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Interview: Dr. Nejib Ben-Khedher, Divisional Senior Vice President, Emirates Skywards

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Last week I had the chance to sit down with Dr. Nejib Ben-Khedher who runs the Emirates Skywards loyalty programme.

Nejib has worked in the aviation industry for 30 years. He has been with Emirates since 2012 and has been part of the Skywards leadership team since 2015.

The programme has recently hit 30 million members, with the UK as – perhaps surprisingly – the No 1 market.

Interview: Nejib Ben-Khedher, Head of Emirates Skywards

We covered a lot of ground in our chat, so I have turned it into an article-style piece to keep it concise.

Emirates Skywards has recently hit 30 million members, with over 300,000 per month currently being added globally. The UK is the biggest market with almost 4 million members, followed by the US (3 million) and UAE (2 million). In the UK, Skywards has seen the addition of 600,000 new members during the pandemic recovery period.

Earning Skywards Miles from UK financial partners

Despite the large UK membership, we have been without an Emirates co-brand credit card since the MBNA cards were closed in 2018. (We know that Emirates was conducting research for a new card, pre-pandemic, but those plans were shelved.)

The company has not given up on the idea of some kind of financial product. It is ‘in discussions’ with various fintech groups about possible products, and there are ‘possibilities’ for other financial services offerings. Skywards knows that this is something that members want, and 30% of all miles issued in the UK are via financial partners.

You can earn Skywards miles indirectly in the UK, of course. It is a 1:1 transfer partner with American Express Membership Rewards and 2:1 with HSBC Premier credit card points. It also works with NatWest and RBS although I do not find the transfer rate from those two banks attractive.

What other ways of earning and spending Skywards miles are popular in the UK?

Emirates has a 2-way transfer partnership with Heathrow Rewards (see this HfP article). As well as converting your Heathrow Rewards points into miles – something possible with various airlines – you can also convert Emirates Skywards Miles into Heathrow Rewards points at a ratio of 6,000 miles = £20.

Over 10,000 Skywards members have done this, which surprised me – I thought it was a little secret known only to our readers!

Interview: Nejib Ben-Khedher, Head of Emirates Skywards

The Emirates Skywards UK online shopping mall has also been gaining traction (www.skywardsmilesmall.com) and the partnership with Bicester Village to earn miles on your outlet shopping is going well.

Dubai Duty Free is proving to be a popular way for UK members of Skywards to spend their miles – UK-based Skywards members are among the largest group of Dubai Duty Free redeemers, with more than 100 million miles redeemed over the last 12 months.

‘Cash+Miles’ is popular

That said, 2/3rd of redemptions from the UK are still flight-related. More than a third of that is in the form of using miles for a cash discount rather than for a full redemption. It reflects the fact that many members are leisure travellers who may only fly Emirates once a year and don’t earn enough for a full redemption.

Skywards is planning to improve ‘Cash+Miles’ this year. It currently offers a flat rate of around 0.6p per Skywards mile you redeem. Nejib believes that he can offer members better value via personalised packages, which could offer you up to 1p per mile off your flight cost in Economy and up to 1.6p in premium cabins. You would receive a tailored deal on targeted flights based on factors such as your mileage balance, your elite tier and your frequency of travel.

The easyJet partnership is also going well

To be honest, I thought that the easyJet partnership with Emirates Skywards was another one which went under the radar for most members. This allows you to use a special online portal to book an easyJet ticket using your miles.

It seems I am wrong, with nearly 7% of redemptions by UK members of Skywards being for easyJet flights. We wrote about the Emirates / easyJet partnership here.

Nejib was also positive about the new partnership between Emirates and Air Canada, which allows you to redeem Skywards Miles on Air Canada, and vice versa. United Airlines will soon present another opportunity for Skywards members in the UK.

