Devaluations are fair game. Unannounced devaluations are not. Emirates may have a red and white livery, but it is no Father Christmas. Quite the contrary, Emirates just delivered us a lump of coal for Christmas with its latest Skywards devaluation.
Emirates’ Latest Skywards Devaluation Is Less About The Devaluation Than About Notice And Respect
First noted by Monkey Miles and then by One Mile At A Time, it appears that Emirates has raised the price of premium cabin Skywards redemptions by 20%. A simple enough devaluation, but far more aggravating because we were not given any advance warning.
Of course, Emirates has a long history of unannounced devaluations and the Dubai-based carrier is flying high right now, basking in the profits of a pandemic boomerang of fortune and probably feeling quite emboldened to twist the sword into the back of its frequent flyers.
Yeah, yeah. Those who live by the sword, die by the sword, or in the case of Emirates, get away with it. Because, what are we going to do? Scream? Whine? Threaten to take our business elsewhere?
I tend to think frequent flyers should be rather thankful we were spared from inflation in 2022 when it came to mileage redemptions. Sure, Delta just went crazy in even further devaluating partner awards (as Delta does), but we have seen only minor price hikes from the likes of Alaska, Air Canada, American, and United.
As more people play the mileage game or the credit card game and more people seem willing to spend outlandish amounts for air travel, this trend will only continue. Expect more devaluations in 2023. A whole lot more. And sure, blame us bloggers if you must for bringing your attention to why it makes so much sense to collect miles and points. By the way, can I offer you new credit card?
But there’s a huge difference between raising prices 20% immediately and letting us know that starting next month prices will be 20% higher. That’s because loyalty programs are a two-way street, even though it does not always seem that way during times of bounty for the airlines. The premise remains that in exchange for loyalty, you can save your miles for a dream trip. Dream trips that may have been within reach with Emirates Skywards may no longer be within reach this morning. That’s a shame. And a shortsighted move.
Because when (not if, but when) we hit the next global recession, these cash cow loyalty programs will come crawling back to us begging for engagement. Hopefully, it will be worth our while when that occurs.
CONCLUSION
Emirates is free to do what Emirates wants to do. But I always maintain that the problem is not devaluations, but the failure to give at least a smidgen of advance notice. Would it clog call centers and lead to speculative bookings? Of course. But that’s a small price to pay for showing respect to your loyalty program members. A little respect goes a long way… especially during the “Festive Season” (as Emirates calls it).
What are your thoughts on the latest Emirates devaluation?
image: yes, a parody I created.
Even dealing with the likes of Aegean is often a struggle when it comes to this sort of thing, or even to enforcing contractual obligations (the call centre people genuinely seem to have trouble understanding that airlines are not at liberty to just say ‘we’ve cancelled your flight, here’s your money back’ and face no repercussions for the losses they cause pax).
Getting involved in any kind of ‘loyalty’ relationship with a state-owned enterprise of a country where the rule of law is a bit of an alien concept is a high risk endeavour at the best of times.
Kudos to the person (Matthew?) who came up with the picture at the top! Well said!
Yes, that was me!
That’s class! I was using my mobile phone so I didn’t catch it when I read the post!
Really happy I burned through my EK points and had my fun this past year in F. The only upside I can see is for those with huge amounts of points in the bank…burning them will be more expensive but I imagine much easier to find space now. For those who are subjected to not having much choice but EK for flying it must be a punch in the gut.
As far as Delta, I still don’t understand why anyone would ever be loyal to them, despite what is ok service. I mean, it’s verging now on laughable. I refuse to spend a dime on them. Even if it involves an extra connection and a few hours more. Why would I, or anyone, just keep encouraging them to do this? By sticking with it we do when there is a choice we are ultimately just encouraging more devaluations.
How the hell is something called Monkey Miles acceptable in todays world?
As for Emirates, you should be thankful every time you use them and they don’t fly into a building. A simple devaluation isn’t the worst thing that can happen when you put your trust in these people.
Your comment has zero logic and is just plane (pun is autocorrect’s so I’ll leave it) xenophobia. The last planes that crashed into buildings were United and American ones, in case you forgot. (Hope you like earning SkyMiles )
There isn’t a shred of reason to believe UAE has any reason to attack the US, but nonetheless only 3% of their employees are Emiratis. The rest are from countries all around the world. Not that it should matter in the slightest though- having a national origin with the same state religion as a few terrible people is not reason to accuse an entire company of bad intentions.
I’m so glad I was able to book J earlier this year for 72k pts + $180 +70k F buy up to DXB… since then it’s been an astronomical devaluation. I think fifth freedom TATL is the least affected, so there’s still that, if I wanted to hop on to Milan for some reason.
I got lucky than, I was able use my miles to upgrade from business to 1st class on Emirates without the 20% increase on Thursday. When does or did the devaluation happen?