Good news for travelers who use points and miles: all major transferable points currencies have resumed transfers to Emirates Skywards. In late May 2025, transfers from American Express Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Capital One, Chase Ultimate Rewards, and Citi ThankYou to Emirates Skywards were suspended. This pause lasted only a few weeks and was due to Emirates upgrading its internal loyalty management system. The suspension affected the technology that processes points transfers, requiring partners to rebuild certain systems to work with Emirates’ new platform.

Emirates Skywards remains a useful program for booking premium cabin flights on Emirates. While award costs are high and there are carrier imposed surcharges, Skywards is still the best option for booking Emirates business and first class seats. It’s worth noting that Emirates now requires Skywards elite status to redeem for first class tickets, though this status is not difficult to earn. Additionally, Citi ThankYou will change its transfer ratio to Emirates from 1:1 to 5:4 starting July 27, 2025. This means 5,000 Citi points will soon convert to only 4,000 Emirates Skywards miles.

Premium cabin flights on Emirates

Our Take

Our team is happy to see the quick resolution of this technical issue. This is also good news that we now have confirmation that this wasn’t a permanent suspension of points transfers to Emirates and that there weren’t any transfer ratio devaluations from the other points currencies (besides Citi).

For points and miles enthusiasts, this restoration comes at a good time. With summer travel in full swing, having access to Emirates premium cabins through points transfers gives travelers more options. We recommend checking Emirates award availability soon if you’ve been waiting to make a transfer, especially if you have Citi ThankYou points. With the upcoming devaluation of the Citi transfer ratio, moving points before July 27 will get you more value for your points.