Skywards Exclusives will offer Rugby World Cup tickets

We touched on Skywards Exclusives, which offers sporting and cultural event tickets in return for miles. I have used this myself in the past for VIP hospitality at The Queen’s Club tennis tournament in London.

Interview: Nejib Ben-Khedher, Head of Emirates Skywards

Nejib said that this was very popular, with packages for India vs Pakistan cricket matches selling for 1 million Skywards miles. A recent auction of VIP tickets for the upcoming Arsenal vs Chelsea football match went for over 200,000 miles.

Whilst Emirates has lost access to Formula 1 tickets from this season, it will be offering tickets for the Rugby World Cup in France later this year.

How is the Skywards+ subscription scheme going?

Emirates was the first major carrier to launch a subscription programme as part of its loyalty scheme in 2021. We covered Skywards+ here and I will update this article later in the week.

People in the industry I have spoken to about Skywards+ tend to agree with me that it seems a bit underwhelming. Nejib says that it has proven very popular with elite members of Skywards (40% of people buying the Premium package are Gold members), with the 20% bonus on Tier Miles you receive when flying a contributing factor.

My analysis is that it could make sense in certain scenarios. You save 20% on Classic Rewards when taking out a ‘Classic’ Skywards+ subscription, for example, so if you are planning a redemption it is simple maths to decide is the $399 subscription fee is worth the saving in miles.

The elephant in the room …. the recent Skywards devaluation

Nejib and I had an admirably frank discussion about the recent ‘secret’ Emirates Skywards devaluation. This saw the mileage requirements for Business Class tickets increase by 20% overnight, with no notice given to members.

Nejib was clear that the scrapping of mileage expiry rules during the pandemic, combined with continued high earning from credit card spend by UAE members during covid, had effectively led to too many miles chasing too few reward seats.

Members were not told about the devaluation in advance due to the need for the changes to be staggered gradually across the Emirates network over the span of a month. The reward increases were delayed until after the peak of Winter season bookings had been completed.

Nejib was keen to stress positive aspects of the changes which have now been communicated to members during February and March on their statements. Elite tier members of Skywards now earn more miles on their flights, which offsets the increases for that group, and Economy redemptions have not increased in price at all.

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How to earn Emirates Skywards miles from UK credit cards

How to earn Emirates Skywards miles from UK credit cards (April 2025)

Emirates Skywards does not have a UK credit card.  However, you can earn Emirates Skywards miles by converting Membership Rewards points earned from selected UK American Express cards.

Cards earning Membership Rewards points include:

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

Membership Rewards points convert at 4:3 into Emirates Skywards miles which is an attractive rate.  The cards above all earn 1 Membership Rewards point per £1 spent on your card, which converts to 0.75 Emirates Skywards miles

The American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card earns double points (2 per £1) on all flights you charge to it, not just with Emirates but with any airline.

Category

Emirates and Emirates Skywards

Comments (62)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Aleks Kaczmarek says:
    23 Mar23 March 06:11

    ‘Emirates Skywards has recently hit 30 million members, with over 300,000 per month currently being added globally. The UK is the biggest market with almost 4 million members, followed by the US (3 million) and UAE (2 million).’

    These number are wrong. If the total is 30m but the top 3 markets only account for 9m are they saying that the rest of the world accounts for 21m members? Find that hard to believe.

    Maybe the above numbers are ‘active’ members or something similar?

    You should check the numbers here and report accurately.

    • Rob says:
      23 Mar23 March 07:02

      These numbers came from EK and were reconfirmed. Given their route network it does make sense.

      • Danny says:
        23 Mar23 March 08:12

        Who care about the numbers; it’s a s…terrible programme.

      • Numpty says:
        23 Mar23 March 08:18

        How does it compare to BAEC numbers? Emirates are flying out of of a few ‘regional’ airports (A380 starts this weekend at GLA) which may help Emirates membership.

