in dubai now. and again did not make the upgrade to first from business on the way here from jfk, even though they were clearly moving several people up. I was there early this time too, very polite and dressed the part.

in fact, on my flight from Doha - Dubai yesterday i got DOWNgraded to coach due to overbooking! all they would offer was to refund the difference, which is about ten cents. not even worth the effort.

i want to like the airline, but i think the gold status is in effect meaningless. you get no more than any other business class passenger. Now that i have reached the peak of their loyalty program and seen that it is of no benefit, I am going to start shopping for a better carrier from the US to the middle east.

anybody have any ideas?