skywardhunter

completely forgot what the OP's point was, sorry

Baldpacker

I actually have 84k points and have accumulated several hundred thousand over my time with EK. Unfortunately, due to the three year mileage expiry and horrible interface for using points on partner airlines (and crazy expensive taxes in my experience) it's very tough for me to use the points.

Other than one upgrade that actually worked out, the points have been useless.

I tried using the points to buy things - shipping + customs costs were more than the items themselves - even the cheap lightweight crap.

I was going to buy a $30 gift certificate and EK wanted to charge US $50 to ship it to me.

In the end, I bought a certificate for a book store and am trying to send it to a friend of mine (for an additional 1,000 miles) who is crew with Emirates. Funny thing is, they're now e-mailing me that they can't send the certificate to that address. They could probably just drop it in inter-office mail but I'm sure the representative I'm dealing with is in South Asia.

The status has its perks, but only if you're not already flying business, though I did receive a few free upgrades.

I was only part of Skywards because my company used Emirates in and out of Sana'a for scheduling reasons. I can't think of a worse frequent flyer program.

ft101

Can I ask why? For my routings upgrades have always been the best option.

Baldpacker

I don't fly routes EK regularly services anymore so I'd have to go out of my way (and pay more) to buy an upgradeable flight.

I tend to stick to the Alliances now. Even though all FFPs are getting worse, I've still managed some amazing awards with my Air Canada Aeroplan points. For example, I'm flying Bergen > Trondheim > Tromso > Lonyearbyen this summer for 15k points and $100 and bought 2 one way tickets from Texas to Spain for 50k points and $15 (25k points & $7.50/ticket).

$800 flights vs a $30 book store voucher. Tough choice....

THR

Since the massive devaluation in points (or the significant increase in the number of points required to upgrade), can anyone suggest best use of 145,000 points out of Sydney?

I cannot see that they are ever useful to upgrade now, can never seem to find anything on Qantas routes, and the only place that seems to be within realm is New Zealand.

Is it best just to wait for a deal or something?

eternaltransit

imho, buy a long-haul/ULH itinerary on EK for cash and upgrade on a space available basis for best cpm for EK miles.

THR

^ Yeah, problem is there is hardly ever space available ex-SYD, and upgrades are so expensive now

eternaltransit

If you get to the airport early enough and register your interest with the ticketing desk (check in staff are outsourced so don't process any upgrades) then they should prioritise you over any op-ups (or cancel an op-up to make space for you; op-up someone from J-F so you can go to J in the case of Y-J upgrade; bump any staff travellers who want to sit in F down to J or J down to Y ).

If there's one thing EK want, it's your money or your miles

m3red

They won't upgrade j to f to make way for a passenger who wants to use miles from y to j.

eternaltransit

Not at DXB (generally - it depends on who calls the controller), but at some outstations YMMV

oneworld82

Hi,

I am booked on a CAI-DXB-SIN in J, and I am trying to use miles to upgrade. According to Expertflyer, CAI-DXB is not available for upgrade, but DXB-SIN is. Can I upgrade only the available leg? How does it work?

thanks!

same0717

Yes, now you can upgrade only the leg with availability. When you go to upgrade online you will be quote the price for that single sector upgrade. If at a later time an upgrade becomes available on the other part of your trip (CAI - DXB) you can then upgrade that portion if you choose to. However if you go to upgrade online you will again be quoted the price of the single sector upgrade. But if you call EK, they can refund your already upgraded sector, hold the inventory and reticket the upgrade all the way through at a lower price than two single sector upgrades.

Hope that helps and all makes sense!

I have been watching an itinerary trying to do the same thing and just spoke with EK earlier today to reticket my upgrade as the other portion finally became available it was easy to do over the phone!

johhn14

Let's say the OP upgraded CAI-DXB and later DXB-SIN became available. Would EK over the phone be able to cancel the CAI-DXB upgrade and put it on DXB-SIN instead? Let's assume the miles balance was adequate.

I find myself in a similar scenario but am holding out for BOS-DXB z availability (x2) and not upgrading an already available DXB-SIN leg. Several months til the flight so anticipating there will be availability - based on my Expert Flyer analysis , it seems to regularly open up in the days leading up to the flight.

skywardhunter

Yes AFAIK there is no penalty to cancelling an upgrade reward with Emirates.

m3red

I wouldn't bother with the Cai Dxb sector