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Consolidated Emirates (EK) awards availability/booking/routing thread

Old Apr 5, 2014, 3:23 pm
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: eponymous_coward
Emirates award guide using Alaska Airlines miles

Routing Rules:

All trips must start or end in North America.
One open jaw and one stopover allowed on each one-way award.
No fees for changes/cancellations prior to 60 days from departure.

North American Gateway Cities:

West Coast
Seattle
San Francisco
Los Angeles

Central
Chicago
Dallas
Houston

East Coast
Boston
New York (JFK)
Orlando (Effective September 1, 2015)
Washington DC (IAD)

Canada
Toronto

Award Chart Links*:

Middle East & Africa

Asia

Europe

*If region is not listed on chart its not available.

Perks

Chauffeur Drive NOT Available
Car service is not available for all Business Class and First Class passengers on Alaska Airlines ticketed award tickets on Emirates flights (as of Jan 2015). The chauffeur will not confirm if you use the EK website for this, though the website makes it look you can make a reservation.

Lounges
Access is available for all passengers traveling in Business and First Class. Not all cities have lounges and many may be operated by a Partner. There have been some reports of people having an issue accessing the Dubai lounges as the tickets may appear in their system as non-revenue employee travel. This is not as much of a problem as it used to be but in case it comes up please advise the lounge attendant that you are on an Alaska Airlines award.

Dubai Connect

AS Awards on EK do not qualify for Dubai Connect, which is the service that offers the free hotel.

Tricks to find Transoceanic availability

Instead of performing a blanket, i.e. SEA-DXB search, perform: SEA-MED.
Madinah is a destination that is only served by EK. Consequently, if there is availability, only EK will show up in the calendar results.
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Consolidated Emirates (EK) awards availability/booking/routing thread

Old Aug 25, 2014, 12:28 pm
  #961  
 
Join Date: May 2012
Location: DFW
Programs: Marriott (Titanium); National (Exec); Hilton (Gold)
Posts: 175
Just cancelled (2) seats in F on the following flights. Hope someone here can grab them.

Emirates 216
First
Los Angeles, CA (LAX)
3:50 pm Mon, Dec 8 Dubai (DXB)
7:50 pm Tue, Dec 9

Emirates 354
First Dubai (DXB)
3:15 am Thu, Dec 11 Singapore (SIN)
2:40 pm Thu, Dec 11
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Old Aug 26, 2014, 2:20 am
  #962  
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Posts: 2,019
Originally Posted by moler
I touched on this a few weeks ago: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/23123619-post847.html, http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/23125957-post863.html, and SFO777 also chimed in: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/23125965-post864.html

It looks like if you call later in the evening, there is a better chance you'll get a capable Boise-based agent who would manual sell (albeit based on a tiny sample size). I've also read several accounts in this forum of the Boise call center being competent and helpful. On another occasion, I got a SEA-based agent to manual sell ~7:30 PT, having struck out earlier in the afternoon with a couple of other SEA-based agent.

At the end of the day, I guess it's a bit of a trial and error either way: a) if AS.com availability is real or phantom. b) if the AS agent would manual sell EK.com/EF availability. You won't be able to get a DXB stop-over on AS.com, though.

