I'm getting a bit frustrated with Emirates. Here's the situation. I have miles that will expire before my flight SYD LHR next Feb. I have Gold membership.

I browsed a bunch of flights and had some flexibility on options. So I called Emirates to check if there was upgrade availability. The agent told me there was but not on all flights, so to check which flights were preferred and call back. I called back 15 minutes later and got a different agent. They told me there is zero upgrade availability on any flights from what he could see, but if I bought the tickets with him as I was Gold he was pretty sure I would be able to upgrade once the tickets were issued. I went ahead and bought the Flex Y tickets. He then informed me that there was no availability but that he would waitlist me. And that was it, just "tough luck". That was 5 days back and they haven't yet come through (not overly surprised, but noted some people have them in 24 hours).

Today I noticed, hidden at the bottom of a very slow loading site (i.e. it didn't even load the whole page many times I browsed) a featured offer for me that says I can get cheaper miles upgrades if I book and upgrade immediately in the same session. This requires me to pay for the ticket and then upgrade from MMB. I called Emirates and they basically said "the waitlist might work out, might not" but that to avail offers I had to use the website. They couldn't explain whether there would be availability through the offer and if so why I was waitlisted. My miles run out 6 days before I fly out (and my return is a week later) so if the waitlist fails I lose the ability to upgrade at check-in etc and all miles. I asked how much it would cost to cancel my current booking if I now booked online and got the upgrade. $250...

So I'm stuck. Maybe the website offer will just dump me in the same position: show no upgrades available once I've bought the ticket, in which case I'll need to pay $250 to refund that booking for no benefit, or buy a more expensive flex plus that I don't need just to be able to refund at no cost.

One option would be to check if the upgrade is available with a flex plus, then cancel it and rebook with a flex to get the upgrade and then cancel my original booking, but there's the chance the offer might vaporise.

I'm kicking myself for believing the agent that basically said "buy from me and it will all work out, it's your best option" and then left me empty handed. But mostly I'm just annoyed that they keep playing bait and switch.

Has anyone used the miles upgrade offer from their account page and had it fail to offer availability? Does Emirates have a reliable 24 hour cancellation policy?

Thanks for your thoughts

EDIT: For clarity, the offer page I'm talking about says:

Miles upgrade offers

Spend fewer Miles to enjoy a new level of comfort. Once you’ve booked your flight, just go to Manage Your Booking and book an upgrade * immediately. It’s that easy.