Emirates Skywards, the loyalty programme of the world's largest international airline, is supporting its 27+ million members by understanding their needs, relaxing policies, adding flexibility, and including extensions -- in short, giving members the reassurance they need during the global pandemic.

Retaining Tier Status

Emirates Skywards Silver, Gold and Platinum members with a tier review date prior to 1 March 2021 will retain their current status with just 80% of the usual travel requirements. This means Silver members now need to accumulate only 20,000 tier Miles, Gold members 40,000 and Platinum 120,000 to retain their status.

Extending Tier Status

Emirates Skywards Silver, Gold and Platinum members, who are unable to retain their existing tier during status reviews that fall between March and September 2020, will have their status automatically extended until 31 December 2020.

Extending Miles Validity

Members who have Skywards Miles expiring soon needn't worry -- the loyalty programme has extended their validity until 31 December 2020. Skywards Miles can be redeemed up to 11 months in advance across an extensive range of rewards, including flight tickets on Emirates and partner airlines, flight upgrades, hotel stays, and money-can't-buy experiences. As an example, in April members can use their Skywards Miles to book an Emirates flight ticket for travel in March 2021.

Dr. Nejib Ben Khedher, Divisional Senior Vice President Emirates Skywards said: "Emirates Skywards is closely monitoring the situation unfolding worldwide -- and we're with our members every step of the way. We understand our members may be anxious about retaining their status or about the validity of their Miles, and we have relaxed our policies to reassure them during this global crisis -- they now have one less thing to worry about. The changes and details of these relaxed policies may not immediately reflect in our members' 'My Account' section of emirates.com, and we ask for their understanding and patience during these unprecedented times for all airlines. Meanwhile, we urge everyone in affected cities to stay home and stay safe."

While staying in and working from home, members can still earn Skywards Miles on their everyday online purchases by using their Emirates Skywards co-branded credit cards to bank their Miles for future flight rewards. More information is available on the Skywards section of the Emirates App and www.emirates.com/skywards.

The Emirates Skywards team is working 24x7 behind the scenes to support its 27 million members with their queries and concerns, and also on a range of attractive new offers and products that members will benefit from once Emirates' services are back on track.

Emirates Skywards members can view full details of their rebooking options here.

Contributed by Emirates