Originally Posted by
eternaltransit
No - but if you have Skywards status, you can request an upgrade on board - the purser has a tablet with your Skywards details and can deduct miles instantly and make the seat assignment.
Technically you need to show the physical card and passport to do this but some pursers do not ask for them (or only the physical card).
It might be a stupid question but why do they ask for passport ? BP should be enough no ? Pax identity is checked, crosschecked and triple checked until boarding. And skywards number appears on the BP.
BP can be swapped of course, but usually it is between family members, close friends, so basically, between trusted ones.
If the upgrade is performed using someone else's miles, then, EK needs obviously to check that the card holder is OK.
Anyway, it doesn't hurt to check ID.