AwardWallet receives compensation from advertising partners for links on the blog. Terms Apply to the offers listed on this page. Enrollment is required for select Amex benefits. The opinions expressed here are our own and have not been reviewed, provided, or approved by any bank advertiser. Here's our complete list of Advertisers.
For many, booking Emirates First Class is on their travel bucket list. I know it was on mine until I flew the original product in 2017. With as much marketing that Emirates has done, sponsoring global sports teams and enviable events, the perception for folks — even those not “into” points and miles — is that Emirates is the way to fly.
With two first-class products flying in the sky, the demand for the airline's premier product has only grown. That's led to the airline's lockdown of award availability in recent years. But, you can still fly this luxurious first class product if you know the right way.
Let's look at how to book Emirates First Class award travel in 2025.
Page Contents
Book First Class Through Emirates Skywards
Naturally, you can use Emirates Skywards to book yourself into First Class luxury. And there are two ways to do so. The first is more traditional, but comes at a higher price tag and requires Emirates status. The second requires some strategy and luck.
Book a First Class award ticket using Skywards miles
A sensible first spot to look for booking Emirates First Class would be Emirates' loyalty program. You can search for availability on the Emirates website and secure it with your Skywards miles, but you'll now need Silver, Gold, or Platinum elite status to actually book as of May 12, 2025.
Thankfully, you can secure Silver status with Emirates without flying via the Emirates Skywards Rewards World Elite Mastercard®. The card offers Silver status during your first year. After that, you'll need to spend $20,000 on the card each cardmember year to keep Silver.
Or, if you want an even higher status, you can secure Gold in your first year with the Emirates Skywards Premium World Elite Mastercard®. After that, you'll need to spend $40,000 on the card in a cardmember year to retain the status.
Emirates uses straightforward pricing for each route, and availability is generally good, making redemptions fairly easy if you have the required mileage balance.
Emirates operates an entirely wide-body fleet, and most planes feature First Class cabins. At present, you'll find these luxurious cabins on the following routes. Just note that the airline could swap in a plane with a different cabin at any time.
And now for what it costs. Here's what you can expect to pay on various one-way routes operated by First Class-equipped planes:
- New York-Kennedy (JFK) to Milan (MXP): 102,000 Skywards miles
- Newark (EWR) to Athens (ATH): 102,000 Skywards miles
- Toronto (YYZ) to Dubai (DXB): 163,500 Skywards miles
- Washington, D.C. (IAD) to Dubai (DXB): 163,500 Skywards miles
- Los Angeles (LAX) to Dubai (DXB): 186,000 Skywards miles
But it's worth noting that the award taxes and fees are substantial.
Related: Our Complete Guide to Seats.aero
Upgrade to Emirates First Class using Skywards miles
An even easier (and potentially cheaper) way to First Class is via a mileage upgrade, especially given the latest changes for booking First Class awards outright. Emirates allows upgrades on tickets booked with cash or miles by one class of service. That means you can upgrade to business on an economy or premium economy ticket — or upgrade to First Class if you book a business-class ticket.
The only thing to be aware of is that you'll need to book directly through Emirates to upgrade. If you book your Emirates award ticket through Air Canada's Aeroplan program, for example, it's unlikely you'll be able to upgrade your flight.
Business awards booked with Skywards code as “Flex Plus” fares. That means you'll pay the lowest published cost to upgrade shown on Emirates' handy mileage calculator. Even better, there are no cash copays to upgrade with miles.
Here's what it costs to upgrade from business to First Class on the same selection of routes shown above:
- New York-Kennedy (JFK) to Milan (MXP): 39,000 Skywards miles
- Newark (EWR) to Athens (ATH): 39,000 Skywards miles
- Toronto (YYZ) to Dubai (DXB): 70,200 Skywards miles
- Washington, D.C. (IAD) to Dubai (DXB): 70,200 Skywards miles
- Los Angeles (LAX) to Dubai (DXB): 81,900 Skywards Miles
The process to upgrade is simple and easy to accomplish, requiring just a few steps and a bit of luck. For the complete how-to, refer to AwardWallet's step-by-step guide to upgrading to Emirates First Class with miles.
Earning Emirates Skywards miles
Emirates Skywards is a transfer partner of every major transferable point currency, which makes mileage accrual nice and easy. Currently, you can transfer points from the following credit card rewards programs to Emirates.
If you’re thinking about making a transfer, keep in mind that Citi and Amex will devalue their transfer ratios to Emirates Skywards later this year — on July 27 and September 16, 2025, respectively. The current 1:1 transfer ratio will drop to 1:0.8, so it’s a good idea to convert points sooner rather than later if you’re eyeing a Skywards award.
If you don't have a stash of transferrable points yet, here are some options to build your balances:
- 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
- 8x points on all purchases through Chase Travel℠
- 4x points on flights and hotels booked directly
- 3x points on dining worldwide
- 1x points on all other purchases
(Terms apply)
- Earn 5X points for flights booked directly with airlines or with American Express Travel® (up to $500,000 in purchases per calendar year).
- Earn 5X points on prepaid hotels booked with American Express Travel®.
