We always knew it was rigged

We always knew it was rigged

An Emirates employee has been found guilty of manipulating the Skywards rewards program. He must have really wanted that lamp…

September 22, 2010 12:56 by shafeer

A former official with Emirates has admitted rigging the airline’s reward scheme to award 2.6 million points to his own account. “That’s right, yes, I am guilty… I committed that mistake and I regret it,” the man said when he appeared before the Dubai Court of First Instance. Sure, repent after you’ve been caught…

According to Gulf News, the Kenyan created 2,000 bogus accounts before transferring their air miles to his account. He is now charged with committing e-fraud, abusing public service and embezzling public money. He was only caught when a British woman called to set up an account, but was told she already had one. A subsequent check led staff to discover the same email address across a number of accounts.

Kipp is not surprised – we always knew there was something fishy about the Skywards system. We’ve flown thousands upon thousands of miles with Emirates and have almost – almost – saved enough points to buy a small plastic alarm clock. Clearly, someone else has been manipulating our points – how else can you explain this poor return?

Unless that’s just the return you get. In which case, this Emirates employee needs his head read. If you want anything decent from the Emirates “high street” you need far more than a mere 2.6 million points… that’ll probably buy you a doggy Fat Boy or something and a desk lamp.

He must have really wanted to get his dog something to sit on.