By Rafiq Vayani
DUBAI: dnata Travel and Emirates NBD, a leading banking group in the Middle East, North Africa, and Türkiye (MENAT) region, highlight the significant savings UAE travellers have achieved through their co-branded credit card programme. Consumer data reflects that, in 2024 alone, travellers saved AED 17 million, contributing to a total of AED 209 million since the programme began nearly 20 years ago.
As travel demand continues to grow, the partners are unveiling additional ways customers can maximise savings and revealing exciting new benefits for 2025.
Traveller savings in 2024: By using an “Emirates NBD dnata World or Platinum Mastercard”, travellers can earn up to 15% back in dnata Points on purchases at dnata Travel, World Duty Free, and other outlets. With one dnata Point equalling one UAE dirham, travellers can easily calculate their rewards and redeem them for flights, hotels, or holiday packages on dnatatravel.com or at one of dnata Travel’s 13 stores across the UAE.
In 2024, more than 10,000 travellers saved approximately AED 17 million using dnata Points. An additional AED 5.6 million in dnata Points was accrued during the same period. Since the programme’s inception in 2006, travellers have earned a total of more than AED 300 million dnata Points, with AED 209 million redeemed for travel bookings so far.
Highest spend using dnata Points: The largest redemption of dnata Points in 2024 occurred through dnata Travel’s official Instagram account. A traveller used 70,000 dnata Points to save on a luxury Maldives hotel booking worth AED 120,000, paying the remaining balance of AED 50,000 with their Emirates NBD dnata World credit card. This transaction also earned them an additional AED 7,500 for future use.
Popular products for dnata Points: The most redeemed travel product in 2024 was air tickets, accounting for 82% of dnata Point usage, followed by hotels and accommodation (13%), cruise bookings (1%) and other services (3%).
What’s new for card holders: Customers can now enjoy 0% interest instalment plans on dnata Travel purchases, with this benefit extended to cover up to 12 months of fees for most schools in the UAE. Additionally, new perks include ‘buy one, get one free’ cinema ticket offers and 20% savings on cinema food and beverages in all Reel Cinemas for World and Platinum card holders.
Other travel-related benefits include zero foreign transaction fees, complimentary access to more than 1,000 airport lounges via Dragonpass and travel vouchers worth AED 2,500 upon activating the card.
How to redeem dnata Points: Travellers can redeem dnata Points for bookings on dnataTravel.com by selecting ‘dnata Points / Emirates NBD Plus Points’ as the payment type, or in-store at dnata Travel’s 13 stores across the UAE.
With hotel rates starting from just AED 205 or 205 dnata Points per person, dnata Travel offers accessible and exclusive deals for UAE travellers. To explore the latest available hotel, flight and holiday package offers, access dnataTravel.com. To apply or find out more about dnata Emirates NBD Credit Cards, sign up directly on dnataTravel.com or visit emiratesnbd.com.
rafiq@biztoday.news
