Emirates reactivates Milan New York flight, here's how to take advantage of points and fly for free

This is not an official announcement, but even if it were, we have learned that things change quickly in this situation. The news is that tickets are once again on sale for the connection between Milan Malpensa and New York. The flight had been suspended at the outbreak of the pandemic, and last summer, when Emirates reactivated the connection between Milan and Dubai, it had not been revived.

The route is one of two "fifth freedom" routes operated by Emirates to the United States, the other being the link also to New York from Athens.

The update appeared on the various reservation systems just as the carrier was announcing increased frequencies and the restoration of some routes from its Dubai hub to the United States.

What are Fifth Freedom routes

This term is used to identify those air links that take off from one airport, in this case Dubai, to stop over at a second destination (Milan) and depart for a third destination (New York). Passengers then may board in Dubai, not disembark the plane during the stopover in Milan, and finally disembark at JFK. The airline can sell the entire itinerary or the two individual legs, in which case the second leg connecting Milan with New York is referred to precisely as the "Fifth Freedom" because it connects two nations that do not host a hub of the airline that operated the flight.

We have talked in the past about other such routes such as the link between Hong Kong and Dubai, with the flight making a stopover in Bangkok before departing for the final destination.

The MXP JFK Link.

This route has always been very popular, both for Italian passengers heading to the U.S. and conversely for American passengers heading to our country. Starting June 2 it will be back in operation and tickets are already on sale. At the moment the route will be operated 4 times a week with the 777/300, which is logical because now the connections to Dubai are made through this aircraft and not with the larger A380.

Using points to go to New York with Emirates

Two business class tickets from Milan to New York. will cost you 260€ in taxes and 315k MR points (converted to 252k Skywards points) , obviously not being operated on A380s goodbye to the possibility, for the time being, of showering or enjoying a drink in the sky bar, but otherwise the in-flight experience is guaranteed at 100% as are the ground services.

Having said that at present it is not possible to imagine when it will be possible to return to "nonessential" travel, it is good to remember that in June the situation will probably be better than it is today, if only because of the physiological decline of the pandemic during the summer months, as seen in last summer. In addition, all tickets issued by Emirates are flexible and the company also gives an important Covid-19 insurance to all its passengers, insurance that we hope no one will ever have to use.