A father who wanted to buy his Dubai-based daughter the gift of travel just before Christmas was horrified when the value of his present was cut by more than 50 per cent as a result of what he describe as “outrageous” Emirates policies.
The reader, whose name is Peter, wanted to buy his daughter and her family a voucher for the airline that most frequently services the country she lives in “in order to help defray their travel cost to Ireland next summer”.
There will be three people flying – two adults and a child – and his plan was to cover the cost of at least one of the tickets.
“I went to the Emirates website, but couldn’t see an option to purchase a voucher, so I had a live web chat and was directed to purchase Skywards Miles which could be gifted to her,” Peter says.
How can an airline gift that cost €1,000 be worth just €370?
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So that is what happened.
He bought what sounds to us like a hefty 50,000 Skywards miles at a cost of €1,163 and gifted them to her.
He thought no more about it, happy that he had, as planned, covered the cost of a significant percentage of the flights home next summer.
It wasn’t to be.
“When she then attempted to book a return flight home next July, I was shocked to learn that the benefit of the 50,000 miles was worth only €370. That was only 32 per cent of what I had paid,” he says.
In some respects he was lucky he found out as she might just have made the booking and not told him about the shortfall – or not even been aware of it.
“I have had numerous communications with Emirates over the last week,” Peter writes, including “several live chats, all to no avail. I asked to speak to a manager and a duty manager called me from India.”
Over the course of this 29-minute call, the manager “acknowledged my complaint but could only offer advice on alternative options to redeem the miles, none of which were of any significantly improved benefit”.
Eventually he called the Dublin number for Emirates and “got through to a Manchester call centre. I spoke to a customer service representative who only repeated what I had already been told. I then asked to speak to his supervisor. The call lasted 90 minutes [and the supervisor] offered only the same information. I then asked if there was any option to make a formal complaint to Emirates?”
He was told there was but it wasn’t open to him.
“A ticket number is required and since I don’t have a ticket [there is] no option to make a formal complaint. At this stage I appear to have run out of options to complain to Emirates. I think it is outrageous for any company to take a consumer’s money, [they] gift it to another consumer, and it is immediately worth only a fraction of the original cost,” he writes. “When I purchased the miles, I didn’t notice any warning to indicate that the redemption value would be anything other than the purchase price and certainly not 32 per cent.”
[ Aer Lingus passenger abandoned at Charles de Gaulle and then ignoredOpens in new window ]
We contacted the airline and while at the time of writing – several weeks after our first approach – it had not sent us a response, almost immediately it made contact with Peter.
In the email that was sent to him, a staff member wrote that they were “pleased to inform you that your request has been approved by our Management Team. The Gift of Miles transaction made on December 13th 2024 has been reversed. As part of this process, 50,000 Skywards Miles (40,000 base Miles + 10,000 Bonus Miles) have been removed from [his daughter’s] account.”
The email explained that the cash refund “will now be processed and may take up to two weeks to reflect on your statement. Please note, however, that the exact time frame may vary depending on your bank.”
So far so good.
The email also offered some context for the purchase of airmiles.
“Skywards Miles are primarily designed to help members top up their balances to reach thresholds for rewards, such as Classic Rewards or Upgrade Rewards. While purchased or gifted Miles can be used for partial payment on Emirates tickets through the Cash+Miles option, this is not the primary intent of the product. Instead, it is mainly aimed at members with smaller balances who travel less frequently, offering a value of €35-45 per 5,000 Miles towards their next Emirates ticket.”
