If you live in Dubai you probably fly Emirates, and if you fly Emirates you probably want Skywards Miles. The UAE card market offers fewer ways to earn them than you might expect. Two cards earn Skywards Miles directly, both from Emirates NBD. A handful of others let you convert their own points or cashback into Miles, and for most of them we cannot tell you what that conversion is worth, because the ratio is not published.
This guide sets out which is which, what each card earns per dirham, and what that is worth at our baseline. Every card figure comes from our card database as verified on the dates shown on each linked review. Skywards Miles are valued at 2 fils (AED 0.02) per Mile, the conservative cost-basis baseline set on our Emirates Skywards programme page. The Emirates NBD cards quote earn rates per US dollar; we convert at the AED 3.6725 peg.
The short answer
- You spend AED 100,000+ a year on the card and fly Emirates often: Emirates NBD Skywards Infinite. The best Skywards earn rate in the UAE, and that spend level waives its AED 1,575 annual fee.
- You earn AED 12,000–30,000 a month and fly Emirates once or twice a year: Emirates NBD Skywards Signature, for the 40,000-Mile welcome bonus and lounge access, not the earn rate.
- You want cash most of the time and Miles some of the time: Liv Cashback+ or the free Liv Cashback, whose rewards can be converted to Skywards Miles.
The less comfortable finding is below: at our 2-fils baseline, a good cashback card returns more per dirham than either Skywards co-brand. Skywards cards win only if you redeem above the baseline.
What each card earns per AED
| Card | Top rate | Rate per AED | Value per AED 100 at 2 fils |
|---|---|---|---|
| Skywards Infinite — Emirates, flydubai, duty free, food delivery, ride-hailing | 2 Miles per USD | 0.54 Miles | AED 1.09 |
| Skywards Infinite — non-AED international spend | 1.5 Miles per USD | 0.41 Miles | AED 0.82 |
| Skywards Infinite — everything else in the UAE | 1 Mile per USD | 0.27 Miles | AED 0.54 |
| Skywards Signature — same partner categories | 1.5 Miles per USD | 0.41 Miles | AED 0.82 |
| Skywards Signature — non-AED international spend | 1 Mile per USD | 0.27 Miles | AED 0.54 |
| Skywards Signature — everything else in the UAE | 0.75 Miles per USD | 0.20 Miles | AED 0.41 |
The arithmetic: 2 Miles per USD ÷ 3.6725 = 0.5446 Miles per AED; × 2 fils = 1.09 fils per dirham spent, or 1.09%. Spend in the EU and UK earns at a reduced rate on both cards (half the Infinite’s rate; 0.37 Miles per USD on the Signature).
Two things follow. First, ENBD’s “2 Miles per dollar” headline is about half a Mile per dirham. Second, most of your spend will be in the bottom row, where the Infinite returns 0.54% and the Signature 0.41% at our baseline. For comparison, the free Liv Cashback pays 2% in cash on every dirham once your monthly spend reaches AED 10,000.
International spend does not rescue the numbers. Both cards charge a 1.99% FX fee, so 0.82% back in Miles on foreign spend is a net cost.
Fees and welcome bonuses
| Card | Year one | Year two onwards | Welcome bonus | Bonus at 2 fils | Minimum salary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skywards Infinite | AED 3,148.95 joining fee | AED 1,575, waived at AED 100,000 of annual spend | Up to 100,000 Miles | AED 2,000 | AED 30,000 |
| Skywards Signature | AED 1,573.95 joining fee | AED 735, no spend waiver | Up to 40,000 Miles | AED 800 | AED 12,000 |
Fees are AED inclusive of VAT. Neither card requires a salary transfer. Both bonuses are advertised as “up to”, so the full amount depends on the offer’s activation and spend conditions; check them on the linked reviews before you apply. The Infinite also comes with a year of Skywards Silver status and a year of Rotana Rewards Exclusive membership.
At the baseline, neither welcome bonus covers its own year-one joining fee: 100,000 Miles is AED 2,000 against AED 3,148.95, and 40,000 Miles is AED 800 against AED 1,573.95. The bonus clears the joining fee only if you redeem it well. Our programme page puts an economy-to-business upgrade on a regional Emirates sector at 2.5–3.5 fils per Mile, which on 100,000 Miles is AED 2,500–3,500.
Worked example: AED 10,000 a month
AED 120,000 a year on the card: AED 2,000 a month on Emirates, flydubai and food delivery, AED 1,000 a month in non-AED spend outside the EU and UK, and AED 7,000 a month on everything else in the UAE.
Skywards Infinite
- Partner categories: AED 24,000 ÷ 3.6725 = USD 6,535 × 2 = 13,070 Miles
- International: AED 12,000 ÷ 3.6725 = USD 3,268 × 1.5 = 4,901 Miles
- Everything else: AED 84,000 ÷ 3.6725 = USD 22,873 × 1 = 22,873 Miles
- Total: 40,844 Miles a year, AED 817 at 2 fils.
- AED 120,000 clears the AED 100,000 waiver, so from year two the card costs nothing. Net: +AED 817 a year, before lounge access.
- Year one: AED 2,000 bonus + AED 817 earn − AED 3,148.95 joining fee = −AED 332, before lounge access and Silver status.
Skywards Signature
- Partner categories: USD 6,535 × 1.5 = 9,803 Miles
- International: USD 3,268 × 1 = 3,268 Miles
- Everything else: USD 22,873 × 0.75 = 17,155 Miles
- Total: 30,225 Miles a year, AED 604 at 2 fils.
- The AED 735 fee has no waiver. Net: −AED 131 a year, before lounge access.
- Year one: AED 800 bonus + AED 604 earn − AED 1,573.95 joining fee = −AED 169.
