Originally Posted by
joer1212
I've read that Emirates is retiring two 777-300's* (not ER) by the end of 2016. These have the old Skycruiser seats in F. They will likely be replaced by 2-class cabin aircraft (Economy and Business).
Does anyone know which routes the aircraft that are being replaced fly on?
I ask this because I am scheduled to be in EK F (JFK-DXB; DXB-CAI) in March. I'm afraid that I might get bumped down to J on my second segment, if one of the newer planes replaces the 777-300 that currently flies this route. It's not so much that I object to getting "downgraded" from an old F Skycruiser seat to a new lie flat Business Class seat, it's that I want access to the Emirates F lounge in Dubai, which I would not qualify to enter with a J boarding pass**.
*
http://www.emirates.com/media-centre...in-30-minutes#
** My second segment (DXB-CAI) is 3 days after my first segment (JFK-DXB), so I would not qualify to enter the EK F lounge in DXB on the basis that my first leg was in F
If you have a jfk-cai first ticket and you are downgraded on the dxb-cai leg because of an aircraft change (ie only two class), you still have access to the F lounge as your flight dxb-cai is still on a first class fare base (it's the same if you buy for example an EU-MNL ticket in F/F fare, however dxb-mnl is only Y/J configuration, you can still use the FCL)