Emirates President: “I’m the one that’s stopping” points bookings in Premium Economy

EXCLUSIVE | Emirates is the first major Middle Eastern carrier to offer Premium Economy. But even though it’s been available on selected flights for almost two years now, there’s still no way to use points or miles to book Emirates’ newest experience. For that matter, Emirates’ Skywards members also can’t use miles for a Premium Economy upgrade, either.

The airline’s loyalty boss, Dr Nejib Ben-Khedher, shared with Point Hacks back in 2023 that Skywards’ redemption rates for the cabin had already been agreed to. That is, the airline has already decided how many miles passengers would need to book or upgrade, should the switch be flicked on. However, back then, the airline was waiting to have more data available around commercial bookings before unlocking the experience for the mileage crowd.

Fast-forward to 2025, and there’s mounting pressure for Emirates to unlock points bookings in Premium Economy. But it seems, there’s one more person that needs convincing. That’s Emirates’ President, Sir Tim Clark.

Speaking with Point Hacks in Melbourne after the Australian Open men’s final, Clark candidly admits that ‘the whole management is on my case. I’m the one that’s stopping it.’ Let’s find out why.

Why hold back points bookings for Emirates Premium Economy?

Clark, who’s served as Emirates President since 2003, is widely regarded for his extraordinary attention to detail and contribution towards shaping the airline. The same is true of its frequent flyer program, Skywards – and the opportunities made available to its members.

He readily acknowledges that when it comes to using points for Premium Economy, ‘I’ve got the frequent flyer, the Skywards people and everything else,’ chasing for a launch. But Clark resists. ‘I said, let’s give it a chance.’

‘I want to see, for the first time in my life when we introduced a brand-new product to the airline, exactly using all the data capture we now have, what do we really need to do with this? How popular is that going to be? Because if we have industry travel, staff travel, redemptions, et cetera, I can have a cabin with no money coming out of it whatsoever.’

‘I said to them, give me the data. And all the enterprise analysts and data analysts are beavering away trying to (provide it).’ Given the strong internal support for making redemptions available, Clark quips that ‘I’m not quite sure whether they’re working for the Skywards people or the staff travel people or whatever, (but) I’m happy to deal with this.’

It’s clear that at some point, Emirates’ position will change. ‘Eventually we will relent. We’ll inventory control it, but it is so popular with the segments of travel that we carry at the moment, it would be a difficult one.’ Clark shares that ‘if there is redemption, you’d probably find it’s not far short of the demands we make for redemption in Business.’ In other words, the number of miles needed for Premium Economy would be much closer to Business Class than Economy.

How much data is really needed before activating Emirates Premium Economy points bookings?

Clark acknowledges that when it comes to those data insights, ‘we’ve had nearly two … two and a half years of it. We’ve got some really rich data, and it’s not looking good for redemption.’ Naturally, if Emirates can sell a seat to a paying customer and generate new revenue, that’s always going to be preferable to making a reward seat available for those using points.

‘I sympathise with our frequent flyers because one of the problems they’ve had with the industry, and not just with Emirates, is redemption. Simply, because the demand for inventory has been so strong post-COVID, that at the moment, we can’t really see any release of that high class pressure (from paying commercial passengers).’

Speaking more broadly, ‘you’ve seen some airlines completely throwing in the towel.’ Reading between the lines, Clark’s suggestions may be that these are often the carriers that operate strictly with dynamically priced reward seats. That’s where one mile never exceeds a certain monetary redemption value. Carriers like that will say ‘you’ve given me money and I’ll give you this on a bilateral basis.’

For those airlines, in terms of the more traditional type of reward seat, ‘there’s none’, with frequent flyers unable to ‘game the system’ to extract outsized value when they redeem points. ‘They (the airlines) don’t need to do that.’ As for Emirates Premium Economy, though, ‘I wanted to make sure … that what we did with regard to diluting the income streams out of Premium Economy was done in a very, very controlled measured manner.’

‘I think we’re getting there,’ Clark continues, before hinting that his internal teams were ‘on my case (again) last week.’

How about those Emirates carrier-imposed charges?

It’s well established that these days, using frequent flyer points to book Emirates flights is an expensive task. For instance, a return booking in Emirates Business Class or First Class now attracts total taxes, fees and charges in the region of A$4,000 per person. That’s on top of the hundreds of thousands of points also needed to book those Emirates flights.

We’ve previously asked the boss of Emirates Skywards, Dr Nejib Ben-Khedher, to explain these fees. But I take the chance to put that $4,000 p.p. figure to the President of Emirates himself.

