I think there are 2 issues here.

One is the recurring theme of inconsistent service on EK. Growing pains. Young crews. Not enough training. Call it what you want. Most EK road warriors would have experienced this at some point during their travels.

But then again, if you crawl all over FT on other airline forums, you'll see the same thing.

I've done over a million miles on UA and I can tell you - I've had plenty of lousy flights. And plenty of excellent ones. At one point, if you travelled out of SIN to NRT with a SIN based crew, you would think you were on SQ. Then you changed planes and crew in NRT and flew to the US with a crew who were older than your grandparents and the service was non-existent.

The second point being the whole area of upgrades on EK (or the lack of them). This example is further evidence of EK's zero upgrade policy (unless for operational reasons). I've found from experience with EK, that upgrades are SO dependent on the route and station you fly out of.

Last month, I did 10 long haul flights on EK (5 round trips between MEL-SIN). Normally, the loads out of SIN to MEL are fairly full, but in May, the loads were exceptionally light (30-50% max), so zero upgrades. And the flights from MEL back to SIN were approaching 95% on most flights (and yet again, no upgrades).

As a fellow 200K tier miler, I sympathise with gametitans. But at the end of the day, I keep reminding myself that compared to other airlines available to me (and ones I am prepared to fly), I get the best bang for my buck with EK. I'm self employed - so I pay the travel and most of my flights are in Y. I've had more upgrades than I expected, the lounges are some of the best available, EK suits my actual travel patterns and ICE is a huge advantage.

Would I like more people onboard sucking up to me - or the occasional upgrade to reward my loyalty? Sure (the upgrade that is, the sucking up part no). But in order for this to happen, fundamental changes need to occur at EK from a technology perspective.

Third party gate agents and check-in staff are simply not empowered to upgrade people based on a whim (or someone standing there, waving their Gold card, yelling out DYKWIA).

In all the years I've flown UA, maybe 1-2 op ups. Thats it. In only 12-months of EK, more than a dozen. But all operational.

And yes, a fourth tier is definitely needed. And on its way, according to multiple sources within EK.