Good luck!
Can you dumb it down for us uneducated folks? What do you mean by "manual sell?"
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Old Aug 26, 2014, 5:29 am
  #963  
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Originally Posted by Edgerfly
Can you dumb it down for us uneducated folks? What do you mean by "manual sell?"
Its the way they used to book tickets prior to the partners going online. They manually entering the flight data, booking class, number of seats etc. it gets sent electronically to the partner who comes back with a yes or a no and they book it. CX is currently booked this way and LAN
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Old Aug 26, 2014, 12:23 pm
  #964  
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 38
I found business class availability on SEA-DXB, and DXB-DAR in July 2015 via the KVS Tool. But of course it doesn't show up on the Alaska web site. I called the partner desk and asked about this and if they could do a "manual sell". She had to put me on hold and when she returned said that is not an available option with Emirates. Based on what I have read on here this is not correct information. Perhaps I should wait and call to talk with another rep? What has been your experience when you find award seats via KVS but not on Alaska? Isn't it true that a partner such as Emirates will have award seats open but won't allocate them to Alaska?
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Old Aug 26, 2014, 12:25 pm
  #965  
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Originally Posted by charlesinseattle
I found business class availability on SEA-DXB, and DXB-DAR in July 2015 via the KVS Tool. But of course it doesn't show up on the Alaska web site. I called the partner desk and asked about this and if they could do a "manual sell". She had to put me on hold and when she returned said that is not an available option with Emirates. Based on what I have read on here this is not correct information. Perhaps I should wait and call to talk with another rep? What has been your experience when you find award seats via KVS but not on Alaska? Isn't it true that a partner such as Emirates will have award seats open but won't allocate them to Alaska?
on bolded part 1. It's not allowed but some will do it. Just luck of the draw.

on bolded part 2, thats correct just becasue space is available to Emirates Skywards members does not mean space is available to partners. Its pretty common for a program to restrict award seats to partners.
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Old Aug 26, 2014, 2:35 pm
  #966  
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: LAX/PVG
Programs: HH G, MR/SPG G, IHG Plat, Club Carlson G, National Exec
Posts: 191
Originally Posted by charlesinseattle
I found business class availability on SEA-DXB, and DXB-DAR in July 2015 via the KVS Tool. But of course it doesn't show up on the Alaska web site. I called the partner desk and asked about this and if they could do a "manual sell". She had to put me on hold and when she returned said that is not an available option with Emirates. Based on what I have read on here this is not correct information. Perhaps I should wait and call to talk with another rep? What has been your experience when you find award seats via KVS but not on Alaska? Isn't it true that a partner such as Emirates will have award seats open but won't allocate them to Alaska?
I haven't used KVS for this. But in my experience, whenever an AS agent is willing to manual sell, he/she's been able to grab any saver seat I see available on EK.com. But be prepared to HUACA (hang up and call again) multiple times until you get an agent who will manual sell.

Last edited by moler; Aug 26, 2014 at 2:56 pm
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Old Aug 26, 2014, 3:29 pm
  #967  
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: ECP
Programs: DL Diamond
Posts: 1,658
Flight change -- Emirates (award)

We're scheduled JFK-DXB/2 day stopover/DXB-MRU right now with the first segment in F and second in J.

Am I correct, that unless there is excess inventory on the JFK-DXB flight as well, that even if the DXB-MRU opened in F, that we can't make the change?

---

ETA: Got impatient and called AS... They held the F segments for me, and submitted a request jointly to both the AS "global desk" and EK. They said, the global desk will get back to me within a week or so to give me the thumbs up or down.

Either way, at least EK swapped the DXB-MRU from a 777 to a 388, so J would be flat beds if we're "stuck" back there

Last edited by DC777Fan; Aug 26, 2014 at 5:38 pm
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Old Aug 26, 2014, 4:03 pm
  #968  
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Australia
Programs: QF Platinum
Posts: 361
Anyone know if I can go HKG/DXB/HKG using AS miles on either EK or CX?.

Edit:
See now on AS site CX - HGG to Europe.

Last edited by Limewood; Aug 26, 2014 at 4:24 pm
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Old Aug 26, 2014, 5:30 pm
  #969  
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Originally Posted by Limewood
Anyone know if I can go HKG/DXB/HKG using AS miles on either EK or CX?.

Edit:
See now on AS site CX - HGG to Europe.
Huh?



CX is still not listed on the AS site... EK would be, though.
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Old Aug 26, 2014, 5:45 pm
  #970  
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Originally Posted by eponymous_coward
Huh?