        Before getting seriously into points game i used to get great value out of Skywards, redeeming points to upgrade from economy to Business class was pretty easy and it was always nice to have the car meet you at the airport or home. At GLA they used to have their own reserved parking spaces in the multi storey (still there?), and the fleet of Mercs/BMWs would all arrive into car park at the same time – beat that BA!

        • Harry T says:
          23 Mar23 March 08:39

          BA can’t beat Ryanair.

          Sadly emirates no longer offer the chauffeur drive on redemptions or upgrades with points.

    • Rich says:
      23 Mar23 March 08:20

      Aleks your words are really rude. Cool it and think just for a second.

      There are tens more countries I could list but if Italy, India, Canada, Australia, Germany, South Africa, France, Netherlands, Spain, Turkey, Malaysia etc. etc. have an average of 1million members each you’d soon get to 21 million and it is entirely plausible, even the most severe cynic must surely then be convinced?

  • Charlie says:
    23 Mar23 March 07:19

    I find it hard to believe that 8% of the entire UK population is a member of Emirates Skywards.

    • Chas says:
      23 Mar23 March 08:04

      So do I. But 6% (based on the UK’s population of 67.33m) is more believable. 😉

    • Chris W says:
      23 Mar23 March 08:45

      A lot of members would have signed up because they took one flight, completely forgotten about the programme and never logged in again

      • Rob says:
        23 Mar23 March 09:00

        A lot will be dead. This is sign ups over 20+ years remember.

        IHG, Hilton and Marriott all claim 120-150 million members.

        • Alan says:
          23 Mar23 March 09:05

          They close inactive accounts though, so presumably aren’t counting them? I’ve not flown Emirates for a couple of decades and my Skywards account hasn’t been accessible for ages. Same for my parents. I must say I hardly know anyone flying Emirates now – for long haul going East with a connection QR are much more popular.

          • Marc says:
            23 Mar23 March 17:57

            Under GDPR they can’t keep user data after several years of the users have been inactive. So unless they are doing something which keeps these users “active” it would be surprising that they are allowed to keep the data for that long.

          • Rob says:
            23 Mar23 March 18:05

            I think you’ll find they can do what they like in Dubai!

        • Bagoly says:
          23 Mar23 March 09:06

          @Rob – good point, so the denominator increases to perhaps 75m.

      • Bagoly says:
        23 Mar23 March 09:04

        @Chris W
        Very true. But I’m intrigued by what proportion of those who flew once even bothered to do that.
        To do so is obvious to us, but not to many of my friends or family.
        Is it something like 8% have flown, and 80% of those did sign up?
        Or closer to 15% have flown and 40% of those did sign up?

        • lumma says:
          23 Mar23 March 13:22

          I’ve known a few people who’ve taken one Emirates flight and signed up, so I’m guessing they must be pretty aggressively promoting the programme when buying a ticket

    • RussellH says:
      24 Mar24 March 10:31

      I am a Skywards member. Have been for around 5 years. Never flown Emirates, never likely to. Points balance is zero. Always has been. Never even visit the Skywards website.
      So why am I a member? Because there is a Marriott/Skywards partnership that offered me a bonus for signing up and offers extra promotions every so often.
      I imagine that there are a number of other in a similar situation.

  • Freddy says:
    23 Mar23 March 07:51

    Did I miss the article on the partnership with easyjet 🙁

  • MT says:
    23 Mar23 March 07:57

    It’s the taxes on flights combined with the now sky high mileage requirements that mean I avoid Skywards and thus Emirates. To be fair also their terrible business class product on the 777, but I will give them credit they priced their way into the market and with clever marketing have become very successful. To me the world’s most overrated airline.

    • Chabuddy Geezy says:
      23 Mar23 March 09:26

      It’s interesting that Emirates blame too many miles chasing too few rewards seats as the reason for their devaluation, this issue affected most airlines post covid but they have not all chosen to devalue their schemes. It does not explain why they increased surcharges so much either.

