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Emirates Will Cut Partner First Class Awards, at least via Alaska Mileage Plan, effective April 1, 2021 per the Alaska Air site.
Back in 2016 Alaska Mileage Plan devalued its Emirates award chart (see Alaska: Why Emirates First Class Awards Increased 100% With No Notice). A U.S. to Africa Emirates First Class award increased overnight from 100,000 Mileage Plan miles to 200,000 miles each way. And in addition to the devaluation, Alaska Mileage Plan often doesn't have access to all the award seats that Emirates Skywards has access to, so these awards even now are often not available with Alaska miles.
For that reason, most of our Award Booking clients no longer use Alaska miles to book Emirates awards, especially since both AMEX Membership Rewards points and Chase Ultimate Rewards points transfer 1:1 to Emirates Skywards, sometimes with a transfer bonus.
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Emirates Skywards Award Rates
Emirates award rates are usually less expensive using JAL Mileage Bank miles than Emirates Skywards miles, but few of our clients easily accrue JAL miles by flying, and the main transfer partner is Marriott Bonvoy (previously SPG Starpoints) which transfer 3:1. Here are some sample Emirates First Class award rates, all roundtrip:
- London LHR – Dubai DXB: 135,000 Skywards miles (Flex award) or 120,000 JAL miles
- Bangkok BKK – Dubai DXB: 157,500 Skywards miles (Flex award) or 120,000 JAL miles
- New York JFK – Dubai DXB: 217,500 Skywards miles (Flex award) or 165,000 JAL miles
- Sydney SYD – Dubai DXB: 288,000 Skywards miles (Flex award) or 190,000 JAL miles
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The Upshot
Emirates may be following the example of Singapore KrisFlyer and similar frequent flyer programs, which have eliminated first class awards on their own metal from partner frequent flyer programs. While currently it's only certain that Alaska Mileage Plan won't offer Emirates First Class awards as of April 1, 2021, it could mean Emirates is cutting off other partners, such as JAL Mileage Bank, which charges the fewest miles in most cases for Emirates First Class awards.
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