(Singapore February 19, 2024) Loyalty programs such as Emirates Skywards are designed to reward customers for their continued patronage and encourage them to stay loyal to a brand or company, but there the simplicity ends. It is a complex, ever-changing concept that isn’t any easier for Dr. Nejib Ben-Khedher, Divisional Senior Vice President Emirates Skywards because he works for a well-known brand and respected airline. With 35 million members around the globe with different interests and preferences Dr. Nejib is constantly looking for ways of making earning miles with Skywards an easy and seamless experience.  

“Do you have an easy job, or a difficult job?” I ask Dr. Nejib.  

“Being with Emirates makes it easy,” he replied with a smile. 

“The reason I ask is because, yes you are part of an airline that has a lot of resources, but Skywards has a very large global membership with a variety of needs and interests that can be completely different from one another.” 

“And,” he interjected, “90% of our members are outside our home base of Dubai. It means we have to find ways to engage with a wide variety of people around the world. We cannot rely on local purchases the way other airlines are able to.”

The UK Leads the Way

In fact, the UK has the most Skywards member, followed by the United States. India and the UAE have about 2.2million members. Partnerships with other airlines are important to the viability of the program even though Emirates Skywards is not part of airline alliances such as Oneworld, SkyTeam, or Star Alliance. Emirates does have strategic partnerships and codeshare agreements with several airlines, including Japan Airlines, Korean Air, and Malaysia Airlines, and then Dr Nejib adds, “Qantas and Jetstar. And in North America, Air Canada and United Airlines. These partnerships allow Emirates Skywards members to earn and redeem miles on flights operated by these partner airlines. These partnerships help to improve the stickiness of our members to Emirates. At Emirates Skywards, we’re constantly exploring new ways to help our members maximise the value of every Skywards Mile earned and redeemed,” he says.

Adding more stickiness for the loyalty program, it was recently announced that Emirates Skywards and ALL - Accor’s award-winning loyalty program and booking platform, have taken their partnership to new heights, offering members additional benefits and opportunities to maximize their rewards through seamless conversions. This enhanced collaboration allows Emirates Skywards members who are also members of ALL to convert their Skywards Miles into ALL Reward Points, unlocking extraordinary experiences across Accor's extensive network of over 5,600 hotels across more than 45 Accor brands and 5,000 Limitless Experiences. 

Dr Nejib states: “The secret sauce behind Skywards’ 40% of non-flight earnings and its growing ecosystem of retail, dining, and entertainment partners, including partnerships with prominent brands like Booking.com, Hilton, Fairmont, and Raffles is that members can earn and redeem miles across more than 300 partners, spanning luxury shopping, groceries, wellness, and entertainment. The more opportunities they have to earn and burn miles will keep Emirates top of mind.”

Membership Tiers

The Emirates Skywards program has four membership tiers, each offering increasing benefits:

Blue is the entry-level tier, offering basic travel benefits like instant upgrades using Skywards Miles, waitlist priority, and free unlimited messaging on board. 

To reach the Silver tier, you need to earn 25,000 Tier Miles or take 25 flights. Silver members get all Blue tier benefits plus 30% bonus Skywards Miles on Emirates and flydubai flights, and complimentary Business Class lounge access in Dubai. 

The Gold tier requires 50,000 Tier Miles or 50 flights. Gold members enjoy all Blue and Silver tier benefits, plus 75% bonus Skywards Miles and complimentary Economy Class seat selection. 

Platinum is the highest tier and requires 150,000 Tier Miles and at least one qualifying flight in First Class or Business Class. Platinum members get all previous benefits plus complimentary Home check-in in Dubai, First Class check-in at the airport, baggage delivery, and lounge access for themselves and guests worldwide.

Most of Skywards members are in the Blue Tier while Silver, Gold and Platinum can only be achieved by flights. Retail purchase earned points can only be redeemed in the Blue Tier and do not help you achieve a higher tier. The three top tiers make up 2 – 3% of the membership. First, Dr Nejib points out that membership has tripled over the past ten years then adds that the three top tiers membership numbers have remained almost flat. “We don’t want to overcrowd our lounges or put stress on our services. This has been achieved through the requirements in place. We don’t artificially limit members, but just by what is needed to reach a higher tier keeps the numbers down.” 

