Chase Cuts Ties With Emirates Skywards: What It Means for Your Points

Chase Ultimate Rewards will soon be ending its long-time transfer partnership with Emirates. Come October 16, Chase cardholders will no longer be able to transfer their Ultimate Rewards points to Emirates‘ Skywards loyalty program, a development that will make Chase the only major transferable points credit card issuer to not partner with the Middle East’s largest carrier.

Photo: Courtesy of Emirates

Emirates changes continue to roll out

While this announcement is unfortunate to see, it shouldn’t come as a surprise given other developments that have taken place with Emirates Skywards this summer. There has been a flurry of changes to the program over the last few months that have all followed the same trend of a de facto program devaluation for those who do not frequent the airline regularly.

Earlier this summer, Emirates announced that both American Express and Citi would see their transfer ratios to the airline fall from 1:1 to 5:4, meaning that 1,000 points transferred to Emirates will only yield 800 Skywards miles instead of 1,000, marking a stiff 20 percent devaluation.

Photo: Airbus A350-900. Courtesy of Emirates

On top of that, they also announced that they would be completely restricting First Class award tickets solely to their elite members, meaning only those who hold status with Emirates will have access to these coveted award seats.

Emirates also increased its carrier surcharges on its fifth-freedom routes, making mileage redemptions on these popular routes, such as New York (JFK) to Milan (MXP), substantially more expensive.

All this to say, Emirates is clearly posturing its Skywards loyalty program to be more exclusive than its competition by curbing the benefits that outsiders can enjoy.

Chase continues to offer consistency and value

One of the value props that Chase has built within its Ultimate Rewards program is the simplicity of its transfer partner list. Not only do they offer points transfer avenues to some of the most lucrative loyalty programs out there (such as Hyatt, United, Air Canada, Air France/KLM, and more), but they also keep things simple by offering a standard 1:1 ratio with every one of these partners.

Chase Sapphire Reserve / Photo: Nicole Glass Photography/Shutterstock

It’s no secret that the Emirates program as a whole continues to offer diminishing value to U.S.-based award customers, so Chase’s decision to cut ties with Emirates completely, as opposed to devaluing their transfer ratio like their competitors have, reflects its commitment to these elements of its program.

Perhaps they will seek another, more valuable airline partnership to replace their Emirates partnership in the near future.