Bad news, Emirates eliminates First Class Flex award tickets.
Unfortunately, in the world of reward travel there is a sneaky enemy that comes suddenly, sometimes with little or no warning, [...]
Emirates
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Unfortunately, in the world of reward travel, there is a sneaky enemy that comes suddenly, sometimes with little or no warning, you calls depreciation of miles/points.
Today is one of those days, the bad news comes from the Dubai-based company. In fact, booking a first-class ticket with Emirates as of July 1 becomes much more difficult (and expensive).
In recent weeks, the carrier has cut off the ability to book tickets for the most exclusive seats to partner companies, and today Emirates is removing the best offer to redeem miles for first class directly through the Skywards program.
What changes from July 1
Emirates will no longer offer a discount when redeeming miles for one round-trip first-class award ticket On flights departing after July 1.
Today there are two types of first-class award tickets: Flex and Flex Plus. The difference, the only one, is that Flex tickets are sold for fewer Skywards points. They were also only available when booking a round-trip ticket, while in the case of a one-way ticket, only the most expensive fare was available.
To understand how it changes, just look at these two images.
A ticket to Dubai in Flex in June costs 67,500 Skywards points
The same route in July is available only in Flex Plus mode at a cost of 85k Skywards points.
How bad is this news
The increase is substantial and we are talking about one of the worst devaluations in recent years, on the other hand it is fair to mention how Flex Plus first class tickets were very difficult to find and redeem.
In addition to this in general silence EK also increased the amount of Skywards points required for class upgrades for tickets sold at a discounted fare and eliminated altogether the ability to upgrade to first class For tickets bought in class J Saver.
If we consider that Etihad has eliminated much of its fleet with first-class cabins, this means much less chance of booking an award ticket in the most exclusive class of travel.
- 6,000 Mile Registration Bonus
- Collect miles WITH EACH PURCHASE
- Your miles with no expiration*
- No fees for ATM withdrawals and foreign purchases
- Without having to change banks
- Autonomous card activation
- Multi-function mobile application
- Free travel insurance
- Free credit for up to 7 weeks
- Contactless Payment
- Mastercard® SecureCode
- 20€ discount directly in your statement by spending €60 in one or more transactions with Carta on Italotreno.it
- Free fee the 1st year. From the 2nd €5.50 per month
- You can choose to pay in full or in installments
- Premium level of the Italo Più program
- 4 Vouchers per year for access to Italo Club Lounges
- Preferential Access to Italo's Fast Track at the station
- For every 5 purchases of Italo ticketing and/or onboard services made with Italo American Express Credit Card you will receive 1 voucher for room upgrade
- Welcome bonus of 100,000 Volare points upon reaching 6 thousand in spending in the first 3 months after card issuance
- Accumulate 1.5 qualifying Volare points for every euro spent, accumulate an additional 3 non-qualifying Volare points ( for a total of 4.5 Volare points) for every euro spent on ticketing purchases and other services offered by ITA Airways
- Access to the Premium Club of ITA Airways' Volare program.
- ITA Airways Lounge Access
- Free excess baggage
- Points Back