Hi there,
I recently flew long haul for the first time on my own, even tho I am a frequent flyer I was slightly nervous about who would be sitting next to me. Some FTers may remember my earlier posts! Most of the advise was to just get hammered and sleep through it!

To be fair I flew business but the advise from the previous posts holds. Check in early, talk to the person at the check in desk (helps if you have EK status) and ask who is sitting next to you, I asked if they could switch my seat to enable me to sit next to a lady on the overnight leg of my flight.

When I was in the lounge the check in chap came over and upgraded me to first.

If you are polite, and don't request the upgrade, and simply ask to be seated next to another lady, they usually accomodate you.

Interesting, I was also upgraded on the return flight on check in.

Emirates are really good with lone females and I have just booked my second trip on my own because if they can help they usually do.

Best of luck