EK usually upgrades or reroutes you via another of their european destinations. I had a chat with a lady in MUC ATO and she said they always take care of their addtl pax via FRA. She also confirmed that in the EU you get compensation for denied boarding as per EU regulation (300-600 EUR in vouchers). I specifically checked.

In Jan I experienced a novel way how EK takes care of overbooked Y. The F cabin was declared to be C, and the C cabin became available for Y pax. Service and tray were C, but the food on the C porcelain was the Y food. Winelist was C!

If you see 0 in all classes, try and talk your way into an upgrade at checkin. Get you skwards number registered. Even blue pax get opups as there are very few skywards members in Europe.

At DXB, approach the gate and ask if you can get an op-up. They even upgrade for aprox 350AED (aprox 100 EUR) if the flight is full.

Regards Oliver