American Express Membership Rewards Devalues Mileage Transfer with Emirates SkyWards

by Krish Patel

American Express Membership Rewards has made a major change with one of its transfer partners, and it’s for the worse. Points and miles enthusiasts will surely not be happy with this move being made by Amex. 

American Express New Transfer Ratio with Devaluation 

As of September 16, 2025, the transfer ratio from American Express to Emirates miles will decrease from 1:1 to 5:4, representing a 20% loss in transfer. The point transfers will still occur in increments of 1,000. With the new ratio, 1,000 American Express points will be worth 800 Emirates Airline miles. To give you an idea of how the new transfer ratio can weaken the value of award flight redemptions, let’s take one of Emirates’s most popular routes: London Heathrow (LHR) to Dubai (DXB). 

One-way flights on this route in Business Class cost 87,000 Skywards miles, meaning you’ll have to transfer 87,000 Membership Rewards points. But when the transfer goes up, you’ll have to transfer over 100,000 Amex points to enjoy lie-flat luxury on the same 7-hour flight. When your points go down in value after transferring them, that’s never a good redemption rate. 

Conclusion

If you’re looking to book an Emirates flight using American Express points, now is the time to do so. It’s almost two months until the new transfer ratio takes effect. Considering that American Express and Citi have both made plans to devalue their transfer ratio with Emirates, it’s possible that Chase and Capital One follow in their footsteps and devalue their transfer ratios from 1:1. All of us hope not, but only time will tell.