How I Paid $29 for Emirates Business Class from JFK to Singapore

Who made first class travel crazy, sexy and cool? The Asian and Middle Eastern airline companies upped the “fly like a rockstar” frenzy with suites and showers.

Pictures of Etihad and Cathay Pacific seats plus Emirates bar in the sky

In summer 2014, I watched Become a Travel Hacker by Chris Guillebeau on CreativeLive.com where Chris said “ultimately it’s the experience of travel that really matters… it helps to have a destination or travel experience in mind… for this course.” So I started dreaming about flying on Emirates, Etihad or Cathay Pacific airlines to somewhere… anywhere.

Then in September 2014, I read Booking Emirates Awards with Alaska Miles Got Easier by Lucky on onemileatatime.com so I opened up an Alaska Airline Mileage Plan account and applied for the Alaska Airlines credit card where I earned 30,000 miles.

I was on my way to a rockstar lifestyle!

How did I do it?

Well, it took a lot longer than I imagined…

• From 2014 to 2017, I flew American Airlines a lot for business but on occasion I would have my miles applied to my Alaska Mileage Plan account. I didn’t do this all the time because I was saving my American Airline Advantage Miles for my Australia-New Zealand trip.
• In between, I did some shopping on Alaska Airlines portal when bonuses were announced and purchased a roundtrip flight to Portland Oregon in 2016.
• In September 2017, I flew roundtrip to Reykjavik Iceland and I had those IcelandAir miles (5,600) applied to my Alaska Mileage Plan.
• In November 2017, I converted my 36,000+ Virgin America Elevate Miles after the merger/buyout at 1.3 per mile for around 47,000 Alaska miles.
• And when I flew roundtrip to Dubai and Amman Jordan on Emirates in December 2017, I had those miles (16,000) applied to my Alaska Mileage Plan account instead of my Emirates Skyward Miles account.

Where did I decide to go?

In March 2018, I finally decided on a slow-travel route through South-East Asia.

And yes, I had enough miles to get a one-way two-segment business class ticket from New York to Dubai to Singapore on Emirates = 105,000 miles plus $29.00 for taxes and fees.

I paid $29 using Alaska Airline Mileage Plan miles for an Emirates Business Class JFK-DXB-SIN flight

Even if I had tried to use Emirates Skyward Miles, it would’ve cost me 131,250 miles plus $852.00.

Emirates Skyward miles required for an Emirates Business Class JFK-DXB-SIN flight

The actual cost of the ticket ($9,322.30) made me choke! There is no way I could (or would) ever spend that much money on a ticket or on anything really.

The cash price of an Emirates Business Class JFK-BXB-SIN flight

So even though I did not have enough miles for a first class ticket, Emirates Business Class was still the absolute best redemption for me! And for the last two days I was sitting pretty in Emirates Lounges and at the Bar in the Sky!

Follow me on Instagram or Twitter as @DaniLew_1 to see where I end up next…

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