For comparison: the same AED 10,000 a month on the free Liv Cashback earns 2% = AED 200 a month, AED 2,400 a year in cash (Liv caps it at AED 750 a month and at a share of your credit limit). To match that, the Infinite’s 40,844 Miles would have to be redeemed at about 5.9 fils each — almost three times our baseline.
That is the honest case. On our cost-basis baseline, Skywards cards pay less than a strong cashback card. What carries them is what the baseline leaves out:
- Lounge access. The Infinite includes unlimited Visa Airport Companion access for the cardholder and one guest; the Signature’s review records cardholder-only access. Our reviews value a lounge visit at an AED 200 walk-in equivalent, so four solo visits a year adds about AED 800. See our lounge-access guide for the detail, including a disagreement in our own data on the Signature’s allowance.
- Redeeming above 2 fils. Our programme page records regional upgrades at 2.5–3.5 fils and a Business saver one-way long-haul at 1.8–2.3 fils. Measured against the cash fare you would otherwise pay — a different question from the baseline — a Business saver such as DXB → LHR can run 12–16 fils per Mile. That is why people still chase these cards. It depends on finding saver availability, and it is not the figure we use to value a card before you apply.
Best overall for heavy spenders: Skywards Infinite
The Emirates NBD Skywards Infinite is the only UAE card that earns 2 Skywards Miles per USD, and the only one whose fee disappears on spend. If you put AED 100,000 or more a year through it, use the lounge and redeem on upgrades or Business saver seats, it is the best Skywards card in the country. Below AED 100,000 the AED 1,575 renewal posts every year, and at baseline the earn alone does not cover it.
It needs a minimum salary of AED 30,000 a month. Skywards has repriced its partner award chart twice in five years, so earn with a redemption in mind rather than banking Miles for years.
Best mid-market card: Skywards Signature
The Emirates NBD Skywards Signature opens Skywards co-brand earning at AED 12,000 a month. Its earn engine is weak: 0.41 Miles per AED at best, 0.20 on ordinary UAE spend. The case for it is the 40,000-Mile welcome bonus, which at baseline covers the AED 735 renewal, plus lounge access for the cardholder. Plan for the fee: it never waives.
Best cashback-with-a-Skywards-exit: Liv
Liv Cashback+ (AED 700 a year) and the free Liv Cashback pay cashback by total monthly spend — up to 4% and 2% respectively — and let you convert the rewards into Skywards Miles: up to 10,000 Miles a month on the Cashback+ and 5,000 on the Cashback, with a 500-point minimum per redemption. Liv issues one or the other to a customer, not both.
We do not have the points-to-Miles conversion ratio in the material we hold, so we cannot tell you whether converting beats taking the cash. Ask Liv for the rate before converting, and compare it with the 2-fils baseline: if a Mile costs you more than 2 fils of cashback, take the cash.
Transferable points: the routes exist, the ratios mostly do not
Several bank currencies advertise a Skywards exit. Our transfer-ratios guide tracks them:
- Emirates NBD Plus Points (Visa Platinum, Visa Flexi, Visa Infinite, Diners Club, Duo and others) — route to Skywards exists; ratio not published at programme level.
- ADCB TouchPoints (TouchPoints Platinum and Infinite, Betaqti) — route exists; ratio not published.
- FAB Rewards (FAB Elite, FAB World Elite) — route exists; ratio not published.
Without a ratio there is no Miles-per-AED figure to compare, so none of these is ranked here. If one of them is already your main card, ask the bank for the conversion rate and compare the result with the table above.
The hotel back door: Marriott Bonvoy to Skywards
Marriott Bonvoy points transfer to Skywards at 3 points to 1 Mile, with a 5,000-Mile bonus for every 60,000 points moved — 60,000 points become 25,000 Miles, per our Marriott Bonvoy programme page. That makes the Emirates NBD Bonvoy cards an indirect Skywards earner:
- Marriott Bonvoy World Elite earns 3 Bonvoy points per USD on everyday spend. Moved in 60,000-point blocks, that is 1.25 Skywards Miles per USD, or 0.34 Miles per AED — more than the Infinite’s 0.27 on ordinary UAE spend. AED 1,575 a year, AED 25,000 minimum salary, salary transfer to Emirates NBD required.
- Marriott Bonvoy World earns 1.5 points per USD, or 0.17 Miles per AED once moved. Currently advertised as free for life; AED 12,000 minimum salary.
But moving points this way loses value. At our Bonvoy baseline of 2.5 fils a point, the World Elite’s 3 points per USD are worth about 2.04% of spend if you keep them for hotel stays. Converted to Skywards at 2 fils a Mile, the same spend is worth about 0.68%. Use the transfer to top up a balance for a specific redemption, not as your main way to earn Miles. Groceries, fuel and utilities earn at lower rates on both Bonvoy cards.
What is not a Skywards card
The Etihad Guest co-brands (FAB Etihad Guest Infinite, and Emirates NBD’s Inspire and Elevate) earn Etihad Guest Miles, not Skywards. If you split your flying between the two Gulf carriers, our premium-cabin programmes guide compares the programmes themselves.
Bottom line
For a UAE resident who flies Emirates, the Skywards Infinite is the card to hold if you spend AED 100,000 a year on it and will use the lounges. The Signature is a way in at AED 12,000 a month, paid for by its welcome bonus and lounge access rather than by what it earns. If your flying is occasional, a high-rate cashback card plus cash fares will usually come out ahead at our baseline, and the Liv cards keep a Skywards exit open if you want one.
All card figures from our card database, re-checked on 19 October 2026; Skywards valued at the 2-fils cost-basis baseline on the programme page, Bonvoy at the 2.5-fils baseline on the Bonvoy page. USD-quoted rates converted at the AED 3.6725 peg.
