extramileage

I am able to earn 3 Amex points per USD on a US Amex Premier Rewards Gold on airline tickets. US Amex points can be transfered 1:1 to Skywards.

Lux

Interesting question.

I only use miles to upgrade to J; for me, a mile is worth 1.7 pence.

To further complicate things, factor in the cost of an EK credit card too. Given how much I spend on Emirates each year, and the 4 miles per Ł1 earning rate on the Elite credit card here in the UK, the Ł150 a year fee works out as worthwhile.

Lkaroo

With apologies for reviving such an old thread but does anyone have any recent data points as to how they value a Skywards mile?

skywardhunter

Subject to the fare differences one can achieve a value of 1.3-2.5cpm for upgrades.

extramileage

Being based in Dubai, the value can be substantially more simply because fights ex-DXB are so high, especially compared to one-stop-transit origiination points.

I suppose the only other update compared to earlier posts is that you can now get 5 miles per USD through Amex Plat (US) and up to 1.2 miles per USD through the EK-SPG partnership.

Lkaroo

I think you are right.

A colleague of mine and I looked at routes we regularly take ex DXB this morning. Our earning calculations were based on: (1) being Platinum; (2) despite being Dubai based, having a UK MBNA card (4 miles per Ł1 spent with EK); (3) being SPG Platinum (1 mile per US$1 spent on fare alone - NB extramileage, your spreadsheet was a very helpful starting point but we think you may have miscalculated the amount of SPG points you would receive); (4) picking flights we would likely take rather than simply the cheapest option on the day; (5) calculating the difference in fare to an F saver. We used the EK currency converter to work out the equivalent GBP price to calculate MBNA earnings and used the fixed AED-USD rate to calcaulate SPG earnings.

Based on some hypothetical dates in May, J flex provided the "best value" to upgrade to F, achieving a range of values from 1.2cpm (LHR), 2.8cpm (SIN) and 3.3cpm (HKG). To some degree, the numbers do not have a huge amount of relevance given we both agreed that neither of us would normally be prepared to pay for F.

sydtogla

Following on from some discussion in other threads, this is the How To Reach Gold For Cheapskates thread!

Now I know that some will take offence at being called a cheapskate, but I'm sure you'll live

The point of the thread is to show how you got to Gold (or maybe even Platinum) for the lowest amount of money, all in the name of fun.

Rules:

• You must have reached gold using the current or old earning rates. No double tier promotions (which I don't think exist anymore).
• Taking one flight after you were relegated to silver also doesn't count. We're talking about actually earning 50k miles in a 13 month period.
• Have fun, and don't get sore about others doing it better than you/getting a perk that you paid more for.

sydtogla

Here is my Gold story:

I used to buy (and sometimes still do) Y Flex between SYD and various ports in the UK. Each time I booked a rtn I would make 18,600 miles in Flex, 12,400.

My average ticket price in AUD was $2400. Although, the first time I did this I only had 2 Y flex returns and 1 Y Saver return. That year I paid only $1600 for the saver.

So I hit gold for a grand total of $6400 back in 2014. At that time the exchange rate made it roughly GBŁ3100.





​​​​​​​(And yes, if you do the maths, I also hit gold with only 49,600 Tier Miles).

skywardhunter

I have earned Gold 3 years running now (fully earned, 50k+ tier miles every year), two of the three years included zero revenue flights in J or F, the middle year had 1 J Flex.

In a typical year I'll earn 55k-60k tier miles at a cost of about $8000. My most regular route which I fly every 6-8 weeks is CPT-HYD return, exclusively in Y Flex, generally at a cost of $750-$850 earning 7500 tier miles and 12,000 Skywards miles with Gold bonus. Occasionally I find some multi-city sweet spots, EK really has good value for multi city tickets, some examples:

CPT-DUB-HYD-CPT for $1200 (about 11k tier miles I think?) all in Y Flex
CPT-HYD-DUS/AMS-CPT for $1200 (also about 10k-11k tier miles I think) all in Y Flex

also open-jaws, e.g. this month I'm flying CPT-BOM / IST-CPT with stopover in DXB for 5 days for the DXB Do for $600, earning 7000 tier miles.

two weeks ago I flew a short notice weekend trip to HKG, CPT-HKG return for 3 days, booked 3 days in advance, all Y Flex for $650, which earned me almost 10k tier miles and a total of 26k Skywards miles! due to a double miles promo for flights ex SA that happened to be published the day after I booked and for which I qualified.

So it varies, this year I'll probably earn closer to 75k tier miles, all in Y Flex, thanks to the HKG flight as well as a flight later in the year where I'm flying CPT-FLL/JFK-HYD-CPT, so I'll have renewed my Gold about 4 months before my requalification date.... I probably could pay as little as about $6k for Gold, in line with sydtogla, if I tried to earn exactly 50k miles only in the most efficient manner possible.

Overall, never buy Savers, terrible value in terms of miles earned, as in almost double the cost per mile.

scottienz69

I've just re-qualified for my third year of Gold status around 6 months before my renewal date. I only ever fly on Y Flex/FlexPlus ticketing ex NZ. NZD$2.5k or thereabouts gets me a FlexPlus return ex AKL to BOM or DEL via DXB which earns me 22,600 tier miles. I fly that route at least twice a year. A one-way ex WLG or AKL via SYD to BKK in Y on FlexPlus ticketing comes in at just under 7k status points for a little over NZD$1k - so just over NZD$6k for me to hit 50k tier miles annually. Last year I hit 135k tier miles courtesy of a double miles promotion and a couple of additional long haul trips. By my reckoning one additional trip with those bonus miles would have gotten me to the 150k tier mile Platinum status threshold for around NZD$15k spend on Y ticketing! I agree with skywardhunter on Saver fare earn rates being very poor in comparison to Flex and FlexPlus ones. Flying ULH routes ex NZ/Aus definitely helps too as highlighted by sydtogla.

vytas315

I generally fly NBO>IAD. The easiest way for me to reach gold is to fly that route twice (20k tier miles per RT) and then find another way to earn 10k more tier miles. I've flown that route for as little as $2200. So I gained gold last year with two of these and an open jaw in Y NBO > [BKK, PEK]. Total was around $5200.

However ET has been sooo much cheaper this year that I've been flying them and will try a BA/AC combo in J this summer. I've managed to switch my allegiance to *A via TK's program. I'm down to silver on EK already and don't know if I'll be flying them much going forward...

MarshyM

Just interested, skywardhunter, do you only ever buy Flex and purely for the Miles, even if a Saver would be half price, or do you need Flex for business purposes? Just interested in the logic that's all and if Gold is worth it in that case? I'm guessing it is as you then get the Upgrade's...?
Cheers

skywardhunter

milehighmike

I made Gold after 2 J class Europe to Far East returns, 1 in Y and a lavish fifth freedom return in F to bring me just over the line. Total cost was around Ł5800.

Travel plans changed after that and I didn't fly with Emirates again throughout the duration of being gold, so clearly well worth the effort!

thijsseh

I got Gold out of a J Flex CPT/AMS return (around 21500 tier miles) plus an F Saver CPT/LGW return (around 31000 tier miles). Total cost ZAR83000, which at today's exchange rate is a shade under U$7000. At the time of booking (especially the J flights), the ZAR was considerably weaker so the $ cost was a bit less.
Savers are very efficient tier miles earners as they accrue the same as Flex fares (at least from CPT, not sure if this applies everywhere but looking at the mileage calculator it appears to be the case)