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[Manases Blakemore]

Travelerslooking to book award tickets on Emirates were forced to pick between the lesser of two evils, namely partner airlines that charged exorbitant fuel surcharges and those with outrageously high award rates.

Over the last few years, two significant changes have reversed that trend and turned Emirates Skywards into a very compelling program. Last year, Emirates reduced fuel surcharges by hundreds of dollars. This incredibly positive development came barely a month after Citi added Emirates as a 1:1 transfer partner of Citi ThankYou Points, making Emirates Skywards the third frequent flyer program to partner with all major transferable points programs.

Emirates Skywards miles are now easier to earn and award tickets are cheaper with lower taxes and fees. With that in mind, now is a great time for us to look at the best ways to redeem Emirates Skywards miles.

This means you can transfer points from popular cards like the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card, Citi Premier Card (see rates and fees) and The Platinum Card from American Express to top up your Emirates Skywards account.

You can also earn miles by crediting flights to your Skywards accounts. For Emirates, you'll need to use the Emirates' miles calculator to estimate your earnings, which are based on a combination of your fare class and the distance of your flight.

Emirates also publishes individual awards charts for each of its partner airlines, with earning rates based on your fare class and flight distance. For eligible tickets, you'll earn 1.25-2 Skywards miles per mile flown. The higher the fare class, the more miles you'll earn.

It's also possible to earn Emirates miles when renting a car, booking a hotel, or shopping with certain retail partners. For full details on these earning options, be sure to check out our complete guide to Emirates Skywards.

While Emirates offers an above-average experience in all three cabins, many award travelers are looking to fly Emirates first class. If you're flying on the carrier's flagship A380, the onboard shower and bar (also accessible to business class passengers) are two of the most unique amenities in commercial aviation.

Emirates prices award tickets based on flight distance but doesn't publish a formal award chart. Instead, you'll need to use the carrier's mileage calculator to figure out how much a ticket will cost.

Saver tickets are less expensive, but award space is harder to come by. Additionally, only economy and business class awards offer Saver space. Unfortunately, Emirates doesn't offer Saver first-class awards at this time.

Flex tickets are exclusive to first class. This is essentially the Saver level for first-class and offers the lowest pricing with the most availability. You can only book round-trip Flex tickets for first-class itineraries.

Finally, Flex Plus has the most award space for all classes of travel but with higher pricing. You can book one-way Flex Plus tickets in first-class too. Flex Plus can be worthwhile if you need to travel on a set date, but we recommend skipping it if possible.

Let's start by looking at flights from New York (JFK) to Dubai (DXB). East Coast flights shorter (and cheaper) than those departing from the West Coast. Here's a look at round-trip pricing on this route:

Redeeming your hard-earned Skywards miles on a low-cost carrier like EasyJet might not be the best value. But there are some good deals to be had. Let's start with JetBlue, which is likely to be the most useful partner for North American travelers.

Emirates now prices JetBlue awards based on distance flown. To find an award price, use a website like GCmap.com to find your flight's distance. Then, compare it to the one-way award chart shown below. Award flights start at 8,000 miles for a flight 250 miles or shorter.

For example, a flight from New York-JFK to Boston (BOS) is 187 miles one-way. This would put the flight into the cheapest award tier. This might be a good deal if pricing is high on your flight of choice, but make sure to compare the cash cost first.

Emirates' other North American partner is Alaska Airlines, which will join the Oneworld alliance this year. Like JetBlue awards, the price you'll pay for an Alaska award ticket depends on how long your flight is.

For example, you can fly Prestige Class round-trip from the U.S. to Seoul (ICN) for just 105,000 miles. That is the same amount many airlines would charge for a one-way award. Here's a look at the full award chart for round-trip flights to/from Korea.

You're not limited to redeeming your Emirates Skywards miles for airfare either. You can also redeem your miles with travel partners for things like hotels and car rentals. We'll take a look at the different partners and ways to redeem Emirates points in this article.

For example, this one-night stay at the Swissotel Chicago costs 47,043 miles. Alternatively, you can book the same stay for $188, so you're getting just 0.4 cents per point in value. This is significantly lower than TPG's valuation.

