Emirates launches TWO UK credit cards

Emirates is finally launching its own branded UK credit cards

Up until now, you had to use another card to earn Emirates points. That meant a transfer from Amex, Revolut or HSBC. There was an obvious gap for Emirates to launch its own card, and it finally has. Except the card is in a pilot phase, so you’re going to have to be patient

Why is an Emirates card likely to work in the UK?

The airline has a big presence in the UK, and at some regional airports it is one of the few airlines offering premium long-haul.

At Newcastle, it’s the only airline that offers long-haul business class. At Manchester, it’s the only airline that has first class. That cabin used to be on just one of the three flights every day, but it has recently been upgraded to two. At Birmingham, only Emirates, Qatar, and Air India offer long-haul business class.

The airline also flies from both Glasgow and Edinburgh, with very little competition in the premium category. Qatar flies from Edinburgh but not Glasgow. Turkish also flies from Edinburgh, and they offer excellent medium-haul business class.

For Londoners, Emirates flies from Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted. That makes it an easy option for a significant proportion of the capital.

It has an outstanding network, which means regional airports may be the primary way to reach destinations across the globe. It’s also an airline with an excellent, premium reputation. We have had some outstanding experiences with them over the years. You can read about a mega trip with them in First in our review.

Emirates love having their own lounges

The airline prioritises its own-brand lounges, and it’s not afraid to invest in them. They have recently launched their new Manchester lounge with quite a significant investment. They have said it cost them £10m, which is a staggering amount to spend. It’s easier to list the UK airports that they don’t have their own lounges in: Edinburgh and Newcastle.

Compare that to Qatar, which only has its own lounge at Heathrow (which is actually two lounges), and the Emirates experience starts when you get to their airport in most cities.

How can you collect Emirates Skywards miles if you’re in the UK?

Although right now no UK cards exist, you can still earn Emirates Skywards miles without flying:

• You could transfer Amex MR points, Revolut Revpoints or HSBC Premier Card points to Emirates. The transfer rate for Amex points was recently devalued. You can read more about which UK credit and debit card earn miles. You can also convert NatWest and Royal Bank of Scotland “MyRewards” into miles.
• You could transfer hotel points to Emirates. You could use Marriott, Accor, IHG, Hilton or Hyatt points, although the transfer rates vary significantly
• You can also earn Emirates Skywards miles by booking hotels with Emirates, or the Skywards Mall, which is the equivalent of the Avios Shopping portal.

You will, of course, earn miles if you fly with Emirates on cash fares, or you can earn with partner airlines.

What we really want as points collectors is the option to earn from everyday spend and potentially get perks from being cardmembers. The announcement this week will give us that; it’s just not quite ready.

What has Emirates announced?

Two new Emirates-branded UK credit cards that offer a welcome bonus, perks and the ability to earn Skywards miles every time you spend.

• A Skywards Premium credit card that costs £250 a year
• A Skywards Rewards credit card that costs £120 a year

You cannot currently apply for these cards. They were briefly open, but Emirates now says that they “early application period” has now closed. That’s frustrating, but it is highly likely that applications will open at some point in the future.

Both cards give you a welcome bonus

• 30,000 Skywards Miles on the Premium card, if you spend £3,000 within the first 90 days of the card open date.
• 20,000 Skywards Miles on the Rewards card, with the same terms as the Premium card.

You are eligible for the welcome bonus if you have not had a card in the last twenty-four months, and – at the time of writing – you apply before the 30th November. Given that applications are closed, you would expect them to extend the welcome offer.

Both cards give you miles based on what you spend on the card

• Premium Card: 1 mile per £ for all GBP spend, 1.5 for non-GBP spend and 3 miles on Emirates spend.
• Rewards Card: 1 mile per £ for all GBP spend, 1 for non-GBP spend and 2 miles on Emirates spend.

They are not bad earn rates, but not best in class. The recently devalued Amex BA Premium Plus card still gives 1.25 points per £.

Both cards earn tier points at a rate of 1 for every 4 miles earned. This could be useful if you want to top up your tier miles. It would require quite a significant spend to reach Silver (25,000 tier miles) or Gold (50,000 tier miles).

The Premium card gives you Emirates Silver status

You will get this automatically for twelve months, or perhaps a little less. It can take up to eight weeks from when you open an account for this to be reflected in your Skywards account, and the twelve months of Silver starts on the day you open it. That means you could end up with just over ten months of Silver status.

It’s still a valuable perk:

• Use miles to book straight into First Class (which isn’t possible if you are the standard Blue tier)
• Access to the Emirates Business Class lounges, but only in Dubai.
• You can check in using the Business Class queue at any airport when travelling in any cabin
• A 30% bonus on miles earned when you pay for flights
• Free seat selection
• Priority boarding

If you already have Silver status, then your status will be extended by a year. If you earn Silver through card spend, you can retain that status by spending at least £5,000 in non-GBP spend in a year.

I see absolute value for us in being able to book First Class seats using miles. Right now we have to book Business and then use miles to upgrade to First. Sometimes this is possible quickly after booking them, at other times it’s much closer to the flight itself.

