Citibank Cards End Emirates Skywards Transfers

Matt Graham
The Emirates A380 returns to Melbourne Airport in February 2022. Qantas planes in background
Many Australian credit card rewards programs will shortly remove the option to transfer points to Emirates Skywards. Photo: Emirates.

The Citi Rewards, Diners Club Rewards, Suncorp Rewards and Card Services Rewards programs will all remove the option to transfer points into Emirates Skywards on 31 January 2023.

These are all reward programs for credit cards issued in Australia by Citibank, which was acquired by National Australia Bank (NAB) last year.

Currently, you can transfer points in all of the aforementioned credit reward programs to a range of different frequent flyer programs, including Emirates Skywards. But a notice now appears on the website of each of these programs, such as this one on the Citi Rewards website:

Please note, we will be removing Emirates Skywards as a Points Transfer partner on the 31st January 2023. You can transfer Points up until this date. You are still able to transfer points to other partners and on all other categories such as Pay with Points, Shop at Partners, eVouchers and more.

Last year, Citibank also withdrew the Emirates Citi World card for new applications. This was the only co-branded Emirates Skywards credit card in the Australian market.

It is still possible to transfer Amex Membership Rewards and CommBank Awards points to the Emirates Skywards program. However, with Emirates charging a high number of points and outrageous fuel surcharges on many Classic Reward flight redemptions, the value may be questionable anyway.

It’s also possible to redeem Qantas Frequent Flyer points to book Emirates flights. However, Qantas Frequent Flyer members still need to pay the high fuel surcharges and don’t have access to the “Flex Plus” award seats on Emirates flights that are available to Skywards members.

At the moment, Emirates is not releasing many Business or First Class Saver reward seats on flights to/from Australia – which are the type available to book using Qantas points – until a few days prior to departure.

Join the discussion on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum
Matt Graham
The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 90 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include aviation, economics & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.
Matt Graham
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AFF Editor Jan 25, 2023 #1

Yes, sadly this is being removed as a transfer option for all Citi Rewards cardholders from the end of this month. Also for Diners Club Rewards, Suncorp Rewards and Card Services Rewards members.

Details here:

View image at the forums


Citibank Cards End Emirates Skywards Transfers

The Citi Rewards, Diners Club Rewards, Suncorp Rewards and Card Services Rewards programs will all remove the option to transfer points into Emirates Skywards on 31 January 2023.

View image at the forums


www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

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E Eirinoula Feb 02, 2023 #2

Any reason for this? NAB doesn't want to buy Skywards points, or EK doesn't want to deal with NAB?

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ChrisFlyer Feb 02, 2023 #3

Any reason for this? NAB doesn't want to buy Skywards points, or EK doesn't want to deal with NAB?

It could come down to cost. Emirates miles are notably more expensive than other frequent flyer program points, which is why many transfer partners use a less favourable rate to Emirates than to other programs. If the agreement was up for renewal and costs went up (particularly as AED is benchmarked on the USD, for which currency conversions from AUD are poor right now), NAB may well have just decided that it wasn't worth the significantly higher cost, and/or that a poorer conversion rate to compensate wouldn't drive the sort of volume required to make Skywards a viable option at the volumes required to achieve the best price. Add to that, Skywards' many changes over the past year that have increased the mileage rates and hiked the cash co-pay costs which decrease the overall value of the program, and it probably found its way into the 'not worth it' basket.

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E Eirinoula Feb 02, 2023 #4

It could come down to cost. Emirates miles are notably more expensive than other frequent flyer program points, which is why many transfer partners use a less favourable rate to Emirates than to other programs. If the agreement was up for renewal and costs went up (particularly as AED is benchmarked on the USD, for which currency conversions from AUD are poor right now), NAB may well have just decided that it wasn't worth the significantly higher cost, and/or that a poorer conversion rate to compensate wouldn't drive the sort of volume required to make Skywards a viable option at the volumes required to achieve the best price. Add to that, Skywards' many changes over the past year that have increased the mileage rates and hiked the cash co-pay costs which decrease the overall value of the program, and it probably found its way into the 'not worth it' basket.

Thank you for that explaination. Makes sense. However, for some of us retired folk, who have troubles getting new credit cards, even though we are not a financial risk, the Skywards program through the Citi Prestige Card suited us. Due to Skywards lesser popularity in Australia, it made finding reward seats out of Australia much easier. All the hoohah I have been hearing about Qantas and lack of reward seats, yet I go on EK, and most times get what I want first go. Yes, I pay much higher mileage rates, but, its still far less than a full fare Business Class seat. For us, it is an unfortunate situation.

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l levelnine Feb 02, 2023 #5

yet I go on EK, and most times get what I want first go. Yes, I pay much higher mileage rates, but, its still far less than a full fare Business Class seat.

You must put an impressive amount of spend through your Citi card! What does a flexi business class fare return to Europe cost? 400K points per person?!

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E Eirinoula Feb 02, 2023 #6

Not that much. If I book from Europe, rather than Australia, it is cheaper.

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