Apr 5, 2014, 3:23 pm
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.
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.
Consolidated Emirates (EK) awards availability/booking/routing thread
Nov 27, 2015, 7:16 pm
#2506
Join Date: Jan 2001
Posts: 2,837
Of course I can monitor, that's the plan, was just curious if I should jump on the 14th and make the timing work instead. This is buys winter travel season though, so you never know. Pretty much every airline likes to block everything out of the US past the 14-15th up to Xmas until the last moment.
Nov 27, 2015, 7:16 pm
#2507
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Denver • DEN-APA
Programs: AF Platinum, EK Gold, AA EXP, UA 1K, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 21,598
Of course I can monitor, that's the plan, was just curious if I should jump on the 14th and make the timing work instead. This is buys winter travel season though, so you never know. Pretty much every airline likes to block everything out of the US past the 14-15th up to Xmas until the last moment.
Nov 27, 2015, 7:54 pm
#2508
Join Date: Oct 2014
Programs: All of them
Posts: 1,664
I would certainly grab the 14th if available, unless this is a discretionary trip. Don't know if you AS status, and can change without penalty when the desired dates open up. Otherwise, $125 change fee is a small price to pay for getting the exact date you wish. Good luck.
I don't have status so I'll have to eat the $125 and to me not really worth it.
Btw, I tried to buy 4 first class seats on those flights and dates, and they have 4+ seats still unsold. No idea why they're being so stingy with awards this close to departure.
Last edited by littlewinglet; Nov 27, 2015 at 8:20 pm
Nov 27, 2015, 8:32 pm
#2509
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Mountain Time Zone
Programs: AS Million Miler/Marriott Lifetime Titanium/ IGH Ambassador
Posts: 5,990
Thinking about it...it would slightly interfere with work and this is a pleasure trips so I can always throw something together last minute...not exact schedule, more of a preferred itinerary.
I don't have status so I'll have to eat the $125 and to me not really worth it.
Thanks, I sure hope so. A few years back I got UA first class to Sydney with 10 days notice. Cutting it close but that's the life we live.
Btw, I tried to buy 4 first class seats on those flights and dates, and they have 4+ seats still unsold. No idea why they're being so stingy with awards this close to departure.
I don't have status so I'll have to eat the $125 and to me not really worth it.
Thanks, I sure hope so. A few years back I got UA first class to Sydney with 10 days notice. Cutting it close but that's the life we live.
Btw, I tried to buy 4 first class seats on those flights and dates, and they have 4+ seats still unsold. No idea why they're being so stingy with awards this close to departure.
Nov 27, 2015, 8:51 pm
#2510
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: BOS/ORH
Programs: AS 75K
Posts: 18,323
Nov 28, 2015, 8:44 am
#2511
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Mountain Time Zone
Programs: AS Million Miler/Marriott Lifetime Titanium/ IGH Ambassador
Posts: 5,990
Could be the only thing you can do if your AS FF is keep trying. We are returning to Africa in January on EK with FC to Dubai and coach onward, if that's the worst I'll take it. Getting ready to book another for 2017 going to calendar mark so I do it exactly at the earliest point in time just to see !
Nov 28, 2015, 10:16 am
#2513
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: YVR to SEA
Posts: 2,534
Emirates commonly over sells economy which causes op ups for their elites and if business ends up being full, there will be cascading op ups.
But it wouldn't happen unless the cabin is full, unlike the US carriers
But it wouldn't happen unless the cabin is full, unlike the US carriers
Nov 28, 2015, 10:36 am
#2514
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Denver • DEN-APA
Programs: AF Platinum, EK Gold, AA EXP, UA 1K, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 21,598
This is no different from US airlines which similarly do not op-up unless the Y cabin is full/oversold.
Nov 28, 2015, 10:53 am
#2515
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: BOS/ORH
Programs: AS 75K
Posts: 18,323
Yes they will upgrade elites in J to F in order to make J seats available for an oversold Y. There was even a reports of an AS elite who was offered Op-op due to oversold Y. Those fully Y tickets can actually bring in more money than a discount J passenger.
Nov 28, 2015, 1:50 pm
#2516
Join Date: Oct 2014
Programs: All of them
Posts: 1,664
Is there a way to see Emirates seat availability? I'm pretty sure with all the capacity they're dumping on the US market, it's highly unlikely they'll ever have a sold out flight, and they do have 4+ first seats left on several days. They're just blocking it out of principle because it's busy season, then giving them away last minute.
Nov 28, 2015, 5:30 pm
#2517
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Mountain Time Zone
Programs: AS Million Miler/Marriott Lifetime Titanium/ IGH Ambassador
Posts: 5,990
Is there a way to see Emirates seat availability? I'm pretty sure with all the capacity they're dumping on the US market, it's highly unlikely they'll ever have a sold out flight, and they do have 4+ first seats left on several days. They're just blocking it out of principle because it's busy season, then giving them away last minute.
Way too much entitlement these days
Nov 28, 2015, 8:26 pm
#2518
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,386
Tools like ExpertFlyer can be used for that (and are discussed extensively in this very thread 
).
Paid coach is quite often very popular during the holiday season, as people use time off to visit family during the holidays and won't be able to purchase the business/first class tickets companies buy for their employees. I wouldn't discount the possibility that Emirates would see if they can oversell Y and do Y->J and J->F op-ups preferentially to elites, instead of expanding award availability early. Revenue management's goal is to maximize airline revenue, not make it easy for you to enjoy a shower with your AS miles. Better just wait and see.
).I'm pretty sure with all the capacity they're dumping on the US market, it's highly unlikely they'll ever have a sold out flight, and they do have 4+ first seats left on several days. They're just blocking it out of principle because it's busy season, then giving them away last minute.
Nov 28, 2015, 8:59 pm
#2519
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Mountain Time Zone
Programs: AS Million Miler/Marriott Lifetime Titanium/ IGH Ambassador
Posts: 5,990
Tools like ExpertFlyer can be used for that (and are discussed extensively in this very thread ).
Paid coach is quite often very popular during the holiday season, as people use time off to visit family during the holidays and won't be able to purchase the business/first class tickets companies buy for their employees. I wouldn't discount the possibility that Emirates would see if they can oversell Y and do Y->J and J->F op-ups preferentially to elites, instead of expanding award availability early. Revenue management's goal is to maximize airline revenue, not make it easy for you to enjoy a shower with your AS miles. Better just wait and see.
).Paid coach is quite often very popular during the holiday season, as people use time off to visit family during the holidays and won't be able to purchase the business/first class tickets companies buy for their employees. I wouldn't discount the possibility that Emirates would see if they can oversell Y and do Y->J and J->F op-ups preferentially to elites, instead of expanding award availability early. Revenue management's goal is to maximize airline revenue, not make it easy for you to enjoy a shower with your AS miles. Better just wait and see.
And yes there is a huge number of foreign " service personnel " in the Emirates that go home for holidays as well as many that visit their relatives in other countries.
Nov 28, 2015, 11:28 pm
#2520
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: YVR (BLI/SEA)
Programs: AS MVPG, Delta Plat, HHonors Gold, NEXUS, Marriott Silver
Posts: 195
*sigh* Not that it made a big deal to me, but good to know going forward in case I want to change the last segment again.