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Good news about the Emirates Skywards program has been hard to come by this year, but we finally have something positive to share. In an unannounced change that we caught on Emirates' website, Emirates slashed economy award pricing on one of its partner airlines, Condor, by 25% across the board.
Here’s a look at the new award rates for Condor flights and how to top up your Skywards balance if you want to book one of these now-cheaper awards.
Emirates Slashes Condor Economy Awards by 25%
A little under 18 months ago, Emirates cut partner economy award pricing by up to 20%, so changes like this aren’t exactly far from the norm. This year’s “re-valuation” is even better than last year’s, since all Condor economy awards were reduced by another 25%.
It remains to be seen if similar changes are coming to other partner award charts, but we're keeping our eyes peeled in case that happens.
Related: The Best Uses of Emirates Skywards Miles
New Skywards pricing for Condor award flights
If you’re heading to or from Germany and have Skywards miles to burn, it’s now 25% more affordable in economy. Here’s the new Emirates award chart for Condor-operated flights:
We’re generally fans of distance-based award charts, and there’s a lot to like about this one if you don’t mind flying economy.
For example, you can now fly between Toronto (YYZ), Boston (BOS), or New York (JFK) and Frankfurt (FRA) for just 19,500 miles plus a little over $50 in taxes and fees. Before the changes, these same awards cost 26,000 miles.
If you want to fly a little farther, you can do that for less, too. Condor has a scattershot route map, but you can also fly from West Coast cities like Los Angeles (LAX), Seattle (SEA), and Anchorage (ANC) to Frankfurt.
The LAX to FRA route, in particular, will now cost you 28,500 miles plus a modest $28.50 in taxes and fees. This is a ticket that previously cost 38,000 miles.
This news might not be all that exciting if you’re a business class or bust kind of traveler, but it should be if you don’t mind flying economy. Emirates Skywards is now one of the best ways to book Condor flights.
Take that same LAX to FRA award, for example. Here’s what it would cost through the two other programs that offer access to Condor awards:
- Alaska Airlines Atmos Rewards: 35,000 points plus $49.60
- JetBlue TrueBlue: 39,000 points plus $14.20
If you can book through Emirates, you’ll save a good chunk of points, and the out of pocket cost is pretty competitive.
Related: How to Find Airline Partner Award Flight Availability
Top Up Your Skywards Balance
As we mentioned earlier, good news about Emirates Skywards has been hard to come by this year. Beyond new restrictions on first class awards, both Citi and Amex devalued their transfer ratios to Emirates, and Chase was dropped as a transfer partner altogether. You can still transfer various flavors of points and miles to Skywards, but 1:1 ratios are harder to come by.
Here are Emirates' current transfer partners and the applicable transfer ratios:
Based on the table above, your two best options right now are Bilt Rewards and Capital One, since both still offer a 1:1 transfer ratio. And if you’re short on Capital One miles, there are plenty of fantastic card offers circulating right now that can help jumpstart your balance.
- 5X miles per dollar on purchases through Capital One Entertainment (through 12/31/2025)
- 5X miles per dollar on hotels, vacation rentals and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
- 2X miles per dollar on all other purchases
- 10X miles per $1 on hotels and rental cars booked via Capital One Travel
- 5X miles per $1 on purchases through Capital One Entertainment (through 12/31/2025)
- 5X miles per $1 on flights when booking via Capital One Travel
- 5X miles per $1 on vacation rentals booked via Capital One Travel
- 2X miles per $1 on all other eligible purchases
- 10X miles per $1 on hotels and rental cars booked via Capital One Travel
- 5X miles per $1 on purchases through Capital One Entertainment (through 12/31/2025)
- 5X miles per $1 on flights booked via Capital One Travel
- 5X miles per $1 on vacation rentals booked via Capital One Travel
- 2X miles per $1 on other eligible purchases
Alternatively, if you’re just a few miles short of a redemption and don’t have transferable points, remember that you can buy Skywards miles outright.
Bottom Line
It’s always more fun to write about re-valuations than devaluations, so it’s great to see Emirates make Condor economy awards 25% cheaper. These new rates make Skywards worth a look if you’re digging for a cheap way to fly to Germany using points and miles.
However, the less exciting aspect of this news is that a couple of credit card rewards programs no longer offer 1:1 transfers to Emirates Skywards, Chase Ultimate Rewards no longer transfer to Skywards at all, and only a few programs still offer a true 1:1 ratio. So, even though awards now require fewer miles, you may still need to transfer more bank points to book the award you want.
If anything, let this serve as a reminder to always cost compare before you book award flights.
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