Originally Posted by skywardhunter

1. to find upgrade availability: Log into your Skywards account on emirates.com then search for an award seat in J. If the Saver award is available you can also upgrade from Y.

2. In terms of nesting the most beneficial would be to nest itineraries with stopovers and back-to-backs in a place like MCT or CAI. MCT is nice due to its proximity. Take itineraries A and B:

A LON-DXB-MCT // transit DXB, direct to MCT
B MCT-DXB //turnaround straight back to DXB
{stopover}
B DXB-LON
B LON-DXB-MCT //transit DXB, direct to MCT
A MCT-DXB //turnaround straight backt o DXB
{stopover}
A DXB-LON

This way you purchase 1x LON-MCT return, with a stopover in Dubai on the return and 1x MCT-LON return with a stopover in Dubai on the outbound. You achieve minimum stay criteria for cheaper fares on both tickets, and you can add more nested tickets originating in MCT before the final stopover on ticket A if MCT is a cheaper origin. You can also do this (exclusively or alternating) with other airports like BEY, CAI, IST, BAH, etc., depending on how far you want to venture.

Strung together your trip would be:

LON-DXB-MCT-DXB

then DXB-LON

then LON-DXB-MCT-DXB

then DXB-LON

and you could move it around so you have the triple-connection flight on the way to London, rather than on the way to DXB. Many options