It looks as if I'm going to be living and working in Dubai from June, with my family still living in the UK for a year or more. This means that I will be flying LON-DXB-LON about 12 times per year, as well as undertaking other business travel to the US and Asia mainly on Emirates. I'm already Gold on Skywards but I really haven't mastered the program intricacies and now that I am going to be paying for my own flights on this "commuter" leg I wanted to tap the collective wisdom of the forum on the following points:

- best way to find upgradeable flights so that I can book in Y and use my miles to travel in J, especially for overnight legs
- tips about operational upgrades on this route
- any related tips about booking windows and booking directions (e.g., should I start my return trips from Dubai or from London?)
- any other tips about earning miles in Dubai (e.g. credit cards)
- any tips about making this commuting business less painful generally

I am sure that there are many people on the forum in a similar position to me but I couldn't find useful threads on this topic, so perhaps the answers will also prove useful to other people in future.

Thanks!