Northumberland Lady

Good luck to anyone attempting to purchase additional miles with the 25% discount applied!
I spent 2 hours on phone calls yesterday and a further frustrating morning today. No one seems to know a thing about it yet t is offered on their website! This was taken directly from the website:-

25% discount on the purchase of Skywards Miles5 exclusively with American Express®

This offer allows you to a discount of 25% when you purchase Skywards Miles. From 1st November 2013, Skywards Miles can be purchased online at www.emirates.com/uk by logging in to your Emirates Skywards account and following the Purchase Miles process. The 25% discount will automatically be applied when you enter your Emirates Skywards American Express® Credit Card or Emirates Skywards Elite American Express® Credit Card details. For purchases before 1st November 2013, please call 0844 800 2777 and quote your Emirates Skywards membership number. Emirates Skywards Purchase of Miles rules apply:

Although when I received my cards the only difference was that it stated that it was available online from the 1st October, but in any case I should still be able to purchase the miles by telephone at the reduced rate. It's so frustrating that I will probably just transfer the miles from my account instead!

jamjaruk

I've had the Emirates card for 3 months now and including the bonus points on Elite card I have earned 35,587 miles, enough for a 1 leg upgrade. Luckily the miles don't expire until Feb 2017. It would have cost me £675 to purchase these miles, so I have already benefited by only paying £150 for the card.

I already booked a package with Emirates Tours in Feb, but they wouldn't let me use my 10% discount to pay for it last month, which was a bit of a disappointment as their terms and conditions did not state a cut-off date etc.

I bought miles for my younger brother and the 25% discount could not be applied online, I bought the miles at no discount and informed Emirates of the error. They investigated and realised the mistake, so instead of giving me 25% discount refund they credited his account with the required miles.

Purchased of miles online earned me 0% for 12 months, but the balance was already paid off.

My current spend so far has been £13,500 so I am close to receiving the companion ticket. Which is pleasing but god knows what the restrictions are.

The £150 discount on Business class ticket I will have to pass up as I don't fly business, wish I could.

Now the last benefit. Emirates business class lounge check-in for Economy class. I booked my holiday with emirates tours in Feb and 90% of the balance was paid with my Emirates Elite card last month. Do I have the benefit of using the business class lounge? I have amex receipts, do I show these receipts to the staff at the Heathrow lounge? My e-ticket receipts shows paid by cash, which is wrong.

Overall, I am happy with the card

ukdoctor

I think that its only business class check in. There is no mention of lounge access in the T&C

subject2load

Yes, there appears to be no reference to lounge access purely on the basis of being an EK-branded MBNA cardholder, and it would depend instead on class of travel and/or Skywards status.

On the matter of your holiday booking not being eligible for the 10% discount, I can only imagine this is because the original arrangements were made PRIOR (?) to you actually acquiring the card. The discount applies to "new bookings" only.

You are right to be sceptical as regards the companion ticket reward benefit. The T&C's relating to this are noticeably more detailed than any other 'benefit' and cover approx 23 lines of very small print .......

You will also be only too aware from the many comments on the forum by experienced EK flyers just how tricky it can be at times to redeem miles for upgrades on your preferred flights/dates.

I'm certainly no expert on the MBNA card but having only recently acquired one myself, am reasonably familiar with the main T&C's and potential impact on my own use. I applied for the card primarily because I felt it was wise to have a variety of payment mechanisms to cover a period of fairly intensive travel starting later this year, but will only be able to judge whether it's genuinely any better than a standard non-branded credit card if and when I find myself wanting to take advantage (or at least attempt to take advantage !) of its particular add-on benefits.

ukdoctor

I have been sent a £150 off next J flight . That should cover the annual fee for the card anyway (elite version ). Will get a £150 off voucher every year apparently subject to minimum spend .

The companion fare AFAIK is valid for 12 months from the date of issue if you spend £15k.You get a free saver reward J/Y ticket when you buy a flex J or Y.The catch is that saver J's are not always available and you have to pay all the taxes anyway .

subject2load

On the companion fare .........

"The card member must purchase an Emirates Skywards Flex Fare in Economy or Business Class at the same time when availing this offer.......... AND "the Companion Reward ticket will be booked as a Business Class or Economy Saver Reward and is non-refundable once issued"

As for the £150 discount on a full fare J or F ticket : from my own reading of Clause 8 T&C's I'm very much inclined to think that this is is a one-off perk in first year of MBNA card membership only ; but perhaps others will interpret it differently ....
http://www.emirates.com/english/skyw...anks/mbna.aspx

Zol

I believe the T&C state is must be paid for in full 21 days prior to travel

ukdoctor

No. The T&C is very clear that its every year.

http://www.emirates.com/uk/english/i...onditions.aspx

See point number 2 in the link. I did check with MBNA prior to applying for the card as I was deciding between the regular and the elite version as the elite version had a £150 fee.
With the £150 discount, my nett outlay will be still zero as I will be paying for at least one J ticket every year anyway.

subject2load

Thanks ukdoctor, yes it's clear from your link that the discount can be used annually. So, for someone like yourself booking J tickets regularly you will always have occasion to take advantage.

I was intending to use the discount for a DXB-AMM-DXB add-on trip later this year - until I worked out that ironically I will be better off booking those sectors in J through the Arabian Airpass scheme (for which the discount code will not apparently be eligible) rather than "saving" £150 on a normal J class ticket.

Anyway, the 10k miles bonus will hopefully be of benefit at some future point - although that of course IS a one-time only thing !

ukdoctor

Yup. The 10k miles is a one off. I don't book EK J regularly. In fact my last flight on EK was in May.!!. What I meant was that even if you buy one J ticket a year, you will be compensating for the £150 fee.(provided you spend on the card). Moreover 4 skywards per pound spent on the Amex while booking EK tickets is very generous.

jamjaruk

Doctor - Oh dear. So there is no lounge access, so what is the point in checking-in at Business desk? My parents just went on holiday with Emirates and I really should have added them as additional card holders. Could have earned 5,000 miles. 4 times per £1 is very good.

Subject2load - yes it was booked 4 months before I was approved for the card. You are correct. I think I will give myself a year with Emirates Elite card and see if it works out. But for £150 outlay and spending about £30,000 per annum on the card = about 60,000 miles on AMEX, which expire in 2.5 years time. That is in effect, a return upgrade to Dubai.

Zol - Holiday already booked,

ft101

No/minimal queueing.

Northumberland Lady

Jamjaruk - I also had problems attempting to apply the 25% discount on the purchase of miles for my daughters account. I spent 9 days and many hours on the telephone attempting to do this but not a single person in either DXB nor the UK knew how it could be done and I ended up paying the full amount as well as paying to transfer some of my miles at a cost of$25 - it is a breach of contract to offer a benefit as an incentive and then not to honour it!
I'm putting a complaint in with them.

jamjaruk

Hello Northumberland Lady, I had the same problem and no one had a clue... astonishing considering it has revenues of £12 billion per annum.

If you paid them the full amount, complete the online form and explain what happened. They will credit the account with the equivalent miles...

Select Emirates Skywards topic then sub-topic purchase of miles

Northumberland Lady

Thanks I will try that!
As you say I'm also amazed that no one seems to have a clue!