Originally Posted by
BadoRas
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.
A few general assumptions here. Some people, like myself, only fly F internationally and have a mixture of revenue and award bookings, I would say almost 50% of each. Not work funded, entirely my own. Just because one pays cash, doesn't mean they don't feel the effect of this change.
Also, with "taxes" as high as AUD $1,800 for SYD-Europe in F pp, EK is gaining the equivalent of a Y fare for most F redemptions. It's bizarre that partners like AC can redeem and pay less than EK's own members.
I do, however, agree that they are pursuing the cash upgrade over redemption options. Some flights never open for F full redemptions but waitlist, auto upgrade and airport upgrades are all offered.
Originally Posted by
DYKWIA
Blog appears to be incorrect. There are increases, but I've not found anything like 100% that you stated.
It's OMAAT. Often incorrect when the info isn't copied directly from FT.