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Emirates allows families to pool their miles together for award redemptions and upgrades by using a My Family account. The Emirates family account is pretty straightforward to use, and you can start pooling miles right away.
Here's all there is to know about Emirates My Family accounts.
Page Contents
Emirates Skywards Program Details
Emirates Skywards grants travelers elite status for their loyalty to the airline. Skywards miles are earned by flying Emirates, flydubai, and partner airlines, as well as through eligible hotel stays, car rentals, and retail purchases. The program is free to join.
The four elite status tiers of Emirates Skywards are Blue, Silver, Gold, and Platinum. You earn higher status by earning tier miles. Tier benefits include free seat selection, priority check-in at Dubai International Airport (DXB), and more.
Emirates Skywards Blue is complimentary for joining the program. With this tier, you can use Skywards miles to upgrade your seat at check-in or onboard, get waitlist priority, and unlimited onboard messaging. Emirates Skywards Silver is earned after earning 25,000 Tier Miles or taking 25 flights. Emirates Gold requires 50,000 Tier Miles or 50 flights, while Emirates Platinum requires 150,000 Tier Miles and at least one qualifying flight in first or business class.
Tier Miles can also be earned by spending with an Emirates Skywards co-branded credit card like the Emirates Skywards Rewards World Elite Mastercard® or Emirates Skywards Premium World Elite Mastercard®.
Emirates Family Account Program
Within the Emirates Skywards program is the My Family Account, a way for families to pool their Skywards miles together to redeem for flights. To start a My Family account, you must be at least 18 years old and already have a Skywards account. Unlike other airlines' family pooling programs, only immediate family members — including a domestic helper — can be added to a My Family account.
The following relations of the family head can join the family account:
- Spouse or domestic partner
- Child or stepchild
- Parent, parents-in-law, or stepparents
- Sibling
- Grandchild
- Domestic helper
The person who creates the family account is designated as the family head and can invite other family members to join. Skywards members under 18 years old can be directly added to the My Family account by the family account head.
How to set up a My Family account
To set up an Emirates My Family Account, navigate to your account overview after logging in to your Skywards account. You'll see “Family Details” on the list of actions as the screenshot below shows.
Next, you'll be taken to a page that will let you create a My Family account. After clicking on “Create a My Family Account,” a screen will pop up that asks for your Family Name, whether or not you want to contribute Skywards miles, and asks you to accept Emirates Skywards Program Rules.
You can view your My Family account by clicking on your initials in the top right corner of the browser near the menu and scrolling to the bottom. Click on “My Family” to be directed to your Emirates family account page.
How to add family members
On your My Family account page, you can view how many miles you have, your recent activity, and redeem or pool miles for flights. Near the bottom of the page, you can add family members to your account.
The screenshot below shows how many members are currently in my My Family account (none). I can add members by clicking “Invite another member.”
You can invite adults 18 years or older and manually add children under 18. You can add up to eight family members to your My Family account.
Related: Do Emirates Skywards Miles Expire?
Adding miles to your Emirates family account
Both the head of the family account and invited family members can decide how much, if any, of their miles they would like to contribute to the My Family account when they fly. The remaining miles would be deposited into their personal Skywards account. You can set the following percentages:
- 25%
- 50%
- 75%
- 100%
You can change your contribution to the family account at any time. It's worth noting that only miles after you join a family account will be shared; your existing miles will remain where they are: in your own account. You can't pool existing miles with the family account.
Bottom Line
Family pooling is a nice bonus since a family vacation once or twice a year isn't out of the norm. Being able to credit all those miles to one account will help ensure you won't have to worry about errant miles being lost or forgotten. You're restricted to only including members of your family (rather than being able to invite friends), but if you fly Emirates or flydubai frequently, this is a great way to earn and redeem miles faster. Do note, however, that only the head of the Emirates family account can make award redemptions using the pooled miles.
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