Skywards miles will resume expiring on 1 September 2022

[Mattg]

Heads up for anyone with Emirates Skywards miles that are due to expire.

Emirates has been extending the validity of expiring miles since April 2020 due to covid, but this policy is only in place until 31 August 2022! From 1 September, any unused miles that would have expired during the pandemic will be forfeited.

Retain Your Skywards Status | Emirates Skywards | Emirates Australia

Emirates Skywards Silver, Gold and Platinum members with a tier review date prior to 1 April 2021 can retain their current status.

www.emirates.com

Skywards miles normally expire after 3 years, at the end of your birthday month after the third year, and can't be extended by keeping your account active. You need to use them or lose them.

 

[THR]

I have a partner ticked booked for November on JAL using EK points - and I want to change the routing, which will require a re-ticket (current routing is HND-SYD, but I want to change it to SYD-HND).

Unfortunately they (JL) have not opened availability for the routing I want yet (seem not to be releasing any more seats at the moment).

Unfortunately my miles will probably expire (as it seems that, due to the lack of seat availability, I will have to make a change after August 31).

Do you know if I can re-ticket without them expiring my miles? I understand I might have an extension option but that works out to be reasonably expensive at US $20 per mile.

I would book any ticket I could for now and then just change the date later but JL have not provided any J seats at all on this route.

Any advice/information appreciated

 

[Mattg]

I don't know the answer to that, sorry, and couldn't find any specific info on the Emirates website. But I suspect you should be OK to make a change to a booking, provided it's still within the original ticket validity (i.e. not for travel more than 11 months after you originally booked).

If that didn't work and the miles did expire, you could at least pay to extend them up to 180 days after they expire at the same rate (USD20 per thousand) that applies when extending miles that are about to expire in the next 3 months.

Personally I'd try to book something else that you can lock in now, such as a Qantas or Emirates flight/s that is currently available.

 

[THR]

I don't know the answer to that, sorry, and couldn't find any specific info on the Emirates website. But I suspect you should be OK to make a change to a booking, provided it's still within the original ticket validity (i.e. not for travel more than 11 months after you originally booked).

If that didn't work and the miles did expire, you could at least pay to extend them up to 180 days after they expire at the same rate (USD20 per thousand) that applies when extending miles that are about to expire in the next 3 months.

Personally I'd try to book something else that you can lock in now, such as a Qantas or Emirates flight/s that is currently available.

Thanks for the response. I hope that's the case but I suspect as it's a route change it will be a re-ticket irrespective of validity.

Unfortunately the route I need is very specific due to a redemption I have on QR to VIE. I'll just have to wait and see when JL open up to partners again

 

[THR]

So in good news, QF released seats SYD-HND so I was able to cancel my JL flight and rebook on that before the expiry deadline.

 

[SOPOOR]

hi everyone, im having trouble even getting availability enquires on partner airlines, via phone

so far amongst the phone number being engaged, ive been told on about 12 differnet occassions
- do it yourself online
- your airline doesnt fly there
- its unavailable, everytime I ask whether its unavailable due to being sold out or doesnt fly that route they have no idea
- you need to do a stop over
- you need to do a stopover + a domestic flight within your stopover country
- each partner airline has different rules but I dont know what they are

and todays was
- we cant check the next 12 months for availability but I dont know what periods I can check
- we cant check so you need to contact the partner airline and ask them if they have availaiblity

What am I doing wrong? im being very flexible with dates

 

[THR]

You haven’t given any context as to who you’re trying to fly, when, to where, the class, number of passengers. Assume you’re trying to use EK points?

 

[SOPOOR]

You haven’t given any context as to who you’re trying to fly, when, to where, the class, number of passengers. Assume you’re trying to use EK points?

sorry, 1 pax, Mel to LHR or CDG, EK miles, Trying JAL/Korean air, Business class/First, sometime in the next 12 months

 

[THR]

Unfortunately JL don’t seem to be releasing any seats - if you see my comments above, I couldn’t get a re-routing. I guess they’re still waiting to see when they might be able to accept tourists.

You really just need to continue to do online searches - there is scarce availability on QF out of Australia, so there aren’t many other choices in the absence of JAL (Korean, Emirates, Qantas, I guess).

Perhaps you can position yourself in BKK or SIN and try for seats from there.

 

[http_x92]

At least they tell you when you need to use those miles. Think just booking a Qantas domestic flight on points would be the easiest way to maintain the points, although not the best value.

 

[SOPOOR]

Unfortunately JL don’t seem to be releasing any seats - if you see my comments above, I couldn’t get a re-routing. I guess they’re still waiting to see when they might be able to accept tourists.

You really just need to continue to do online searches - there is scarce availability on QF out of Australia, so there aren’t many other choices in the absence of JAL (Korean, Emirates, Qantas, I guess).

Perhaps you can position yourself in BKK or SIN and try for seats from there.

admittedly, I didnt know much about the program and I saved up miles (they were expensive) via amex and wanted to do the once in a life in F on a A380, but once they got rid of the chauffeur service for redemption, I thought it would be better to use it up,

ive given up on that idea due to taxes/fuel charges, they said its temporary but I doubt it will come down too much,

emirates "kindly" extended my miles until March 2023 after inituially saying no,

so i'm trying to book any partner airline on J or F as long as its not a LCC,

so yes i will definitely be happy with a Japan/Korea to Europe redemeption with JAl/korean air or similar