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It's not often that we get to share good news involving Emirates Skywards. In the past year, Emirates has made booking its awards a lot more difficult by adding new restrictions to Emirates First Class bookings, ending its transfer partnership with Chase Ultimate Rewards, and devaluing transfer ratios to Amex, Citi, and Capital One.
But we're here today with some legitimately good news about the Emirates Skywards program.
Emirates just revamped its partner award charts with much more flyer-friendly award prices. Most of the awards we have analyzed have decreased — some by up to 76%! Unfortunately, it's not all good changes. A few award rates are going up, with the worst increasing by 38%.
Here's a full breakdown of these changes.
New Emirates Skywards Partner Award Chart
Emirates has implemented the following award chart for most of its partners effective March 4, 2026:
| One-way distance (in miles) | Economy | Premium Economy | Business Class |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-300 | 3,000 | 6,000 | 7,500 |
| 301-500 | 4,500 | 9,000 | 11,500 |
| 501-700 | 6,000 | 12,000 | 15,000 |
| 701-900 | 8,000 | 16,000 | 20,000 |
| 901-1,500 | 11,000 | 22,000 | 27,500 |
| 1,501-2,000 | 17,000 | 34,000 | 42,500 |
| 2,001-3,000 | 22,500 | 45,000 | 56,500 |
| 3,001-4,000 | 27,000 | 54,000 | 67,500 |
| 4,001-5,000 | 30,000 | 60,000 | 75,000 |
| 5,001+ | 37,500 | 75,000 | 94,000 |
This award chart applies to the following airlines — although not all partners offer all three classes of service:
- Aegean Air
- Air Mauritius
- Azul
- Bangkok Airways
- Condor
- COPA
- Garuda Indonesia
- GOL
- Korean Air
- Malaysia Airlines
- Olympic Air
- South African Airways
- TAP Portugal
Positive changes in the new Skywards partner award chart
The best part of this new award chart is its starting price. Partner awards priced no cheaper than 6,000 Skywards miles before today. Now, awards up to 300 miles in distance cost just 3,000 miles each way. That makes these some of the cheapest awards in the points and miles world.
Besides that, here are the biggest decreases we found:
- 70% drop in business class awards between 251 and 300 miles (25,000 -> 7,500 miles)
- 57% drop in business class awards between 501 and 700 miles (35,000 -> 15,000 miles)
- 50% drop in economy awards between 500 and 700 miles (12,000 -> 6,000 miles)
- 45% drop in business class awards between 1,000 and 1,500 miles (50,000 -> 27,500 miles)
- 43% drop in business class awards between 700 and 900 miles (35,000 -> 20,000 miles)
South African Airways awards saw an even bigger drop, as Emirates previously used a more expensive award chart for these awards.
Similarly, Emirates previously used business class award rates for GOL award flights. Now, Emirates is utilizing its premium economy award pricing for GOL flights. That leads to huge drops like:
| Distance Band | Cabin | Prior Rate | New Rate | % Decrease |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1-250 | Premium Economy | 17,500 | 6,000 | 66% |
| 251-300 | Premium Economy | 25,000 | 6,000 | 76% |
| 301-500 | Premium Economy | 25,000 | 9,000 | 64% |
| 501-700 | Premium Economy | 35,000 | 12,000 | 66% |
| 701-900 | Premium Economy | 35,000 | 16,000 | 54% |
| 1,001-1,500 | Premium Economy | 50,000 | 22,000 | 56% |
| 1-300 | Economy | 8,000 | 3,000 | 63% |
| 301-500 | Economy | 8,000 | 4,500 | 44% |
| 501-700 | Economy | 12,000 | 6,000 | 50% |
| 701-900 | Economy | 12,000 | 8,000 | 33% |
| 1,001-1,500 | Economy | 18,000 | 11,000 | 39% |
For example, a premium economy award from Rio de Janeiro (GIG) to Buenos Aires (EZE) dropped from 50,000 miles to a much more reasonable 22,000 Skywards miles:
Awards that just went up in price
As we mentioned at the top, not all awards decreased in price. Most partner economy awards between 2,000 and 4,000 miles inched up in price — around a 2-4% increase in these awards.
The worst hit was economy awards on Condor. Emirates previously used much more favorable rates for Condor economy awards, but has now adopted its general partner award chart for these awards. That's led to increases of:
- 26% for Condor awards between 1,500 and 2,000 miles (13,500 -> 17,000 miles)
- 36% for Condor awards between 2,000 and 3,000 miles (16,500 -> 22,500 miles)
- 38% for Condor awards between 3,000 and 4,000 miles (19,500 -> 27,000 miles)
Besides these, almost all other partner awards decreased at least somewhat in price.
