Emirates upgrades as new flier?
Mar 25, 2011, 9:09 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2010
Posts: 3
Emirates upgrades as new flier?
Brand-new FT user, pardon my ignorance. I'm set to take first 2 Emirates flights in 1.5 weeks. I'm Continental Platinum, travel internationally lots, and always use miles to upgrade to BizFirst on Cont. As of this week Cont has ended its partnership with Emirates, so no luck upgrading upcoming Emirates flights with miles. I've seen the posts about special upgrade offers - looks like those come in the last 24-48 hrs prior to the flight if spave avail. Are there any other options for trying to upgrade further in advance of my flights? I'm willing to pay, but (hopefully) not a fortune. Also just joined Skywards and have asked for status match. Thanks much for any advice you can offer.
Mar 25, 2011, 9:32 pm
#2
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: OSL
Programs: BA Gold | SK Gold | A3 Gold
Posts: 4,553
Welcome to FT jjarski!
EK flights can only be upgraded with EK miles, CO partnership or not.
An easy way to do this is to purchase miles ($625 for 25,000), but you need to already have some miles in your account to do this.
If you know someone who can cover you for this trip, you can repay them later.
Don't have any expectations for the email offers. They are rare and unpredictable.
You haven't mentioned where you're flying to/ from. The best advice I can give, is try getting on a 380 and grabbing 68/ 81 A/K. They're economy seats, but very good ones.
EK flights can only be upgraded with EK miles, CO partnership or not.
An easy way to do this is to purchase miles ($625 for 25,000), but you need to already have some miles in your account to do this.
If you know someone who can cover you for this trip, you can repay them later.
Don't have any expectations for the email offers. They are rare and unpredictable.
You haven't mentioned where you're flying to/ from. The best advice I can give, is try getting on a 380 and grabbing 68/ 81 A/K. They're economy seats, but very good ones.
Mar 26, 2011, 1:01 am
#3
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Delhi
Programs: Emirates gold *alliance silver jet airways platinum tridentprivilege gold.
Posts: 1,817
One of the reasons the partnership ending was complaints from Ek elites (myself included) that CO/UA elites were crowding out EK elites (ive posted on this elsewhere) for awards and upgrades You may see a discussion on another site -- about Mile s and Point s where a US based dentist posts on always travelling business on holiday just by chargin all his dental equipment on some CC linked to a US airline FFP. AA even gives status to such people!
Mar 26, 2011, 2:27 am
#4
Ambassador: Emirates Airlines
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Manchester, UK
Posts: 18,613
One of the reasons the partnership ending was complaints from Ek elites (myself included) that CO/UA elites were crowding out EK elites (ive posted on this elsewhere) for awards and upgrades You may see a discussion on another site -- about Mile s and Point s where a US based dentist posts on always travelling business on holiday just by chargin all his dental equipment on some CC linked to a US airline FFP. AA even gives status to such people!
I doubt very much the reason for the ending of the CO/UA partnership was anything to do with Elite upgrades.
Cheers,
Rick
Mar 26, 2011, 10:09 am
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2010
Posts: 3
Welcome to FT jjarski!
EK flights can only be upgraded with EK miles, CO partnership or not.
An easy way to do this is to purchase miles ($625 for 25,000), but you need to already have some miles in your account to do this.
If you know someone who can cover you for this trip, you can repay them later.
Don't have any expectations for the email offers. They are rare and unpredictable.
You haven't mentioned where you're flying to/ from. The best advice I can give, is try getting on a 380 and grabbing 68/ 81 A/K. They're economy seats, but very good ones.
EK flights can only be upgraded with EK miles, CO partnership or not.
An easy way to do this is to purchase miles ($625 for 25,000), but you need to already have some miles in your account to do this.
If you know someone who can cover you for this trip, you can repay them later.
Don't have any expectations for the email offers. They are rare and unpredictable.
You haven't mentioned where you're flying to/ from. The best advice I can give, is try getting on a 380 and grabbing 68/ 81 A/K. They're economy seats, but very good ones.
Thanks for the info. My segments are HAM-DXB (EK060) Apr 9 and DXB-IAH (EK211) Apr 15, both 777s per Emirates website. I will pursue the mileage purchase option and have transfered Starwood points to my new Skywards account to get initial miles in there.
If unable to upgrade, are there recommended seats on the 777s? And will Emirates allow elites to choose better seats (exit, bulkhead) ahead of check-in like other airline elite programs? I'd need the requested status match to do that, I guess. I'm 6'4" tall so really need the extra space if sitting in Y.
Mar 26, 2011, 4:03 pm
#6
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Delhi
Programs: Emirates gold *alliance silver jet airways platinum tridentprivilege gold.
Posts: 1,817
I did inquire and although the rupture was because of far more important reasons this argument did come into the picture, apparently. I got this from an aviation journalist so not verifieed.
Mar 27, 2011, 6:37 am
#7
Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 9,307
Thanks for the info. My segments are HAM-DXB (EK060) Apr 9 and DXB-IAH (EK211) Apr 15, both 777s per Emirates website. I will pursue the mileage purchase option and have transfered Starwood points to my new Skywards account to get initial miles in there.
If unable to upgrade, are there recommended seats on the 777s? And will Emirates allow elites to choose better seats (exit, bulkhead) ahead of check-in like other airline elite programs? I'd need the requested status match to do that, I guess. I'm 6'4" tall so really need the extra space if sitting in Y.
If unable to upgrade, are there recommended seats on the 777s? And will Emirates allow elites to choose better seats (exit, bulkhead) ahead of check-in like other airline elite programs? I'd need the requested status match to do that, I guess. I'm 6'4" tall so really need the extra space if sitting in Y.
Early check in is the best time to get exit row seats, irrespective of status. They are not allocated before that as far as I can tell. If you "need" the extra space then think about J.
Mar 27, 2011, 6:46 am
#8
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2010
Posts: 3
Hamburg to Houston is not a published route. How did you purchase tickets for this at a reasonable price if you don't mind me asking?
Early check in is the best time to get exit row seats, irrespective of status. They are not allocated before that as far as I can tell. If you "need" the extra space then think about J.
Early check in is the best time to get exit row seats, irrespective of status. They are not allocated before that as far as I can tell. If you "need" the extra space then think about J.
Mar 27, 2011, 8:46 am
#9
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: OSL
Programs: BA Gold | SK Gold | A3 Gold
Posts: 4,553