Hi Lance Murdoch,
From what I can gather, the amount of skywards points required to book an easy jet flight is proportionate to the selling price on the easy jet website. I'm not sure exactly what ratio, but you can check online before you make a booking:
https://partnerrewards.emirates.com/index.php
Skywards used to be the best ff programme in the business. I've redeemed many skywards points to book many economy tickets. I've generally found that award flights have good availability and the taxes you pay are *actually* taxes - not over inflated fees.
However, yesterday I received the following email:
Introduction of Fuel Surcharge
From 31 March 2013, fuel surcharges will be introduced to all Emirates Skywards reward tickets. You will have the flexibility to pay this surcharge with cash or Skywards Miles. The surcharge will be displayed as part of the taxes payable on your reward ticket and will be aligned to the surcharge applicable on commercial tickets.
Until now, the surcharges have been excluded from Emirates Skywards reward tickets. Given the volatility of the fuel price, it is no longer possible for Emirates to absorb this cost on Skywards Reward tickets.
We remain committed to delivering excellent service and value for money to all our Skywards members.
Aim higher
After a bit of research it appears that the fuel surcharge could make up around $300US of a ticket price
Such a shame - I used to break the golden rule and choose to fly Emirates simply because I found skywards to be such a worthwhile scheme for me personally. Fortunately I recently redeemed most of my miles so I won't lose out too much.
Important lesson; even if you do come across a decent FF scheme, the rules can change drastically at short notice