The lounge access isn’t particularly useful to us because it’s for Dubai only. Unlike the Gold perk (below) you cannot guest anyone in with you.

You can also jump to Gold via spend

If you book flights via Emirates to the value of £3,500 or more AND you spend over £5,000 in non-GBP transactions in one year, you will get Emirates Gold status for twelve months.

One of the key benefits of Gold, versus Silver, is that you can get access to ANY Emirates lounge worldwide. You have to be flying on an Emirates flight or a codeshare with Qantas, but you can bring one guest with you as long as they are flying on the same flight.

If you want to retain Gold after your first year, you can do this by spending at least £5,000 on Emirates flights (booked via Emirates) and at least £5,000 on non-GBP spend.

The Rewards card gives you two UK lounge passes every year

Each year you’ll receive two passes that you can use for yourself or anyone else in any of the Emirates UK lounges. There is one major caveat to this. You cannot use them if you are flying on a reward ticket.

I think this is a significant issue. If you’re getting the card to earn points, you are more likely to be flying using points. This is buried in the T&Cs, and I think some people may get caught out by this. These passes do not roll over, so you have to use them in the membership year or lose them.

Both cards have a limited-time Cash & Miles offer

This could be valuable. For flights booked with Emirates (direct) before the 31st March 2027, you can use miles to reduce the cost of a flight at a fixed rate of 2,000 miles for an AED 70 (£15) reduction.

It is hard to judge this rate because Emirates’ Cash & Miles function can vary the points needed for a discount. I ran a dummy booking for a flight from Manchester to Dubai, and I saw a rate of 3,275 miles for a £15 reduction. That would make the cardholder offer much better.

How much value can you extract from these cards?

Example 1: Al & Kate

We typically travel with Emirates once a year, sometimes just for a single leg of a trip, or sometimes both the outbound and inbound. We always use Skyward miles for our bookings and spend between £1.5k and £3k in taxes on each trip.

• Getting Silver status for our next tip in Summer 2027 could be helpful, as it may unlock the ability to upgrade our Saver tickets to First Class much earlier than the current 48hrs before. The 30,000 bonus miles awarded on application will also be helpful.

• We travel Business or First, so any perks around free lounge access carry no value for us.

• Our spend isn’t quite what is needed for us to reach Gold, or even retain Silver in the second year. We could put more flights through Emirates, BUT I have found they are the least efficient use of our Amex MR points. The 2:1 transfer rate (2 MR points gets 1 Skywards mile) is bad enough, but the flights themselves also require a lot of points.

Right now, I think the card could be useful to us in year one, but perhaps not beyond that.

Example 2: A couple starting out on the points collection journey

Let’s say you want to start collecting points and your aim is to utilise the points with Emirates for a business class flight.

• The welcome bonus gives you a leg-up towards the points needed for a flight, but you will still need a lot more points to get those business class seats
• The Silver status doesn’t offer you any value right now, and the free lounge passes don’t either
• Earning points from credit card spend is useful, but it’s a long road ahead to get to the hundreds of thousands you need for Business Class

I can see some people signing up for the card, but giving up as it becomes clear that it will take a long time to earn the points needed.

Value could come from

• Switching the focus from a full points redemption for a business class seat to economy or premium economy.
• OR booking a cash fare and upgrading with points
• OR using any points you have to reduce the cash price of a fare.

Example 3: You fly Emirates already via cash fares in Economy

I think this is where you start to get significantly more value. You will increase your points at a faster pace due to the increased earn rate on Emirates spend on the card.

On top of that, on the Premium card you’ll get an increased points earn rate on cash fares due to Silver status. This will accelerate your Skywards balance growth. Silver also gives you lounge access in Dubai, which you wouldn’t normally get through Economy.

Finally, depending on how often you fly, you’ll have a real chance of retaining Silver, or reaching Gold, via your Emirates spend.

The card makes sense for those that travel with Emirates in economy regularly, on cash fares.

Example 4: You fly Emirates but travel mostly in Business via cash fares

I think this scenario still offers reasonable value. Some of the card perks are moot because you’re flying in Business, namely the lounge perks of either being Silver or the two lounge passes.

The value in this example is pure points-based. You are likely spending enough on Business Class seats to get Gold status, which increases the points you earn on each cash flight. Putting the flights through the card gives you a higher earn rate.

A return flight from Heathrow to Dubai next Easter would cost you £3,214.85 per person. That’s almost enough to get Gold status. You will earn 7,920 miles on the cheapest fare, and from the card spend with Emirates a further 9,64. That’s 17,652 in total.

Again, the card makes sense for regular Emirates travellers who pay for business class seats.

You can’t get these cards yet

At the time of writing, you can’t apply for the cards. Applications were accepted for less than twenty hours after launch, which makes you wonder what happened.

The official line is that it was a pilot, and it was by invitation only. That’s fine, but the credit card page is publicly accessible.

The airline has stated that there will be a second pilot phase later in 2026. This will also be by invitation only, followed by a public launch in early 2027. Right now, unless you’re invited, it’s a case of sitting and waiting.