American Express suspends points transfers to Emirates

While Emirates Skywards probably has limited appeal in Singapore, here’s a development you might want to be aware of nonetheless.

From 29 May 2025, American Express will suspend Membership Rewards points transfers to Emirates Skywards for almost the rest of 2025. This follows similar moves by card issuers elsewhere around the world, though given the middling value of the programme, can’t be considered that big a loss. 

American Express to suspend Emirates Skywards transfers

American Express has posted a notice on the Membership Rewards portal informing customers that transfers to Emirates Skywards will be unavailable from 29 May 2025.

Please note that due to system maintenance by Emirates, the option to transfer points to Emirates Skywards will be unavailable from 29th May to 30th November 2025. We apologise for the inconvenience.

-American Express

Now, if you’ve been following the news in the United States, this shouldn’t come as a surprise. Back in April, American Express, Citi and Chase had already announced plans to suspend (or devalue, in the case of Citi) transfers to Emirates Skywards. 

However, what’s different about the American Express Singapore announcement is that it mentions an explicit date for transfers to resume (after 30 November 2025) and attributes the outage to “system maintenance” on the Emirates side, information that wasn’t mentioned in the US announcement.

As for what’s going on behind the scenes, your guess is as good as mine. Given that Citi USA is devaluing transfer ratios instead of suspending conversions altogether, Emirates may have jacked up the rate it charges banks for its miles (Citi will actually be removing Emirates transfers altogether in other markets, such as Hong Kong).

Alternatively, it could be a more prosaic reason, such as an upgrade of its internal loyalty management platform that requires partners to make upgrades on their side too. 

Emirates Skywards doesn’t offer much value anyway

Whatever the reason, I don’t think you should be shedding too many tears, because Emirates Skywards offers very poor value to begin with. Not only are its mileage requirements high, but it tacks on hefty fuel surcharges for premium cabin awards. For example, a one-way First Class redemption between Singapore and Europe costs 141,250 miles and S$1,172 in taxes and surcharges, which is a lot of cash to be paying for a “free” ticket!

I’ve only ever made two Emirates Skywards redemptions in my life, more to check the products off my bucket list than anything else. This includes a fantastic First Class journey from Singapore to Geneva, and a very average Business Class journey from Bangkok to Hong Kong. 

Review: Emirates A380-800 First Class (SIN-DXB)

Review: Emirates B777-300ER New First Class (DXB-GVA)

Review: Emirates A380-800 Business Class (BKK-HKG)

I will say this though: if you have your heart set on redeeming Emirates First or Business Class, then Skywards is the way to go, because Emirates releases so little space to partners. Just remember that First Class awards are restricted to Skywards elites only!

Complete list of transfer partners

American Express was the only card issuer in Singapore offering transfers to Emirates Skywards, so with the suspension the total number of programmes that Singaporeans can convert points to drops to 22.

However, if you really want Skywards miles for whatever reason, then Max Miles can be converted at a 1:1 ratio. Again I want to emphasise that this is a really bad idea, since other Max Miles partners offer much better value, but the option does exist.

Conclusion

American Express will be suspending points conversions to Emirates from 29 May to 30 November 2025, citing “system maintenance” on the airline’s end.

I doubt that many miles chasers here will care about this, given Skyward’s exorbitant award costs (in cash and miles), but if you were hoping to tick Emirates First or Business Class off your bucket list (and have the requisite elite status, in the case of First), then you might want to transfer miles before the window closes.