CX is still not listed on the AS site... EK would be, though.
I think OP meant looking at award chart online. EK would not be an option unless North America is also involved. CX award allows HKG-DXB on its own
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Old Aug 26, 2014, 5:45 pm
  #971  
KVS
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Arrow

Originally Posted by charlesinseattle
I found business class availability on SEA-DXB, and DXB-DAR in July 2015 via the KVS Tool. But of course it doesn't show up on the Alaska web site. I called the partner desk and asked about this and if they could do a "manual sell". She had to put me on hold and when she returned said that is not an available option with Emirates. Based on what I have read on here this is not correct information. Perhaps I should wait and call to talk with another rep? What has been your experience when you find award seats via KVS but not on Alaska?
If you can see it via the KVS Tool, then it can be booked, as long as you are able to find an Agent who is able and willing to do a Long-Sell:

http://Help.KVSTool.com/#AgentSaysNo

Originally Posted by charlesinseattle
Isn't it true that a partner such as Emirates will have award seats open but won't allocate them to Alaska?
Originally Posted by CDKing
on bolded part 2, thats correct just becasue space is available to Emirates Skywards members does not mean space is available to partners. Its pretty common for a program to restrict award seats to partners.
EK Award Availability shown via the KVS Tool is, in fact, Partner Award Availability.
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Old Aug 26, 2014, 10:34 pm
  #972  
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Australia
Programs: QF Platinum
Posts: 361
Originally Posted by eponymous_coward
Huh?



CX is still not listed on the AS site... EK would be, though.
Awards.
Cathay Pacific
Business Between Hong Kong 85,000 and Europe Round Trip Award Level
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Old Aug 27, 2014, 5:41 am
  #973  
 
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: New York City
Posts: 800
Originally Posted by whimike
You must be hard to please.

I find the EK F lounge to be one of the best lounges, anywhere.
Good for you.

I just happen not to think so. I just call it like I see it, and the way I see it is that EK F lounge trails the FCT and TG BKK.

Originally Posted by SFO777
OK, now I get it. You were ticked off about having to pay for your Cuban.

If you are talking about getting to/from the lounge as a connecting passenger, TG and LH are generally better experiences compared to EK where you are pretty much on your own. And as an originating passenger, it is hard to beat the LH FCT.

But once in the lounge, IMO, it is not even close. The new EK FCL is far superior to the TG FCL at BKK. IMO, it is also better than any of LH's FCLs but that can be a personal thing. I do prefer the intimacy of the FCT. Combine that with private check-in and security and limo transfer to your plane, I would personally give the FRA FCT the nod as the best lounge/departure experience anywhere.
Ha, I was ticked about the cigar, especially when they practically stuffed them in my pocket at the FCT gratis the last half dozen times I've visited.

But I'm curious why you think the EK F lounge is leagues better than TG FCL BKK? When I say I like the FCT and TG FCL BKK I mean to say the entire ground experience, not just the lounge itself.
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Old Aug 27, 2014, 6:26 am
  #974  
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Originally Posted by thexfactor
When I say I like the FCT and TG FCL BKK I mean to say the entire ground experience, not just the lounge itself.
OK, that I can understand. But it's not what you originally wrote.
Other than the golf cart ride around the airport, the TG F experience is a meh. We're getting into personal tastes here but I feel that the TG lounge is a little dark, even a bit depressing. It needs a serious make-over IMO.
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Old Aug 27, 2014, 6:33 am
  #975  
 
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: New York City
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Originally Posted by SFO777
OK, that I can understand. But it's not what you originally wrote.
Other than the golf cart ride around the airport, the TG F experience is a meh. We're getting into personal tastes here but I feel that the TG lounge is a little dark, even a bit depressing. It needs a serious make-over IMO.
It is dark, but it's not something I mind. I also like the hour spa treatment instead of only 15 mins, and I like the "private" living room space. I truly felt like I was not in an airport, more so than perhaps any other lounge. Never having to walk anywhere is a plus, too
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