A group that Dr Nejib would like to attract resides in his home turf of Dubai. I start my question by saying, “One of the challenges you have is attracting young people in Dubai.”

He corrects me. “It is not a challenge. I see it as an opportunity. Many young people have moved to Dubai. They don’t have the same approach as older people have who are happy to engage with us. I see it as growth potential, not a missed opportunity or a challenge.” 

Democratizing Loyalty

‘Democratizing Loyalty’ is the how Skywards empowers infrequent travellers by offering greater flexibility with its “earn and burn” model through platforms such as Skywards Miles Mall and Skywards Everyday. “Members can use their Miles in the Dubai Duty Free to pay for purchases either entirely with Miles or in combination with cash or a credit card. We want to make a seamless experience for our members,” says Dr Nejib. “If they have several credit cards they can make a purchase and they automatically get Miles. That is seamless. They don’t have to think about it.” 

While trying to make Skywards Miles available to everyone, those in the higher tiers can gain experiences using their Miles they wouldn’t get through a simple transaction.

Skywards Exclusives

Skywards Exclusives, gives members the opportunity to redeem miles for everything from Roland-Garros tickets to cricket finals. “This makes an emotional connection, making loyalty more than just a transaction.” Another opportunity Dr Nejib likes to point out is the recently added lifestyle partnerships. Over the last two years, the loyalty program offered members the chance to experience the lush tea plantations in Sri Lanka with Dilmah Tea and explore the idyllic vineyards of Champagne in France with LVMH (Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton). “They do this over a three-day weekend. They get a unique experience they would be unlikely to get on their own. These experiences are what people are looking for and they are willing to use their Miles to get them. This creates genuine engagement.”

These exclusive events are very popular with members as over 200 were held last year involving 2000 members. “We are creating lasting memories,” he points out. “Even getting an upgrade to business or first class can be emotional event and create a lasting memory. It is special. Not everyone has the opportunity to do this, and so when they do it, it is impactful.” In January 2025, 40,000 upgrades were made by people who were often celebrating something. This added to their experience.

Quicker Rewards 

“Before, it took two years for someone to redeem points for a flight. I want to shorten that time so that the flywheel spins faster. I want them to be able to see their rewards in the fastest time possible.” 

What Dr Nejib doesn’t want is someone stealing your airmiles to have their own experience. “Miles have value,” he notes. “We are working on improving our fraud prevention. When we see some unusual activity then we will look into it and make sure it is legitimate.”

From all the transactions done through Skywards, Emirates is able to gather a great deal of information about the Members. “We would never use this in an inappropriate way,” he states. “We are extremely careful about protecting people’s personal information. We are investing a lot to protect their account and their data.”

Technological Challenges 

What are the challenges Skywards is currently facing?

“What keeps me awake at night?” Dr Nejib responds to my question. “In general, technology.” Technology can make for a better experience for a member, but technology has to be kept at the leading edge, or you’ll be surpassed. “If a member walks into Costa Coffee, uses a card to pay for it, the member gets rewards. That is seamless now, but we need to anticipate what they will need in the future.”

And there are more layers. “When we switched to a subscription base, from when we first had the idea to do it to when it became active took 18 months. With all these new technologies, and with AI, they need to be incorporated into the new system, so it takes time.”

But it is not Costa Coffee keeping Dr Nejib awake at night. “We are doing a massive overhaul of our system,” he shares. “It is like doing open heart surgery. While the operation is going on, the rest of the body has to keep working. Our program has been in place for 25 years, so it is old technology. Now we have 100,000 earned transactions everyday. We can’t stop that while we switch from the old to the new. That would be a massive disruption. There will be downtime, hopefully very very small and hopefully people won’t notice it.”

Now is always a good time to join a loyalty program to start earning miles right away. In the future, there will be more ways to earn Miles and new ways to spend them. When our interview finished, Dr Nejib was off to a signing ceremony with a new partner.  

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