If you are a parent with young children who have been using Amirates Skywards Miles to deliver top-notch reward redemption for your family, it’s time to rethink your plan.
Emirates has quietly added a new family-unfriendly policy to ban children aged 8 and under from booking first-class seats at Amirates Skywards Miles, or using Miles to upgrade from business class to first class, the first reported in a mile.
With this change, Emirates has further strengthened its chances of redemption for its first-class rewards. In May, Emirates began limiting sky reservations for top-notch award seats to members with elite status.
Earning Skywards miles through a credit card program is also becoming increasingly difficult. Chase will use it as a transfer partner for next month, Citi has recently lowered the transfer rate in the UAE, and American Express will also reduce its transfer rate soon.
Below are details of the latest UAE policy update.
UAE updates its sky plan rules
The terms and conditions of the Skywards program have been updated to read: “Please note that passengers aged 8 and under are not eligible for first-class Emirates Classic Rewards and Upgrade Rewards.” The change was added in mid-August, according to the report’s Mile Aerial Report.
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As of now, this policy applies only to grant redemptions, not paid bookings.
It is unclear whether the African Child Policy also applies to booking through Air Canada or Qantas frequent flyers, and you can still book with Emirates without an identity. Remember that Aeroplan’s Emirates Redemption has dynamic pricing, with Qantas increasing its August 5 reward rate.
Bottom line
Emirates continues to limit the chances of getting first-class reward redemption, first by increasing requirements for elite status, while now limiting booking for children aged 8 and under or using Skywards Miles for booking or upgrading.
While toddlers do ruin or nuisance to other travelers, and passengers booking first class expect a quieter and more comfortable experience, it doesn’t make much sense to only ban children from getting reward redemption. Will the children of families who pay full cash fares perform better? I think a lot of people would say that the kids will be kids, no matter how they booked.
Families often have difficulty finding multiple reward seats, and this new limit further makes reward travel more difficult because those families want comfort and luxury are even more difficult.
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