Using Emirates miles on Malaysia Airlines

The Malaysia Airlines Skywards redemption chart is mileage based – you can see the list here under ‘Important Information’ at the bottom.

London to Kuala Lumpur is 6,593 miles.  This means you would need 125,000 Skywards miles for a one-way business class ticket.

The comparable Avios figure is 108,250 Avios on Malaysia Airlines.

Skywards miles can only be used on redemptions on economy and business class flights which we reviewed here.  Now that Malaysia Airlines has rebranded First Class as Business Suite it is no longer available for redemption.

Using Emirates miles on easyJet

You can redeem Skywards miles on easyJet flights although there is no easyJet redemption chart.  This is because easyJet uses a revenue based conversion rate on its redemption portal.

The ‘pence per point’ ratio is better than it was, which is good news.  Based on my tests you will receive around 0.45p per Skywards miles.

You can book online via a special website.  Tickets are non-refundable once a 24 hour cooling off period has passed.

Using Emirates miles on Japan Airlines

Japan Airlines rewards use mileage based pricing – see here.

This means that a one-way business class ticket from Heathrow to Tokyo (5,975 miles) costs 105,000 Skywards miles.

This is pricier than a one-way business class flight using Avios on British Airways, which would cost 92,750 Avios.

Using Emirates miles on Korean Air

British Airways did not restart flights to Seoul after the pandemic, and the promised Virgin Atlantic route has no launch date yet.

Korean Air requires 105,000 Skywards miles for a one-way Business Class flight from London to Seoul (5,520 miles flown).

You can also book Korean Air with Virgin Points as both airlines are in the SkyTeam alliance. The cost would be 85,000 Virgin Points for a one-way Business Class flight from London to Seoul.

You can find out more on this page of the Emirates website.

Using Emirates miles on Air Canada

Air Canada is a relatively new partnership. You can see the Emirates pricing chart for Air Canada here.

A one-way business class ticket from Heathrow to Toronto (3,556 miles) costs 77,500 Skywards miles.

A one-way business class flight on British Airways would cost 80,000 Avios + £187.50 of fees, off peak. You can choose to use fewer Avios and more cash but the £187.50 option is generally the best overall deal.

Virgin Atlantic will also be launching Toronto flights in March 2025.

Using Emirates miles on United Airlines

The other relatively new deal is with United Airlines. You can see the Emirates pricing chart here.

Flying one-way in business class from Heathrow to San Francisco (5,367 miles) would cost you 105,000 Emirates Skywards miles.

On British Airways, a one-way business class seat would cost 90,000 Avios + £237.50 of fees, off peak.

The same route can also be flown with Virgin Atlantic although the cost is difficult to guage under the new dynamic pricing system.

Other options include TAP Portugal and Air Mauritius

Emirates has agreements with TAP Portugal (see here), Air Mauritius (see here) and South African Airways if/when they restart UK flights (see here).

Emirates also partners with various airlines who do not fly from the UK –  Azul, Bangkok Airways, Condor, Copa Airlines, flydubai, GOL, Jetstar and Russia’s S7 (currently suspended).  If you are travelling to any of these destinations and have a tidy sum of Skywards miles you may want to take a look and see if you can save any cash or points.

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How to earn Emirates Skywards miles from UK credit cards (March 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.