    • Blair Waldorf Salad says:
      23 Mar23 March 14:44

      The glory days are over for sure. 35K F upgrades from MAN, available day in day out during the lockdown years, contributed far more to my mental health wellbeing than any covid public inquiry could.

  • Joecooljoe says:
    23 Mar23 March 08:18

    Are easyjet redemption better value than heathrow rewards? (Used for shopping, have tons and can never make the parking good value compared to offsite meet n greet).

    • Freddy says:
      23 Mar23 March 08:20

      I looked it up, getting 25p-30p per point for easyjet so pretty abysmal

    • Rob says:
      23 Mar23 March 08:25

      No, about the same – but EK miles have a hard expiry so people get desperate.

    • Supergers49 says:
      23 Mar23 March 08:40

      Not great value, but if you’ve got a small amount and rarely fly through Heathrow, it’s the best of a bad bunch… well it was for me a few years ago.

    • Joe says:
      23 Mar23 March 16:49

      Thanks – thought I was missing something. Will just set a reminder to exchange for Heathrow rewards right before they expire. Have 22k in a family account from one economy family trip – it was when they were doing a mile a minute so got 5k extra per adult, so at least I’ll be able to treat myself to something reasonable at heathrow.

  • Matt says:
    23 Mar23 March 08:37

    It will be interesting to see how many miles the RWC tickets go for this year. Tickets to the 2019 RWC in Japan started at 8,000 miles, I bet that this year it will be at least double, if not triple that amount…

  • Can says:
    23 Mar23 March 09:29

    I still think that these “interview” articles on HfP have a lot room to improve in terms of journalistic content. They still sound a bit like an advertorial: “look we devalued the redemptions but look at the positives”…

    • Rob says:
      23 Mar23 March 10:08

      Who is going to agree to a Jeremy Paxman-style interview? No-one. Sean Doyle and Alex Cruz have spent almost a decade refusing all our requests for interviews because they know we’d give them a hard time. These are generally ‘educational’ pieces for readers on schemes they may not know very well.

      In truth 90% of meetings like this we have are not published. I spent yesterday afternoon with the CEO of Nectar but you won’t be reading about what we discussed.

      • Can says:
        23 Mar23 March 10:11

        Sure, but I think we are saying the same thing. It should be something in between and as a reader I want something closer to my end of the spectrum.

        And yes, I think we can all imagine off the record meetings you guys may be having and that is fine.

      • BJ says:
        23 Mar23 March 13:24

        What a shocker 😀

      • James says:
        23 Mar23 March 13:28

        Is there a double value coming for Nectar this year?

      • Jake says:
        23 Mar23 March 13:44

        Out of interest Rob- why won’t you publish the nectar interview if most are for educational purposes.

        Is it because it wasn’t educational enough (ie all known by readers) or too much was offered that is proprietary to date?

      • PH says:
        23 Mar23 March 22:24

        You have to pay to read ‘hard hitting’ interviews, or at least visit general news sites that don’t rely on advertising from their interviewees (not a criticism, just a commercial reality. And TBF, HFP is a lot less fluff than other advertising driven outlets where the devaluation wouldn’t have even been brought up)

        • Rob says:
          23 Mar23 March 22:37

          Emirates has never spent a penny with us in 11 years, nor has it ever provided us with any free flights or invited us to any social events. It doesn’t even have any white collar staff in the UK apart from corporate sales people and a country manager who handles all the airport relationships.

          • PH says:
            25 Mar25 March 21:45

            Well they should! Better ROAS than sponsoring that cable car in the docklands I’d have thought…

    • Chris W says:
      23 Mar23 March 13:24

      This one is a lot better than the ridiculous “Mr Song” interview about Plaza Premium last year.

  • Derek Broughton says:
    23 Mar23 March 11:07

    I almost skipped this. I’ve never flown to the Middle East, and I’m retiring to Canada. I’m glad I didn’t, as that Air Canada partnership could give Emirates some value to me.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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