Emirates Family Pooling – Why Everyone Should Enroll?

I still remember my first business class fight. It was from Mumbai to New York on Jet Airways. I vividly remember that the number of miles I earned on that trip were enough to cover 4 economy tickets on domestic flights.

Sadly, earning miles by flying has only become harder since then. And redemption have only become more expensive. And Emirates Skywards is one of the most parsimonious reward programs.

If your work does not involve extensive travel and you go only on a couple of vacations a year, there is no chance you would earn enough miles to redeem. Do not believe me? Let me paint you a picture.

Story of a Dubai Expat

Let us say Joe is from Manchester and works in Dubai. Each year Joe travels from Dubai to Manchester twice – once during Christmas and then to escape the Dubai heat. Let us also assume Joe takes two holidays a year – Maldives and Rome. Joe prefers to fly non-stop and therefore, Emirates is his clear choice.

For travel in economy, these are Joe’s earnings in a year

Dubai – Manchester – Dubai: 900/1,800

Dubai – Manchester – Dubai: 900/1,800

Dubai – Maldives – Dubai: 510/1,020

Dubai – Rome – Dubai: 900/1,800

The two numbers for each itinerary indicate the miles and tier miles earned from Economy Special and Economy Saver fares respectively. With 4 round-trip flights in a year, Joe received anywhere between 3,210-6,420 miles. Given Emirates miles expire in 3 years, he can accumulate a maximum of 9,630-19,260 miles. These won’t get him very far. To qualify for Silver tier, he needs a minimum of 25,000 miles. And the one-way economy redemption from Dubai-Manchester costs a minimum of 22,500 miles.

If you think the problem is economy travel, here are the numbers for business-class. I have assumed only Business Special fares here.

Dubai – Manchester – Dubai: 6,000

Dubai – Manchester – Dubai: 6,000

Dubai – Maldives – Dubai: 3,400

Dubai – Rome – Dubai: 6,000

Joe earns only 21,400 miles in a year. With a little more effort, he will qualify for Silver tier and his earnings will multiply next year 1.25 times. So in three years, he would earn approximately 75,000 miles. However, he is still short of redeeming a round-trip business class ticket to Manchester which costs 90,000 miles.

Enter My Family Program

In 2018, Emirates re-launched My Family program. The premise is straightforward. You can pool up to 8 family members including yourself. Each member can contribute up to 100% of their miles earned to the My Family Program.

If you travel with family, this helps to accelerate your earnings. In the above example, let us assume Joe travels with his wife and 2 children. With his family contributing 100% of their miles, Joe’s My Family earns 4x miles from each trip. Even in the economy travel scenario, Joe could earn 39,000 – 78,000 miles.

Some of the key terms on the program are:

• Tier miles: You will earn tier miles only on your travel
• Eligibility: Spouse, children, siblings, grandparents can participate in the program. Surprisingly, in true Dubai style, so can your domestic help!
• Contribution: Each member needs to have their own Skywards account. The percentage contribution can be adjusted from your account. Minors would have Skysurfers account.

Verdict

I love the straightforward nature of this program. There is enough flexibility and it is very easy to setup.

It is likely that you, your spouse, parents, kids or domestic help (I still cannot get over this) do not travel enough to earn huge number of miles. Pooling your miles together will definitely help you reach your redemption goals faster.

Of course, there are great ways to earn Skywards miles without flying. If you want to know the best credit cards to earn Skywards miles in UAE, look no further than this link.