Originally Posted by
nmc980
Recent experience....
Flying SYD-DXB with a J Flex ticket. I had both auto-upgrade selected AND notifications set on EF for any Z availability.
Spoke with EK call centre a week out, and they confirmed no award seats available, however only 3 of 14 seats had been booked (which corroborated with EF).
T-96 - I checked the EK App, and sure enough an upgrade was available. No auto-upgrade / no notifications from EF.
On the upside, it coincided with the Skywards 25 Million Members promotion, so I managed to pay 25% less in points.
I had auto upgrade set on EK408 DXB-MEL on 15 September.
I was in Ethiopia with no internet access, but luckily visited a hotel with internet available 4 days before and incredibly received notification 10 minutes later. EF was showing 8 empty seats in F and up until the airport took control, no other seats were taken, and I must assume I was the only Z upgrade.
F was full on that trip so probably the balance was checkin and onboard upgrades.
This is the first time I have used auto upgrade, with low expectations due to previously documented experiences of FT members. But it worked well for me.