‘I’m told we’re more expensive than others,’ Clark is willing to admit of Emirates’ frequent flyer fees. He also readily admits that ‘I think SQ (Singapore Airlines) is cheaper on their carrier-imposed charges.’ He’s not wrong. In fact, Singapore Airlines has no carrier-imposed fees at all when using the airline’s own KrisFlyer miles to book Singapore Airlines flights. KrisFlyer members taking an equivalent return journey to London pay A$732.64 in addition to the miles required.

As for Emirates charging frequent flyers several thousand dollars more for an equivalent booking, ‘is it turning people off? No,’ Clark suggests. ‘Is the Qantas Frequent Flyer program compromised by that? It’s not. The real problem is not that. It’s the access to the inventory.’

Releasing reward seats to Qantas ‘is something that we are morally obligated to do, because we have them as loyalty (partners) and we’re trying to do it. But at the same time, the commercial pressures are very strong.’ With that in mind, ‘if you’re going to make a huge redemption to get into First Class, you might have (to pay) these carrier charges.’

The biggest challenge in releasing reward seats

It’s clear that reward seats are at a premium and in high demand – and that travellers will pay those charges if it still delivers substantial savings on an equivalent flight. But could more be done to increase reward seat availability for booking Emirates flights using points?

‘We are fine tuning our inventory control to be even more precise,’ Clark shares. ‘I look at the inventory every day. I look at the flights and sectors. It’s the first thing I do in the morning. I’m ringing up (the route manager), I said, how many are we allowing today? (There’s) a flight leaving, say, to London, how many have you allowed for upgrades?’

‘They say, Mr Clark, we would, but do you know how many walk-ins we get at check-in? People turn up and they want a First Class ticket. In 2022-2023, for every First Class seat we had in summary, there were three people that wanted it. So it was a high-class problems, I would call it. But I was trying to champion that.’

Back to the charges that travellers pay on the side on outright bookings, Clark remarks on what they go towards. ‘It’s a kind of catchall for all those ancillaries that if you’re getting a free-of-charge flight under redemption so to speak, there are some add-ons that have to incur as the airline.’

For Business Class and First Class travellers, ‘you can get into the lounges’ as well, even when booked or upgraded using points. ‘To us, that’s a cost.’ Clark adds that ‘taken together, carrier-imposed charges cover a multitude of extra costs that we face, which really are part of the deal when you fly off to get rewarded with these kind of redemption tickets. So, it’s a balance. Has he turned people off? No, it hasn’t.’

Booking Emirates with points gives ‘the full monty’

Some airlines now treat travellers who’ve booked or upgraded with points differently than those who’ve paid for their ticket. For instance, Air Canada allows revenue Business Class passengers to visit its Signature Suite lounges. But those who’ve booked a standard reward ticket cannot get through the door – nor can those with status.

Similarly, Qatar Airways restricts lounge access for many travellers who’ve upgraded using points. I recall my last journey through Doha, as a top-tier frequent flyer who had upgraded to Qatar Airways First Class with points. Despite holding a highest cabin boarding pass paired with the highest tier of status, I still couldn’t access the airline’s actual First Class lounge (Al Safwa), simply because I’d upgraded, rather than booked.

Speaking to the way some loyalty programs treat redemptions, Clark recalls a bad experience he had when using his own points to book a hotel stay via a major chain loyalty program.

‘I don’t go for these loyalty schemes,’ Clark firstly quips of his general approach to travel – a fair position to have when, as the President of a carrier like Emirates, he could theoretically reserve any seat on his own airline. ‘But I accumulated (enough to book a stay). They said, yes, you can have a weekend wherever.’ Having booked with points, ‘I go. I found I was in a room facing the kitchens with all the smells coming through. It was the worst possible room in the hotel.’

As for Emirates’ approach, ‘we don’t do that,’ Clark says of treating travellers differently who’ve used points or miles as part of their journey. ‘Once you redeem (on Emirates), you get the full monty – and that does come at a cost, so we’ve got to be a little bit wary.’

‘After all, you can go on an A380 from Sydney to Vienna all the way through, or to Amsterdam et cetera, with all the wonders of that lovely Business Class. If you like your First Class, it’s a fantastic product. And alright, you’ve earned it (with your miles). But I don’t know many loyalty schemes that are as generous,’ in terms of the experience had on a redemption ticket.

Also read: Emirates brings new Business Class to Australia

Imagery courtesy of Emirates.