Well, this will probably go down in history as my best travel deal ever.
Earlier this week, after finding out that Emirates was added as a Chase transfer partner, I was able to score a First Class Suite (actually, two – more about that in a minute) on Emirates for an insane rewards redemption of 85,000 Chase Ultimate Reward points (and $192.60 in fees).
If you don’t know about the Emirates First Class Suite, it’s supposed to best product out there. In addition to having a door that closes with a “Do Not Disturb” sign, you have access to 2 bars on the plane, free caviar and Dom Pérignon (and other fancy alcohol and food) during the flight, and you even have access to a shower with spa products that you can reserve for 30-minutes at a time.
Emirates has a number of “fifth freedom” flights (routes that do not connect in the airlines hub) around the world that have the world-renowned Emirates First Class Suite. Two of these flights are based in the U.S. — a direct flight from JFK to Milan and a direct flight from Newark to Athens.
Emirates usually charges 120,000 Skywards miles (when you find availability) for direct First Class service between JFK and Dubai. For the U.S.-based fifth freedom flights, Emirates charges 85,000 Skywards miles.
The flight from JFK to Milan is 7 hours and 55 minutes and, even though the First Class Suite looks amazing, I wasn’t really interested in this deal since it’s a red-eye flight and I wouldn’t have really had a chance to enjoy the amenities (aside from the amazing seat).
But while reading my favorite travel blog, BoardingArea (and sorry, I don’t remember the exact blog post I was reading!), I was able to find that for some select dates you could book JFK to Dubai to Milan for the same 85,000 Skywards miles rate.
I found availability on April 2, 2020 for 2 tickets and immediately created an Emirates Skywards account. I decided to sleep on it, though, because it involved a lot of travel — flying from SFO to JFK, then 12.5 hours to Dubai, approximately 8 hours to spend exploring the city and the lounge, and then a 6.5 hour flight from Dubai to Milan.
The next morning, after talking with friends, I realized I would be super upset if the ticket was taken, so I decided to book. I added my Emirates Skywards to my Chase Ultimate Rewards account and the points were transferred immediately.
Now, here’s when things got a little scary. After my points were in my account, I went on the Emirates.com website and was told that I had “Insufficient Miles” to book the flight (despite clearly having 85,000 miles show up in my account). My heart dropped and I called an agent, who let me know that the flight on April 2nd was no longer available.
When I kept insisting it was on my end, I pulled the “can I speak to your manager?” card, hoping that I didn’t just throw 85,000 Chase Ultimate Reward points down the drain. The manager was incredibly helpful, and while she said she couldn’t find the flight on her end she asked me to take a screenshot of the flights that I was seeing on my end and gave me her direct work e-mail address (I have *never* had an American-based airline give me a direct e-mail address to contact them at).
It turns out the confusion was that I wanted a transfer in Dubai and the agents were only looking at direct flights. The agent kept clarifying that I was fine with the very long flight times and layover, considering they did have a direct option, and I kept assuring her that I was — that was the point of this trip, after all.
During the hold times, I downloaded the Emirates app and found out the flight was bookable through it. If you are going to book an Emirates reward, I recommend using the app, and not the website. Nevertheless, the Emirates agent had put my reservation on hold, so I decided to work with her to finalize the booking.
The fee of $192 is a deal as well — Emirates actually is known for charging high fees for business class (around $500-600/ticket), but for some reason, the First Class Suite has the same fee as an economy ticket.
After booking the ticket and receiving confirmation, I messaged a friend of mine who I knew would have enough Chase or AMEX points to book the flight as well, and she booked it with me (and because there was only suite left, she booked her husband in business class using 65,000 Skywards points + $500-$600).
Although early April is a gamble with weather in Europe, I am so excited for this trip! I’ll be trying out the Qatar QSuite in November (which I got from Chicago to the Maldives for 70,0000 miles through American Airlines), so I will get to compare the two — something I never thought I’d have the chance to do.
I’m beyond excited for this flight and still can’t believe I was able to land such a good deal!
Josh Trips 