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Hi,
Just received an email from Emirates Skywards inviting me to take part in a survey as they are considering launching a credit card in the UK.Hopefully this is not ‘old news’
I hd that through as well.
Didnt think the proposed options offered great value.
Excellent news
I’ve also received the email. The first 3 ‘value propositions’ they put forward looked weak. All 3 have an earning rate of just 0.75 points per £1 spent in the UK. So the reality is I wouldn’t use the card as can earn more via Amex Platinum and HSBC Prem World Elite.
The 2nd set of propositions they put forward after selecting that I wasn’t interested in any of the first 3 looked a bit better. A better earning rate of 1 Skyward per £1 of spend, bigger sigh up bonuses, Silver Skywards status and 3 Skywards per £1 spent with Emirates. But higher annual fees. Only the 3rd option with 20k sign up bonus looked interesting.
This is an exceptionally niche proposition for the UK market I’d have thought, Emirates have just 4 million skyward members in the UK and as I understand that’s open accounts — not even active ones who understand skywards. If their existing membership tiers are anything to go by, the offering will be too weak to entice most people.
EasyJet on the other hand…
All 3 have an earning rate of just 0.75 points per £1 spent in the UK. So the reality is I wouldn’t use the card as can earn more via Amex Platinum and HSBC Prem World Elite.
Very difficult to compete with rewards on regular spend given the interchange cap. What they can offer to compensate is status benefits or atleast status points.
That’s the way industry is going- look at BA offering tier points on BAPP.This is an exceptionally niche proposition for the UK market I’d have thought, Emirates have just 4 million skyward members in the UK
But more likely to spend on premium cabins than some of the developing markets where they already issue a card.
The bigger issue is hard expiry of miles as uk customers are used to no expiry policies by BA and VS. Obviously also the other earning opportunities missing such as estore.Agree re: mileage expiry – this is a big reason why I have never looked into building a balance with Skywards before.
Any new card is better than no new card, so if I received this survey I would be very positive about the questions, even if the earning rate isn’t as good as it might be.
Mileage expiry and ludicrous reward flight mile prices since last year mean I intend to empty my Skywards balance in the Emirates store in the Dubai mall buying merchandise. So long Skywards, I’ll always remember my 8 first class flights (and the Marriott double dipping when Skywards Silver).
The miles expiry rules are a millstone around their neck – anyone with sense would get an Amex MR card and transfer across when needed.
Skywards even publicly admitted last year that they had slashed award seats because they were selling so many for cash. Pre covid I could literally pick and choose, even over October half term, which flight I wanted even needing 4 business class seats.
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