Air Miles Middle East has recently added both Emirates Skywards and Etihad Guest as transfer partners.
In all honesty, Air Miles is not a loyalty currency that I spend very much time thinking about. However, this change does make the programme a little more useful for frequent flyers in the UAE.
Transferring Air Miles to Skywards and Etihad Guest
The exchange ratio is different for Emirates Skywards and Etihad Guest. Air Miles transfer to Skywards at a ratio of 12:1. The ratio to Etihad Guest is a slightly more generous 9:1.
Air Miles can be transferred in increments of 1000. There is a minimum transfer requirement of 30,000 Air Miles. That would net you 2,500 Skywards Miles and 3,333 Etihad Guest Miles.
There is one big thing to be aware of. The terms and conditions state the miles can take up to four weeks to appear in Skywards or Etihad Guest accounts. Ouch. I am sure most transfers do not take that long. However, my advice would be to transfer any miles as soon as you hit the 30,000 minimum.
Redeeming Air Miles for travel
It is also possible to redeem Air Miles for flight and hotel bookings via the Air Miles travel reward shop. The one key advantage of the programme is that there are no blackout dates or requirement for award seats to be available. If cash tickets are on sale then you can use Air Miles to book. The negative is that you will never earn outsize value for a redemption booking.
Collecting Air Miles in the UAE
Air Miles can be collected from a range of lifestyle, shopping, dining and travel partners. These include Spinneys, Sharaf DG, African + Eastern, Tavola and Careem. Online Air Miles can be collected via Booking.com and Agoda. Download the Air Miles app to generate a digital membership card.
In reality, the only way to collect a substantial amount of Air Miles is going to be by banking with HSCB. Air Miles is the points currency HSBC uses for their Black, Premier, Advance and Platinum cards.
The only HSBC card with a signup bonus is the HSBC Black card. The current bonus is 200,000 Air Miles. There is also an annual anniversary bonus of 100,000.
Those look like big numbers. However, with a transfer ratio of just 12:1 to Skywards, you would receive less than 18,000 Skywards Miles. That is a pretty mediocre signup bonus.
Conclusion
The addition of Emirates Skywards and Etihad Guest as transfer partners definitely makes Air Miles a more interesting loyalty programme for points and miles collectors in the UAE.
It is particularly great news for anyone who already has a large stash of Air Miles or is tied into the programme through their HSCB credit card. For everyone else it now worthwhile paying more attention to the opportunities to accumulate Air Miles.
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The Expat Flyer aims to cover everything you need to know about Emirates Skywards and Etihad Guest as well as the most useful points earning credit cards in the Middle East.