I hesitate to add this, but those who are always pursuing a miles upgrade or miles redemption flight to avoid paying full fare for a seat they cannot afford to pay cash for, may tend to forget that they are in a small minority of people. They might mistakenly think that everyone is playing the same game.

What they probably forget is that most people travelling on an aeroplane actually pay cash for the fare class they choose. No airline could survive without that being true.

They do so because;

1. They don't fly often enough to garner enough miles and cannot afford to buy the number of miles they need, or

2. They have the money to secure a seat in the class they want and cannot be bothered with the drawn out and increasingly uncertain game of using miles to upgrade.

The vast majority of passengers can only hope for an op-up.

I suggest that those who persist with trying to get the seat they want using miles are people who purchase or are provided with a Y or J seat several times a year. This allows them to accrue enough miles to hope for an upgrade or a 'free' flight.

And I suspect these are the people who are now disgruntled with increasing surcharges and miles to achieve what they want, and in response are saying they will change airlines.

I understand it is disappointing to observe the diminishing chances of continuing this process. But these people must not fool themselves that Emirates gives a toss about losing them. At the end of the day, rightly or wrongly, it's clear that Emirates wants cash, not redeemed miles. And I think they believe the miles redeemers will be replaced by those prepared to pay with cold hard cash for the higher class of travel they want.

I do not subscribe to that theory. I believe that the upgrade / flight redemption path gives those passengers an opportunity to experience J or F travel, importantly encouraging them to purchase those initial Y or J seats. It keeps their loyalty to what I believe is a very good airline.

I do think that Emirates will suffer if they lose this group of people. It's a bad decision that will come back to bite them.