Originally Posted by
GoodyGoody
I invested some time and effort researching EK's policies re awards and upgrades and I would appreciate confirmation that what I have understood is correct, and (even more valuable) a correction of what I got wrong.
Here is what I understand:
1. EK uses booking class O to designate Business Flex+ (aka "classic") award tickets. They use booking class D to designate Business Saver award tickets AND also for Y cash tickets upgraded upgrades to J. Confusingly, O can also be for a Business Saver ticket paid for in cash.
2. Upgrades of cash tickets in Y to J come from the same "bucket" as Business Saver Awards. This means that the surest way of searching for upgrade availability is to search for awards: if they show Business Saver awards available, you can get an upgrade using miles.
3. Naturally, Business Flex+ awards are noticeably more expensive than Business Saver awards / upgrades. Consequently, if both are available, it is a more economically efficient usage of miles to get a Business Saver award or purchase a ticket for cash in Y and use miles to upgrade to J, rather than seek a "classic" award ticket.
4. Since the upgrade costs the same number of miles as a full Business Saver award, presumably it is always more economically efficient (in total usage of miles plus cash) to go for the award rather than the upgrade.
5. The logical conclusion therefore is that it makes no sense economically to seek an upgrade; a Business Saver award is always better.
6. There is a far better chance of finding availability in O class than in D class. Seeking a Business Saver award is EK's equivalent to searching for the proverbial needle, almost. The majority of the usage of miles on EK is for the "classic" or "full fare" awards.
7. This analysis applies to when planning ahead and searching for and purchasing tickets in advance.
Is my above understanding and analysis correct?
What is not clear to me is:
1. When does EK make D class seats available? Is it 11 months before? 5 months? 3 months? Or they do it in batches?
2. The cash paid in addition to the miles when issuing an Award ticket: is it the taxes and government charges or is it "padded" with other fees and charges?
3. When offered an upgrade on the spot upon check in or when boarding: is the number of miles deducted equivalent to the Saver Award? The Flex+ Award? different.
Apologies if this topic had been addressed before and I look forward to learning from the experts.
Hello GoodyGoody. I wanted to welcome you to FlyerTalk and the EK subforum in particular, but it seems you joined in 2018 and have held out to today to submit your first post. So a belated welcome anyway!
I am a bit unsure about your first 7 points as a whole, especially the musings about upgrading Y to J.
My understanding: J awards are available in two buckets, O and D. O is much more expensive in miles than D. I am not sure what the cash difference is between the two awards. You are correct that O is also a paid ticket bucket, called "Saver". I agree that this is a bit confusing. It appears that an award ticket is always (or almost always) a worse deal than an upgrade from a paid Y ticket. Obviously the cost in miles is greater for cheap Y tickets (like saver, which can only be upgraded at check in or on board anyway) than for expensive ines (Flex+). This can all be seen in the mileage calculator on the EK website. What (if any) the cash difference is, I don't know, having never done this. D space is much more limited than O space. On busy, premium heavy routes in high season, there might be NO D availability ever, at all. When the airline thinks they can sell the seats for cash, they won't make them available as award / upgrade space.
Your final three points:
1. This is probably the most asked question on this board. The answer is: there is no way anyone knows. The clever algorithms will decide when they believe the seats won't sell and then make them available as awards / upgrades. Depending on route and time of year, one or two might be available quite early on (say 6 months). If there are any open seats at T-1 hour, you can get them at check in or on board as upgrades.
2. Emirates has a extortionate 'airline applied surcharge', which is many times more than the government taxes and fees. This applies to award tickets, but - with some exceptions - not to upgrades as the surcharge is deemed to have been paid already. One of the exceptions is the UK APD (Air Passenger Duty) which is much higher for J than for Y and the airline will collect this from you. The exception to this again (so an exception to an exception) is the 'on board' upgrade where they will not collect it (which makes the on board upgrade ex UK more attractive than other upgrades).
3. The miles charged at check in or on board are for an upgrade from the applicable Y bucket to a D bucket.
Hope this helps a bit. Others may probably chip in as well.