Originally Posted by
baz2277
On expertflyer It's currently showing First as empty on the original date I asked for (20th Jan 1310) - I've read some people saying that availability can open up closer to departure. In fairness there were only 3 of us in 1st the last time I did this, and I didn't book until much closer to the departure date
As per DYKWIA’s suggestion, just set auto upgrade and also keep on checking with the call centre as auto upgrade tends to miss opportunities from time to time. Also I think auto upgrade only becomes ‘active’ a certain amount of time before the flight, it will tell you when you set it up.
January 2023 is a long way away and EK will undoubtedly try to sell seats for cash before making them available as award / upgrade stock.
My experience is that if you ‘work’ at getting the upgrade, chances are much better than just waiting for it to happen.