Facebook Competition for Free First Class Tickets Is a Hoax: Emirates

Emirates airline has denied any connection with a new social media competition offering free airline tickets, calling it a "hoax".

"The recent competition on Facebook offering free flights is a hoax and has nothing to do with Emirates," the airline said in a statement sent to Emirates 24|7.

"Our competitions are always run from our officially verified social media channels. Emirates has been working with Facebook to have these pages removed."

The statement comes in wake of a Facebook post put up on Saturday, which was offering residents free first class tickets for a winner and five friends to a destination of choice, along with over 16,500 dirhams in spending money.

At 12:00 p.m. on Sunday the "Emirates Air" community page that posted the hoax was still active and using the airline's official logo.

The post had garnered nearly 18,000 shares on Facebook, along with over 15,200 likes.