I was doing my daily search just now for an award flight to the Maldives during peak season today when I came across something very interesting. Since Emirates hadn’t shown a through flight in Business in many days now, I started searching segment by segment, starting with NYC-DXB.
In this article
Emirates Drops “Fuel” Surcharges
The first thing I noticed was that the surcharges (formerly known as fuel surcharges) were only $161.50 for Business Class JFK-DXB. They used to top $800.
I thought this must be a mistake and was going to call Emirates to ask… but a quick Google search verified that OMAAT’s Lucky beat me to the punch – by 22 minutes 😉
It saves me the phone call, though, as he verifies the same thing I saw and also added in an IATA screenshot showing that the surcharges were indeed pared down to just $150 a ticket (the other $11.50 is taxes and fees). He found the same for fifth-freedom flights like EWR-ATH as well.
Emirates Skywards used to rarely be the best way to book Emirates First and Business Class – That’s all changed
As a transfer partner of American Express Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou, and Capital One miles, you have TONS of ways to get miles in. Until now, Alaska MileagePlan was your best method since they didn’t pass on the fuel surcharges.
Note that Alaska is still a bit of a better deal, at 82,500 miles, but you can only earn Alaska miles via their own MileagePlan program or via a transfer from Marriott Bonvoy. NYC-DXB, for example, is 100,000 Emirates Skywards miles instead of 82,500 Alaska miles, and still a $150 more in fees, but it’s so much easier to acquire Emirates Skywards miles via transfer partners.
Additional reading on Emirates First Class:
Emirates A380 First Class Review
Emirates First Class Suites vs. the Etihad First Class Apartment
Have you flown Emirates First or Business? Will this change how you book?
Let me know here, on Twitter, or in the private MilesTalk Facebook group.
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.
