Originally Posted by dxbjc

My husband is an iO member, so have a bit of inside knowledge here. I don't know the specific criteria for invitiation, but I can tell you that he has gained about 500k Emirates miles in the last year - more than 90% from first class flights and over the past few years has received over 2mill skywards miles - and he only travels about 1/3 - 1/2 of his journeys on Emirates (no he doesn't have a life!).
Delivery of the card involved a 1/2 hour meeting with a senior person from Emirates corporate sales who took on board lots of feedback about the Emirates offer. The chauffeur range rover also includes escort through the terminal both ways. You can sign 3 people into the first class lounge. More importantly, Emirates and Skywards will go that extra mile for iO members. You have a different number to call for service and assistance and essentially they will help you however they can. I had an issue with booking a points flight the other day and the moment they realised he was an iO member, the wheels of beauraucracy began to move that little bit more smoothly! Time will tell how much the scheme is actually worth in terms of saving hassle and delivering real benefits. Oh and nearly forgot, the spouse gets a gold card too.