Booking Emirates First Class

When it comes to travel, we love "shoulder" seasons - the times when you avoid peak tourist traffic, the weather is a little cooler, and fares are incredibly low. As school begins, the weeks after Labor Day notoriously have very low flight loads and cheap fares. And if you've ever wanted to do something different for Thanksgiving, plan an international trip - many international flights are much cheaper than domestic travel!

What I've booked

One of my favorite redemptions of all time (and the best sleep I ever got on a plane) was flying Emirates First class from Singapore to Dubai to Los Angeles, nearly 24 hours in a world of Dom Perignon champagne, caviar, pajamas, and showers on a plane! On that trip we spent time in Singapore and had a 7-day stopover in Dubai, where we spent 3 nights at the Al Maha Resort on Marriott points and 4 nights on a private tour throughout Jordan.

In 2019, we did a complicated booking through transfer partners to get this flight. Nowadays, booking Emirates First is quite easy through their own program. Emirates is a transfer partner of every major bank, including Amex, Capital One, Bilt, Citi, and Chase, meaning you can transfer points from all of these credit cards into your Emirates account to make bookings.

About to take a shower on a plane!

Tip: How to book it

You can find award availability through one of the points search tools called Seats.Aero. Seats.Aero is a tool I frequently use to search for awards within a program across multiple dates. It's like a calendar for multiple dates and routes! While the Emirates website will show you availability for a week at a time, Seats.Aero will show you 60 days in advance for the free version (and a full year for the paid version).

Click on "Explore" and then "Emirates Skywards", and you can sort by "First." You can then filter further by departure and arrival cities to find your route of choice! Create a free Emirates Skywards loyalty account, and find the same flight within the Emirates system before transferring your points.

Did you know there's another way to find and book Emirates awards? It's through the Qantas system! This is a high-level strategy that you can find fully explained in my courses. If you're ready to take your points game to the next level, my courses open intermittently for enrollment. They span all levels of income, whether you are in medicine or not. All are welcome!

Credit Cards: A business card I opened this year

I post a lot about business cards, because business cards get a lot of great welcome offers! This year I opened one of my favorite no-annual-fee business cards when it had an elevated offer, the Chase Ink Business Unlimited. I earn 1.5x points per dollar on all spend everywhere, so this is a great card to have for non-bonused spend. By itself, this card earns cash back, but when you pair this card with a travel card from the same bank, it earns points. Remember that most people qualify for a business card - if you ever have sold something on the side or have any 1099 income, you qualify.