I have a business class ticket EWR to ATH at the end of May and have been patiently waiting for First upgrade availability to open up. There are 4 unsold seats right now. I have the points in my account to upgrade and have set auto upgrade to on, and I check the website everyday, multiple times to see if anything opens.

I figure that I will probably reach the 72 hour window without the auto upgrade and had planned to try for upgrades at the airport when auto upgrade cancels. I need some suggestions and I have a few questions:

1. At the 72 hour mark when the auto upgrades cancel, should I call Emirates and start asking for the upgrade?

2. If that doesn’t work, I plan to be waiting at the EWR counter 3.5hours before the flight departs to get in the same day standby line. Is this enough time to be first in line. I don’t care about waiting at the airport, I really need to sleep on this flight. Is 3.5 hours sufficient for this particular desk at EWR?

Any suggestions I am missing? I do not have status with EK, I’m just a regular skywards member and this is my first ride with them.

Thanks, Joel