Emirates Skywards has started the year off with some intriguing changes to its program.

For starters, they’ve reduced the number of tier miles needed to retain Silver or Gold status. While the threshold for upgrading to Silver or Gold remains at 25,000 and 50,000 tier miles respectively, you now only need to earn 20,000 or 40,000 tier miles a year to retain that status.

In addition, all Skywards members can now nominate a travel coordinator to liaise with Skywards on their behalf. Until this year, this benefit was only open to Silver and Gold members.

Also, members can now purchase additional miles from any Skywards Service Center. The cost is 2.5 cents per mile and the minimum purchase is 2,000 miles. The miles are non-refundable and can only be purchased when making a reward booking.

Finally, Skywards Gold members can look forward to the fact that the Gold tier bonus has been increased to 50 percent, and Gold-level members are guaranteed reservations on fully booked flights.