Related: Do Emirates Skywards Miles Expire?
Book Through Air Canada Aeroplan
A still-viable way to book Emirates First Class via partners is using Air Canada Aeroplan points. Air Canada employs a dedicated award chart for Emirates-operated award flights. But unlike most of Aeroplan's award charts for other carriers, Emirates awards are priced in a range, making it hard to know for sure what you'll pay for an award.
However, you can get a general idea of the number of points necessary for an Emirates award by taking a look at the ranges:
| Flight Distance (Miles) | Economy | Business | First |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-2,000 | 15,000-35,000 | 30,000-77,500 | 65,000-175,000 |
| 2,001-5,000 | 21,000-65,000 | 45,000-140,000 | 110,000-325,000 |
| 5,001-9,000 | 40,000-85,000 | 80,000-185,000 | 225,000-475,000 |
| 9,001-12,000 | 60,000-110,000 | 120,000-225,000 | 300,000-600,000 |
| 12,001+ | 85,000-150,000 | 180,000-300,000 | 400,000-750,000 |
Finding Emirates award availability through Air Canada Aeroplan can be a bit of a challenge, but that doesn’t mean First Class awards are impossible to find. For example, I searched the relatively new route between Miami (MIA) and Bogotá (BOG) and found plenty of results — though most were on the pricey side for a 3.5-hour flight.
An option is to look for award availability on Emirates directly and check if the itinerary is bookable with Aeroplan points. Emirates doesn't make every First Class award to its Canadian partner, so your mileage may vary when booking with Aeroplan points. And again, you'll need a lot of points to book these awards.
Related: Here's How Much You'll Pay When Redeeming Aeroplan Points for Emirates Flights
Earning Air Canada Aeroplan points
If you get lucky and find an Emirates First Class award, you can book with Aeroplan points, or you can transfer points from a few different credit card rewards programs, including:
Related: Do Air Canada Aeroplan Points Expire?
Book Through Qantas Frequent Flyer
You can also book Emirates First Class by redeeming through partner Qantas. Qantas publishes a partner award chart, which outlines what you'll pay for awards on Emirates and a dozen other airline partners. At present, Qantas' partner award chart looks like this:
| Flight Distance (Miles) | Economy | Premium Economy | Business | First |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0-600 | 10,000 | 15,800 | 20,000 | 29,000 |
| 601-1,200 | 14,000 | 23,700 | 30,000 | 43,500 |
| 1,201-2,400 | 20,000 | 34,500 | 43,800 | 64,500 |
| 2,401-3,600 | 24,500 | 48,500 | 61,200 | 89,800 |
| 3,601-4,800 | 30,200 | 59,000 | 75,000 | 107,700 |
| 4,801-5,800 | 37,800 | 70,800 | 90,000 | 129,300 |
| 5,801-7,000 | 45,000 | 81,800 | 104,500 | 149,800 |
| 7,001-8,400 | 50,300 | 93,500 | 119,200 | 170,800 |
| 8,401-9,600 | 61,500 | 109,000 | 139,200 | 199,300 |
| 9,601-15,000 | 66,200 | 124,800 | 159,000 | 227,500 |
Searching for availability was easily done on Seats.aero. However, since May 12, I haven't found any Emirates award availability on the website anymore. Instead, you may want to scroll through the short weekly calendar on Qantas' website. It's always worth comparing costs when booking awards through Qantas, as some routes are cheaper than those booked with Skywards miles directly.
For a side-by-side comparison, here's the number of Qantas points you'll pay for the selection of routes:
- New York-Kennedy (JFK) to Milan (MXP): 107,700 points
- Newark (EWR) to Athens (ATH): 129,300 points
- Toronto (YYZ) to Dubai (DXB): 149,800 points
- Washington, D.C. (IAD) to Dubai (DXB): 170,800 points
- Los Angeles (LAX) to Dubai (DXB): 170,800 points
Unfortunately, Qantas is set to modify its partner award charts on August 5, 2025 — and the changes will negatively impact Emirates premium cabin awards. If you can scrounge the points, now’s the time to book one of these awards.
Earning Qantas Frequent Flyer points
You can build a balance of Qantas Frequent Flyer points by transferring rewards from a short list of major transferable currencies at 1:1 ratios.
Related: Do Qantas Frequent Flyer Points Expire?
Final Thoughts
Emirates First Class is one of the most memorable flights I've ever taken. And, thanks to points and miles, it's possible to travel in luxury without breaking the bank.
You can book your way into luxury with Emirates Skywards miles (with status), Qantas Frequent Flyer points, and Air Canada Aeroplan points. The key is finding award availability to match travel dates, which can prove tough with the restrictions Emirates has put in place.
Just keep in mind that point transfers from a couple of programs, specifically Citi and Amex, will be devalued soon, and Qantas has a partner award chart change scheduled for early August. Booking these awards is only going to get more challenging, so now might be the perfect time to plan your Emirates First Class flight.
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: Chase Sapphire Reserve® (Rates & Fees), and The Platinum Card® from American Express (Rates & Fees)
The comments on this page are not provided, reviewed, or otherwise approved by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.