If you haven’t noticed, then we’ve seen a slew of announcements over the last few days, weeks and months in the loyalty program space. These announcements haven’t been earth shattering or shocking, but have been a slow burn, showing signs of the times ahead. Over the years, I’ve often advised people to not hold on to their miles and points. Rarely will you see them increase in value over time, they usually lose value over time. In this case, two loyalty programs have progressively lost value over the years and now I plan to completely ditch them for good.
Ditching Two Loyalty Programs
Emirates Skywards
Emirates is still a fantastic airline to fly, but my focus here is very specifically on their loyalty program. About a decade back, I used to fly Emirates at least once a year, as it was my go-to airline for flights between Los Angeles (LAX) and Mumbai (BOM), with a stopover in Dubai (DXB). However, I’m no longer interested in adding my balance in the program. Here are a few reasons. Emirates doesn’t publish an official chart but you can refer to this award chart by 10x Travel for the purpose of this post.
Lower Points Transfer Ratio
If you’ve read the blog over the years, then you’d know that I have healthy points balances with Amex and Chase. Amex has now lowered the transfer ratio to Skywards from 1:1 to 5:4. Chase has completely dropped Emirates as a transfer partner. If I really need to fly Emirates and use my points, I still have the option to use my Chase points and still get decent value. Therefore, it makes very little sense to transfer or credit miles to Emirates Skywards.
Expensive Pricing and High Taxes/Fees
If you’re looking to book a ticket using miles, you can check prices by using this mileage calculator. However, Emirates Skywards’ pricing is pretty absurd for long haul business class. One can understand high mileage prices, but it’s made worse with very high surcharges.
If you’re looking to book Emirates Business Class, then you’ll pay a whopping 157,500 Skywards, in addition to $835 in taxes and fees to fly from the US West Coast to Dubai.
It’s slightly cheaper from the US East Coast, but you’ll still pay $835 in taxes and fees.
Now, even if you take a short flight from Mumbai to Dubai, which is barely 3 hours, you’ll still pay a lot of miles and extra cash in taxes and fees.
If you look at these examples, you’ll see a trend, of inflated mileage prices and exorbitant taxes and fees. Also, even when you’re looking to book an economy ticket using Skywards miles, the mileage prices are reasonable but the added taxes and fees make sure that you’d be better off simply buying that ticket in cash.
No First Class Bookings without Elite Status
You can no longer redeem Skywards miles to fly Emirates First Class, unless you have Silver, Gold or Platinum elite status with the airline. You can read this post in which I’ve gone into detail about this devaluation. However, you can still book Emirates First Class by using miles with Emirates’ partners, irrespective of your elite status level.
Cash Pricing or Bank Points are often better
With inflated mileage prices and high taxes/fees, you’ll often find a better deal when you simply buy a ticket using cash or use bank points like Chase Ultimate Rewards or Capital One Miles to directly book via their portals.
British Airways Avios
Just like Emirates, this was once my favorite airline to connect between the US and India. It offered a flight from San Diego to London, that meant that I didn’t need to drive to LAX. Also, it had a decent product and mileage program when I started flying them in 2011. However, over the last years, both the loyalty program and the airline itself, seem past their prime.
So, if you’re looking to fly next summer from London to New York City, then you’ll pay 90,000 miles for a business class ticket, for a flight that’s less than 8 hours. In addition to 90k miles, you’ll also pay $375 in surcharges. In contrast, economy class is more affordable at 30,000 miles plus an additional $100 in surcharges.
The program still has value if you’re only looking to book short hall intra-Europe flights or flights domestic flights on AA. However, for long haul flights with BA or its partners, the prices are significantly higher than before.
Now let’s look at a route that I used to frequent pretty often in the early 2010s. This now costs 60,000 miles and an additional $225 in surcharges. If you compare that with cash prices, you’d be better off booking tickets by using cash.
Lack of partner availability
British Airways Avios aren’t the only one. There are multiple programs doing such antics off late. However, whenever I’ve looked to book a trip over the last couple of years, I’ve never found availability with any of their partners like Cathay Pacific or Malaysian Airlines. Every now and then I see some availability on Qatar. If you’re looking to and are interested, then availability on Sri Lankan Airlines seems to be widely available for travel around the Indian subcontinent.
Let’s take the example of a partner booking here. If you’re flying from Hong Kong to Mumbai, BA will charge you almost 31,000 miles and an additional $83 in surcharges. If you compare that pricing with Cathay Pacific’s own Asia Miles program, then 32,000 Miles will get you a business ticket on the same flight, 50,000 miles will get you a ticket in First Class. Also, compared to BA’s $83, you’ll pay $70 in surcharges.
Very high surcharges
Similar to Emirates Skywards, a combination of higher mileage pricing and high surcharges have turned me off from the program. It just doesn’t suit my style of travel going forward. Very often, the high surcharges erode any value that you may be getting from your miles. You may just be better off using your bank points instead to book the ticket.
Recent devaluation
In case you missed it, British Airways Avios recently announced a devaluation, with prices set to increase by anywhere between 8 & 10 percent, starting December 15, 2025.
The Pundit’s Mantra
Overall, both Skywards and British Airways Avios don’t suit my style of travel moving forward, as I prefer more long haul flights and do a ton of travel around Asia. Both programs have increased their mileage prices, restricted award space and also charge very high taxes and fees on award tickets.
As an airline, I still think Emirates is one of the best in the world. Their product is reliable and the service is consistently good. I can’t say the same about British Airways. However, their program may still work for you if you’re looking to book tickets on AA or do a lot of short haul intra-Europe trips.
For my style of travel, I’m continuing to bank points to transferable points programs and continue to keep casting as wide a net as individual programs start imposing more guardrails.
How has your loyalty program strategy evolved after recent devaluations? What changes are you planning? Tell us in the comments section.
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