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
Mar 27, 2013, 1:28 am
#166
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: SEA town
Programs: Alaska LTG, HHonors-Gld, IHG-Dia, LT MR Ti
Posts: 627
When I did my bookings I entered SEA-MLE. That's the only way I could get it to work.
Initially only Z class was avail for SEA-DXB, not DXB-MLE. It seems Emirates is good about releasing Z, D, N for long flights.. but not the shorter ones. Sounds like the opposite of AA and DL.
I checked some SEA-SIN dates in May, there were some Z seats avail for SEA-DXB, but only N (Econ) from DXB-SIN. So you might have to make a decision. Personally I wanted the 15hr segments to clear. But remember if you want to make changes, make sure Z class is avail for both segments. Otherwise this 'married segment' issue might arise.
Initially only Z class was avail for SEA-DXB, not DXB-MLE. It seems Emirates is good about releasing Z, D, N for long flights.. but not the shorter ones. Sounds like the opposite of AA and DL.
I checked some SEA-SIN dates in May, there were some Z seats avail for SEA-DXB, but only N (Econ) from DXB-SIN. So you might have to make a decision. Personally I wanted the 15hr segments to clear. But remember if you want to make changes, make sure Z class is avail for both segments. Otherwise this 'married segment' issue might arise.
Mar 27, 2013, 9:37 pm
#167
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Victoria, B.C.
Programs: Hyatt Globalist, AA Gold LT
Posts: 1,941
UPDATE - Agents fault NOT phantom availability as I had originally feared.
Called again. This time I just asked for SEA-DXB-SEA, agent says good to go. So then I said OK how about SEA-DXB-SIN-DXB-SEA and she said yes then says OH its coming back not available. I said hmm which segment as we had found availability before. Agent puts me on hold talks to someone else. Comes back. She explains if she books it segment by segment it is fine. 55 minutes later and 400,000 AS miles the ticket is mine. Piece of cake!
So far I believe it is just agents not really knowing how to book them right. I would think a SEA-DXB-SEA would be easy to book and connections a little harder. But I do think Expertflyer availability is correct....for now.
Called again. This time I just asked for SEA-DXB-SEA, agent says good to go. So then I said OK how about SEA-DXB-SIN-DXB-SEA and she said yes then says OH its coming back not available. I said hmm which segment as we had found availability before. Agent puts me on hold talks to someone else. Comes back. She explains if she books it segment by segment it is fine. 55 minutes later and 400,000 AS miles the ticket is mine. Piece of cake!
So far I believe it is just agents not really knowing how to book them right. I would think a SEA-DXB-SEA would be easy to book and connections a little harder. But I do think Expertflyer availability is correct....for now.
Mar 27, 2013, 11:53 pm
#168
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: East Ester, Alaska
Programs: Alaska Million Miler, United Million Miler, Wyndham Rewards Diamond, Choice Hotels Diamond
Posts: 12,148
HKG-JNB lands at 6:25AM. 
EK has three daily flights from DXB with two arriving at "normal" times.
EK has three daily flights from DXB with two arriving at "normal" times.
EK offers limo service and hotel in DXB for long connections. And the new EK First Class lounge in a mind blower. Puts the Wing and/or Pier to shame.
I should note that I experienced no real problems in the booking process at all. The agents I worked with at Alaska's Partner Desk seemed well aware of the nuances associated with EK bookings. Now all I have to do is look forward to my flights!
Last edited by Seat 2A; Mar 28, 2013 at 12:00 am
Mar 28, 2013, 8:14 am
#169
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: PBI
Programs: AS MVP
Posts: 425
Whilst I am going to be searching for J seats to JNB, was availability open to JNB? Looking on EF (seems the only way to search availability for EK), I am seeing nothing at all on the DXB-JNB segment..granted I am eventually going to be searching for 2 tickets in March of '14, so I really can't search yet.. SFO777 made it sound like that segment is really hard to come by and only opens up with 30 days of departure...