Related: No More Miles: Emirates Plans to Drop Condor as a Skywards Earning Partner
Updated Emirates Award Chart for Qantas Flights
Emirates and Qantas have a unique partnership. Qantas is one of the few ways that travelers can still book Emirates First Class awards — although Qantas just devalued Emirates awards. This special relationship is reflected in today's Emirates award chart changes.
Here's the new Emirates Skywards award chart for Qantas flights:
| One-way distance (in miles) | Economy | Premium Economy | Business Class |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-600 | 9,500 | 14,500 | 19,500 |
| 601-1,200 | 14,000 | 22,000 | 29,000 |
| 1,201-2,400 | 21,000 | 33,000 | 44,000 |
| 2,401-3,600 | 23,500 | 51,000 | 68,500 |
| 3,601-4,800 | 29,000 | 62,000 | 82,500 |
| 4,801-5,800 | 36,500 | 74,000 | 98,500 |
| 5,801-7,000 | 43,500 | 85,500 | 114,000 |
| 7,001-8,400 | 48,500 | 98,000 | 130,500 |
| 8,401-9,600 | 59,000 | 114,000 | 152,000 |
| 9,601+ | 63,500 | 125,000 | 166,500 |
Pros and cons of the new Skywards award chart for Qantas
This new award chart drops some Qantas awards by as much as 61%. On the flip side, economy award flights up to 500 miles are increasing by up to 19% (from 8,000 miles to 9,500 miles).
The biggest drop is for Qantas flights between 501 and 600 miles. Previously, awards on these flights would cost 12,000 miles in economy and a whopping 50,000 miles in business class — both rather absurd prices.
Now, Qantas flights between 501 and 600 miles cost:
- 9,500 miles in economy (21% less)
- 19,500 miles in business class (61% less)
One route falling in this distance band is Sydney (SYD) to Sunshine Coast (MCY):
Routes between 1,000 and 1,200 miles dropped almost as much, with economy dropping from 18,000 to 14,000 miles (22% drop), premium economy from 50k to 22k (56% drop), and business class from 72.5k to 29k miles (60% drop).
That's helpful for routes like Adelaide (ADL) to Brisbane (BNE):
Routes between 2,000 and 2,400 miles also dropped a bit — especially in premium cabins. Economy awards only dropped from 22,000 to 21,000 miles. But premium economy awards dropped from 65k to 33k miles, and business class awards dropped from an insane 95k miles to a still-steep 44k miles.
This distance band includes flights between Sydney (SYD) and Perth (PER) — some of which offer lay-flat business-class seats.
Airlines With No Changes to Award Pricing
Emirates hasn't implemented the new award charts for several existing partners. It's unclear if these partners will continue to use the old charts — or if Emirates will be aligning them in the next day or two.
For now, the following Skywards partners are still pricing using the older partner award charts:
- Air Canada
- Japan Airlines
- Jetstar
- United Airlines
These airlines still use the prior Skywards partner award chart:
| One‑way distance (miles) | Economy Class | Business Class |
|---|---|---|
| 0–250 | 8,000 | 17,500 |
| 251–500 | 8,000 | 25,000 |
| 501–1,000 | 12,000 | 35,000 |
| 1,001–2,000 | 18,000 | 50,000 |
| 2,001–3,000 | 22,000 | 65,000 |
| 3,001–4,000 | 26,000 | 77,500 |
| 4,001–5,000 | 32,000 | 92,500 |
| 5,001–6,000 | 38,000 | 105,000 |
| 6,001–7,000 | 44,000 | 125,000 |
| 7,001–15,000 | 54,000 | 145,000 |
And the following Skywards redemption partners still don't utilize a fixed award chart:
- FlyDubai
- EasyJet
- Jet2
Final Thoughts
This is a rather peculiar timing for the Dubai-based airline to make these changes, as much of its fleet remains grounded due to the war in the Middle East. In times of airline crisis (e.g., COVID-19), we've seen airlines restrict partner awards to save funds. Emirates is doing the opposite, making partner awards a lot cheaper.
Also, although the award rate decreases are drastic, the resulting rates aren't that cheap. The changes really just make Emirates award pricing more competitive with other award programs.
Take, for instance, a Qantas business class award from Sydney (SYD) to Perth (PER). Previously, Emirates charged a whopping 95,000 miles for this award. Now, Emirates prices it at 44,000 miles — nearly matching Qantas' price of 43,600 points. Or you can book the same award through American Airlines AAdvantage for just 20,000 miles.
While it's great to see Emirates improving award rates, make sure to check other options before booking through Emirates — especially with the recently devalued transfer ratios to the program.
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