Guide To Barclays Emirates Credit Cards: Elite Status The Easy Way

Barclays and Emirates have co-branded credit cards in the United States. I’ve written about them in the past, but I’d like to take an updated look in this post, as I think more people may suddenly be interested in them.

Why? Well, Emirates Skywards has just restricted first class award tickets to elite members of its Skywards program. For those of us in the United States, the easiest way to earn elite status with Skywards is by picking up one of the co-branded credit cards. So let’s go over all the details of these cards.

Barclays & Emirates US credit card basics

Emirates and Barclays issue two co-branded credit cards. The United States is the country with the second largest membership base of Skywards members, so these cards are intended to tap into that. These are only some of the cards issued by Barclays in the travel space:

• Barclays issues airline credit cards for American, Frontier, Hawaiian, JetBlue, and Lufthansa
• Barclays has some other cards in the travel space, including for Choice and Wyndham on the hotel front, and Carnival, Holland America, and Princess, on the cruise front

Barclays and Emirates are issuing two credit cards at different price points, so let’s take a look at the details.

Emirates Skywards Rewards World Elite Mastercard

The Emirates Skywards Rewards World Elite Mastercard is the more basic of the two cards. The card details are as follows:

• Annual fee: $99
• Sign-up bonus: 40,000 bonus Skywards miles after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first 90 days
• Return on spending: 3x Skywards miles per dollar spent on Emirates purchases, 2x Skywards miles per dollar spent on eligible travel purchases (including airfare, hotel stays, and car rentals), and 1x Skywards miles per dollar spent on other purchases; there are no foreign transaction fees
• Elite status perks: Emirates Skywards Silver status for the first year of enrollment, and you can retain the status by spending $20,000 on purchases on the card each cardmember year

For those of you not familiar with Skywards Silver status, it offers the following benefits:

• Access to the Emirates Business Lounge in Dubai (only for the member)
• 25% bonus Skywards miles on Emirates flights
• Free economy seat selection
• Priority check-in and boarding
• Access to Emirates Skywards first class award tickets

Emirates Skywards Premium World Elite Mastercard

The Emirates Skywards Premium World Elite Mastercard is the more premium of the two cards. The card details are as follows:

• Annual fee: $499
• Sign-up bonus: 50,000 bonus Skywards miles after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first 90 days
• Return on spending: 3x Skywards miles per dollar spent on Emirates purchases, 2x Skywards miles per dollar spent on eligible travel purchases (including airfare, hotel stays, and car rentals), and 1x Skywards miles per dollar spent on other purchases; there are no foreign transaction fees
• Elite status perks: Emirates Skywards Gold status for the first year of enrollment, and you can retain the status by spending $40,000 on purchases on the card each cardmember year; if you don’t complete that spending amount, you receive Skywards Silver status for as long as you have the card
• Lounge access perks: Priority Pass select membership, not just for the primary cardmember, but also for authorized users (who can be added to the card at no extra cost)
• Other airport benefits: Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credit once every five years, which is a value of up to $100
• Anniversary bonus: earn 10,000 bonus Skywards miles after spending $30,000 on the card in a cardmember year

For those of you not familiar with Skywards Gold status, it offers the following benefits beyond Silver status:

• Access to Emirates Business Lounges around the world (for the member and one guest)
• 50% bonus Skywards miles on Emirates flights
• Priority baggage delivery

Which Emirates credit card is better?

Obviously these credit cards have very different price points, and there’s no one size fits all answer. A few observations:

• The premium card sign-up bonus is 10,000 miles better, so I’d maybe value that at an incremental ~$100 or so in value
• The rewards structure for spending is identical on both cards, with the exception of the anniversary bonus on the premium card for spending $30,000
• If you fly Emirates with any frequency, you’ll notice the difference between Silver and Gold status; furthermore, it’s nice that the premium card offers Silver status on an ongoing basis if you don’t reach the spending requirement
• The premium version of the card offering a Priority Pass membership for authorized users is potentially quite lucrative as well, and could sway people in the direction of that card

My take on the two Emirates credit cards

I think a lot more people will suddenly be interested in Emirates’ credit cards, simply since having elite status is now a requirement of redeeming miles for first class. Like, these cards were never near the top of my list of cards to pick up, but now I’m planning on applying.

Here are a few thoughts on the cards:

• There aren’t many airline credit cards offering mid-tier status the first year just for having the card, and letting you retain that status in subsequent years for a fairly reasonable spending requirement
• Emirates Skywards elite perks are fairly weak on paper, though I’d note that one of the best unpublished benefits is higher priority for operational upgrades (situations where economy or business class are oversold, and they need to bump someone up), so if you have Gold status you may find yourself getting operational upgrades every so often, at least once flights fill up again
• For someone who flies Emirates with any frequency, it could definitely be worth having status, especially Gold status
• I do wish you could get some credit towards Emirates’ top-tier Skywards Platinum status with spending, rather than the value topping out at Gold status

While it’s nice to easily be able to earn status with the cards, I have a hard time otherwise getting excited about the value proposition of spending on these cards. Emirates Skywards is partners with all four major transferable points currencies, so there are so many ways to earn Skywards miles.

Other cards can offer you multiple points per dollar in many more categories, and then you could transfer those points to Emirates Skywards. If you’re not going for status, then it’s definitely not worth spending money on these cards.

At least for the premium version of the card you get a 10,000 mile bonus if you spend $30,000 on the card. That means if you spent $40,000 on the card to earn Gold status, you’d at least earn the equivalent of 1.25 Skywards miles per dollar on non-bonused spending. That’s better than no bonus…

Bottom line

Emirates and Barclays have two co-branded credit cards in the United States. I suspect these cards will suddenly be a lot more interesting to consumers, given that Emirates is restricting first class awards to elite members, and these cards offer elite status.

The $499 annual fee card offers Gold status the first year, and you can maintain that status by spending $40,000 per year. Without spending, you can receive Silver status for as long as you have the card. The card also offers a Priority Pass membership for the primary cardmember and authorized users.

The $99 annual fee card offers Silver status the first year, and you can maintain that status by spending $20,000 per year.

Since I value being able to redeem miles for Emirates first class, I guess I’m on the hook for another high annual fee credit card.

What do you make of the Emirates credit cards, and do you plan on picking up one of them?