The announcement was made like this…
— United Airlines (@united) August 30, 2022
Then Emirates replies…
👋, @united!
— Emirates Airline (@emirates) August 30, 2022
And then United makes a date with Emirates
Want to hang(ar) out on September 14, @emirates?
— United Airlines (@united) August 30, 2022
So, clearly Emirates and United are linking up. At a bare minimum they will codeshare and allow passengers to easily have onward travel from Emirates across the US via United (although most Emirates flights fly into JFK and United flights mostly leave from Newark, so maybe not seamless *everywhere*.
There will probably be some reciprocal elite benefits and you will almost certainly be able to credit miles to either program on cash fares.
The big question is how award redemptions will work.
Emirates now charges hefty fees to use Skywards miles (for a while they didn’t – but now they do again). United doesn’t pass along YQ surcharges, so that could represent a bargain for booking that Emirates First Class Shower in the Sky. Then again, Emirates got out of most of their agreements with partners to sell First Class seats as awards. Qantas is the lone exception.
The next buzz kill is just how few saver Emirates Business and First Class seats are released at peak times. When I wrote this article yesterday, I had to spend 72,500 miles each way just from JFK-Milan because they only have Flex inventory for the entire summer next year. In order to book with United, you’ll almost certainly need Saver inventory. So even if awards are bookable and surcharge free, your flights options could be very limited compared to Emirates’ own program where the surcharges are just awful.
As for bargains using Emirates Skywards miles on United? Well, I doubt they’ll be better than booking with Turkish miles, and probably won’t even be close. Just my opinion.
Long story short – we should know more September 14th!
Thoughts?
Let me know below in the comments, on Twitter, or in the private MilesTalk Facebook group. And don't forget to follow me on Instagram for all sorts of tips on miles, points, credit cards, and travel.
If this post helped you, please consider sharing it!
You can find credit cards that best match your spending habits and bonus categories at Your Best Credit Cards.
New to all of this? My “introduction to miles and points” book, MilesTalk: Live Your Wildest Travel Dreams Using Miles and Points is available on Amazon and at major booksellers.
