Emirates First Class flight redemptions are not totally dead!

On Saturday we ran an article on the decision by Emirates to block anyone without elite status (Silver or above) in Emirates Skywards from booking First Class redemptions.

This was clearly a move to hold back First Class capacity for actual Emirates flyers rather than people transferring credit card points.

Emirates gave less than 48 hours notice of the decision, which was poor.

The new policy is now live. It turns out that there are two bits of good news:

• it is still possible for a no-status member of Skywards to upgrade a cash Business Class ticket to First Class using Skywards miles

• Qantas Frequent Flyer members can still redeem for Emirates First Class rewards via the Qantas scheme

Qantas Frequent Flyer is a UK American Express Membership Rewards partner so redeeming for Emirates First Class with Qantas Points is an option. This guide from Australian site Flight Hacks explains how it is done.

It seems that a one-way First Class flight from Heathrow to Dubai should be 85,500 Qantas Points, looking at the award chart here, although it price at 89,800 for some reason. This will increase to 102,600 Qantas Points for bookings made after 5th August 2025. Taxes and charges are around £550 from London, one way.

It is important to note that Emirates does not release a lot of First Class availability in advance. It is easy to find within 14 days of departure but you won’t have a lot of options if you want to book six months in advance.

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

Credit cards earning Membership Rewards points include:

• American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card (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.

• 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

• The 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 Credit Card earns double points (2 per £1) on all flights you charge to it, not just with Emirates but with any airline.