Mar 28, 2013, 8:32 am
#170
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Denver • DEN-APA
Programs: AF Platinum, EK Gold, AA EXP, UA 1K, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 21,610
Whilst I am going to be searching for J seats to JNB, was availability open to JNB? Looking on EF (seems the only way to search availability for EK), I am seeing nothing at all on the DXB-JNB segment..granted I am eventually going to be searching for 2 tickets in March of '14, so I really can't search yet.. SFO777 made it sound like that segment is really hard to come by and only opens up with 30 days of departure...
Subsequently, I do see F availability. The week we are traveling, there is one DXB-JNB flight with F avails (the day before I need) and the flight is actually showing Z2 D5. No other flights or dates are showing avails. The week before there are two Z2 days. So actually pretty good if your travel dates are flexible.
Mar 28, 2013, 11:41 am
#171
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: PBI
Programs: AS MVP
Posts: 425
Is there a better way to search on EF? I mainly use KVS and am new to it. Seems like a very slow process to search for flights over a couple day window. Where as on KVS you can just click a new date without having to enter all the info.
Mar 28, 2013, 11:43 am
#172
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Denver • DEN-APA
Programs: AF Platinum, EK Gold, AA EXP, UA 1K, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 21,610
The best you can do on EF is "+/- 3 days" feature. Let's you search an entire week pretty easily.
Mar 28, 2013, 3:20 pm
#173
Join Date: Aug 2010
Posts: 327
Does EF has a bug? I am searching EK availability and it shows 0 in one row and 7 in another (For the same flight)
Mar 28, 2013, 3:58 pm
#174
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Denver • DEN-APA
Programs: AF Platinum, EK Gold, AA EXP, UA 1K, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 21,610
Mar 29, 2013, 10:55 am
#175
Join Date: Aug 2010
Posts: 327
same class "o"..Different rows, since connecting flight from destination departs at different time. Alaska Airline agent does not see any availability.
Mar 29, 2013, 11:03 am
#176
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Denver • DEN-APA
Programs: AF Platinum, EK Gold, AA EXP, UA 1K, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 21,610
D is the Saver Business award class that is available to AS.
Z is the Saver First award class that is available to AS.
Apr 8, 2013, 2:50 pm
#178
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: YVR
Programs: OZ D*G, AS MVPG, AF G, GHA Platinum, Hilton Gold, Marriott Silver
Posts: 137
With EK gaining fifth-freedom access in MXP, I wonder how/when AS will price out North America-Europe on EK?
http://boardingarea.com/blogs/ghetto...n-to-new-york/
http://boardingarea.com/blogs/ghetto...n-to-new-york/
Last edited by deasine; Apr 9, 2013 at 12:56 pm
Apr 8, 2013, 5:42 pm
#179
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Victoria, B.C.
Programs: Hyatt Globalist, AA Gold LT
Posts: 1,941
What happened to the availability?
Hello, I booked last week 2 tickets to on Emirates first (Z) class on Expertflyer. When I looked there was plenty of availability. Probably 20 out of 30 days in the months that I looked at. Often availability was Z2 on the SEA-DXB segments.
Today I looked and there is very very little Z availability on the SEA-DXB segments. The dates i did find availability there is only Z1.
I hope this is a temporary glitch
Today I looked and there is very very little Z availability on the SEA-DXB segments. The dates i did find availability there is only Z1.
I hope this is a temporary glitch
Apr 13, 2013, 8:48 am
#180
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Denver • DEN-APA
Programs: AF Platinum, EK Gold, AA EXP, UA 1K, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 21,610
Well that party was certainly short-lived.
Agree with smilee. Except for close in (T-30 days), EK First inventory has virtually disappeared.
Just spent the last 1/2 hour searching the balance of the year, from SEA/SFO/IAH-DXB and back and we are talking slim pickings from mid-May forward. Most of the balance of the year from mid-May shows nothing. Within 30 days, there are a few seats, mostly Z1 a few Z2 Inside 14 days, lots more Z2.
Not exactly helpful for long range planning.
Just spent the last 1/2 hour searching the balance of the year, from SEA/SFO/IAH-DXB and back and we are talking slim pickings from mid-May forward. Most of the balance of the year from mid-May shows nothing. Within 30 days, there are a few seats, mostly Z1 a few Z2 Inside 14 days, lots more Z2.
Not exactly helpful for long range planning.