Note that you usually won't earn hotel points or get elite status benefits on these hotel stays. Most of these programs require that you book directly to use your benefits. Keep this in mind as you book rooms through the portal.

Emirates also has an in-house vacation booking service called Emirates Holidays. This service helps you book everything from hotels to activities. Everything is handled start-to-finish by Emirates' travel consultants so you can be sure you're getting the best deal and finding hidden gems for your travels.

You can redeem your miles toward Emirates Holidays vacation packages. You can redeem miles in increments of 5,000 for an AED110 discount, equal to roughly $30. This isn't the best deal at just 0.6 cents per mile in value, so we recommend steering clear of this redemption too.

Finally, you can use your Emirates Skywards miles for tours with Arabian Adventures. This tour company operates themed tours of Dubai and Abu Dhabi. There's everything from food tours to desert safaris outside of Dubai. Whatever you choose, it's a great way to see the UAE in a new light on your next trip.

You can use Skywards miles to purchase any of the tours listed on the Emirates website. Most of these tours only yield 0.3 cents per point in value, however, so we recommend paying out of pocket instead. You'll get a far better value redeeming your miles for flights.

There are a handful of non-travel ways to redeem your miles too. There are two ways to redeem your miles for merchandise, and both offer relatively poor value. That said, we'll run through them below, so you know what to look for if you decide to redeem your Emirates Skywards miles this way.

You can spend your Emirates miles on the Emirates Official Store to purchase Emirates-branded merchandise. This includes things like model planes, apparel, mugs and more. There's some interesting merchandise here that you can purchase with cash or your Skywards miles.

Unfortunately, you'll get poor value if you use your miles to purchase merchandise here. We've found you'll get roughly 0.45 cents per point from these redemptions, which is low. So, save your miles for flights and pay for your Emirates swag with cash.

Heathrow Rewards is the rewards currency of London-Heathrow (LHR) airport. You can earn these points when you shop at Heathrow airport or with partners, like Emirates. You can transfer your Skywards miles to Heathrow Rewards points at a 6,000:2,000 ratio, meaning 6,000 Skywards miles equals 2,000 Heathrow Rewards points.

You can use Heathrow Rewards points for discounts on parking, shopping credits at Heathrow airport, Heathrow Express discounts and more. You'll generally get 5 per 500 points spent, meaning 6,000 Skywards miles is a 20 discount on shopping. This is roughly $27.30, so you get just 0.39 cents per point in value with this transfer.

As you can see, you'll get the most value from your Emirates Skywards when you redeem for airfare. Here's a look at some of the best Emirates Skywards redemptions. Most of these are Emirates-operated flights.

Emirates flies to most major U.S. cities from its Dubai (DXB) hub, with the most popular routes being New York-JFK, Newark (EWR), Chicago-O'Hare (ORD) and Los Angeles (LAX). As discussed earlier, these routes are priced based on how long the flight is.

You'll get a solid redemption value when you redeem Skywards miles on any of these flights in first or business class. They aren't cheap redemptions per se, but it's the only easy way to redeem transferable points for Emirates first or business class.

Of course, you can redeem Alaska Mileage Plan miles on Emirates flights too. That said, Emirates is ending first-class partner redemptions later this year. This means that Emirates Skywards will soon be your only option for redeeming points on Emirates first-class flights.

This new product features fully-enclosed suites, advanced lighting and temperature controls, the ability to order by video chatting with flight attendants and even virtual windows for those passengers "stuck" in the middle.

Only a handful of Emirates' 777s feature the new cabin and the planes have primarily been used on flights between Dubai and Europe, but they occasionally see U.S. service too. You may have a hard time finding award space because of the low seat count, but it's well worth the search.

Emirates also operates two fifth-freedom routes from the New York area to Europe. These flights have stirred up a great deal of political controversy. Still, they're great news for award travelers looking to experience a higher quality of service than what the competition offers on these routes.

Korean Airlines Prestige Class is the airline's equivalent of business class. Its well regarded as one of the best business class products in Asia. The airline's huge U.S. presence makes it a comfortable nonstop flight to Seoul.

Your best bet for finding Emirates award space is using the Emirates website. It will show all the open award space, whether Saver, Flex or Flex Plus. The website will default to a calendar search function that lets you see a week's worth of availability at once.

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