Whether you are a frequent traveller or put all your monthly spends on a credit card, you can easily earn thousands of miles in the UAE which can be redeemed for booking tickets or a number of other things such as hotel stays, restaurants, flights, spa vouchers, theme park tickets, cinema tickets, among others.
The first step towards earning miles is to apply for a specific credit card from which you can extract maximum benefits, and the UAE banks offer plenty of options to choose from.
Every miles credit card is linked to an airline and deciding on which one is the best for you can really be a tricky process, considering the number of options, benefits and features every credit card puts on display making itself look like the most lucrative offer.
However, if you have already decided that earning miles is a preferred benefit you want from a credit card, here are five from banks that are offering cards that earn miles.
Emirates NBD Skywards Infinite Credit Card
This Emirates NBD Skywards Infinite Credit Card offers an Express Miles Program. This program enables you to earn up to 50% more Skywards Miles every month for all your retail spend on the card (subject to a maximum of 4,000 miles per month). You can enroll for Express Miles by paying a nominal monthly fee of Dhs 250. Customers enrolled into the Express Miles Program will not be charged the annual renewal fee.
For example: if you earn a total of 7,000 miles in a given month, then you would earn Express Miles as below: Regular Miles + Express Miles (50% extra miles) = Total Skywards Miles 7,000+3,500=10,500.
Key Benefits
• Get 3% discount on air tickets and up to 7% discount on holiday packages through the Emirates NBD Travel Desk
• Free multi trip travel insurance
• Introductory reward of up to 100,000 Skywards Miles
• Earn 1 mile for every USD 1 on local retail spends; 1.5 miles on every USD 1 on international retail spends and 2 miles for USD 1 spend on Emirates Airlines UAE website. Earn Express Miles which are 50% additional miles over and above your total earned miles for the month, subject to a nominal monthly fee of Dhs 250.
FAB Etihad Guest Infinite Credit Card
The new miles card is free for the first year. You receive 55,000 joining miles on primary card and 5,000 miles on supplementary card.
Key Benefits
• Get double Etihad Guest Miles for the first 90 days when you use your card on recurring expenses such as groceries, utility bills or school fees
• Double Etihad Guest Tier Miles for the first 90 days on all domestic and international purchases
• Earn Etihad Guest Miles for every Dhs 10 you spend
• Domestic transactions (Dhs): 4.5 miles earned per Dhs 10
• International transactions (non-Dhs): 6.0 miles earned per Dhs 10
• Etihad or Etihad Airways partners: 9 miles earned per Dhs 10
• Balance transfer (from other bank credit cards): 2.5 miles earned per Dhs 10
• Earn Etihad Tier Miles for every Dhs 10 you spend- All purchase (domestic or international): 2.5 miles earned per Dhs 10
HSBC Credit Card
By having an HSBC credit card you are already enrolled into the Air Miles programme. Collect Air Miles when you use your HSBC credit card for any retail purchases, anywhere in the world.
Key benefits
• Get 200,000 Air Miles on HSBC Black Credit Card as a signup bonus
• Get 100,000 Air Miles as anniversary offer from second year on HSBC Black Credit Card
• Get 2.5 Air Miles on every dirham spent on travel using HSBC Black Credit Card
• Get 1 Air Mile on Dhs 1 spent anywhere in and out of the UAE
• Get 1 Air Mile on Dhs 4 spent anywhere using HSBC Platinum Select Credit Card
Emirates-Citibank Ultima Credit Card
Emirates-Citibank Ultima Card comes with unique privileges and benefits like complimentary Skywards Silver Membership
Key Benefits
• 25,000 sign-up Skywards Miles for the first year when you apply for the card
• 10,000 bonus miles on yearly renewal of your card
• Up to 2.5 Skywards Miles per USD of retail spend
• Complimentary Skywards Silver membership for the primary card member
• Complimentary Marhaba Silver meet-and-greet service
• 0% interest installment plan on tickets purchased online at www.emirates.ae
• Earn 2.5 Skywards Miles per USD spent on tickets purchased online at www.emirates.com
• 1.5 Skywards Miles on every USD of foreign currency spent
• 1 Skywards Mile for every USD of local currency (Dhs) spent.
• Redeem your Skywards Miles for tickets and upgrades with Emirates or from a diverse selection of over 400 products to choose from at www.emirateshighstreet.com
Emirates Islamic Skywards Gold Credit Card
Whether you are shopping for groceries, fueling up your car or buying an Emirates airline ticket, simply use the Emirates Islamic Skywards Gold Card and earn Skywards Mile for every USD 1 you spend anywhere. Earn up to 2 Miles per USD 1 of retail spends.