Apr 5, 2014, 3:23 pm
Last edit by: eponymous_coward
Emirates award guide using Alaska Airlines miles
Routing Rules:
All trips must start or end in North America.
One open jaw and one stopover allowed on each one-way award.
No fees for changes/cancellations prior to 60 days from departure.
North American Gateway Cities:
West Coast
Seattle
San Francisco
Los Angeles
Central
Chicago
Dallas
Houston
East Coast
Boston
New York (JFK)
Orlando (Effective September 1, 2015)
Washington DC (IAD)
Canada
Toronto
Award Chart Links*:
Middle East & Africa
Asia
Europe
*If region is not listed on chart its not available.
Perks
Chauffeur Drive NOT Available
Car service is not available for all Business Class and First Class passengers on Alaska Airlines ticketed award tickets on Emirates flights (as of Jan 2015). The chauffeur will not confirm if you use the EK website for this, though the website makes it look you can make a reservation.
Lounges
Access is available for all passengers traveling in Business and First Class. Not all cities have lounges and many may be operated by a Partner. There have been some reports of people having an issue accessing the Dubai lounges as the tickets may appear in their system as non-revenue employee travel. This is not as much of a problem as it used to be but in case it comes up please advise the lounge attendant that you are on an Alaska Airlines award.
Dubai Connect
AS Awards on EK do not qualify for Dubai Connect, which is the service that offers the free hotel.
Tricks to find Transoceanic availability
Instead of performing a blanket, i.e. SEA-DXB search, perform: SEA-MED.
Madinah is a destination that is only served by EK. Consequently, if there is availability, only EK will show up in the calendar results.
Routing Rules:
All trips must start or end in North America.
One open jaw and one stopover allowed on each one-way award.
No fees for changes/cancellations prior to 60 days from departure.
North American Gateway Cities:
West Coast
Seattle
San Francisco
Los Angeles
Central
Chicago
Dallas
Houston
East Coast
Boston
New York (JFK)
Orlando (Effective September 1, 2015)
Washington DC (IAD)
Canada
Toronto
Award Chart Links*:
Middle East & Africa
Asia
Europe
*If region is not listed on chart its not available.
Perks
Chauffeur Drive NOT Available
Car service is not available for all Business Class and First Class passengers on Alaska Airlines ticketed award tickets on Emirates flights (as of Jan 2015). The chauffeur will not confirm if you use the EK website for this, though the website makes it look you can make a reservation.
Lounges
Access is available for all passengers traveling in Business and First Class. Not all cities have lounges and many may be operated by a Partner. There have been some reports of people having an issue accessing the Dubai lounges as the tickets may appear in their system as non-revenue employee travel. This is not as much of a problem as it used to be but in case it comes up please advise the lounge attendant that you are on an Alaska Airlines award.
Dubai Connect
AS Awards on EK do not qualify for Dubai Connect, which is the service that offers the free hotel.
Tricks to find Transoceanic availability
Instead of performing a blanket, i.e. SEA-DXB search, perform: SEA-MED.
Madinah is a destination that is only served by EK. Consequently, if there is availability, only EK will show up in the calendar results.
Consolidated Emirates (EK) awards availability/booking/routing thread
Jan 5, 2016, 5:23 pm
#2701
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 4,536
I'm fine with it, too. But I do wish they'd make an exception for immediate family members. When I'm in F and my kids in J, I don't like the fact that I'm downgraded if I want to hang out with them. But I never saw the sense in being able to bring in perfect strangers. Though I have done just that on rare occasions.
Jan 5, 2016, 7:38 pm
#2702
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Austin, Texas
Programs: Airline nobody. Sad!
Posts: 26,062
Whereas BA, AA, CX, QF, LH, LX, AF, among others, will let you in the F lounge if your arriving segment was in F but your onward segment isn't. It seems to be mostly the ME3 that have the "must be departing in the class of service" rule.
Jan 5, 2016, 8:23 pm
#2703
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: SEA
Programs: AS 75K
Posts: 759
I thought the whole situation with IAH and DFW is how the oil market has crashed by like 2/3 from 3-4 years ago more than anything else?
Jan 5, 2016, 9:05 pm
#2704
Moderator: Alaska Mileage Plan
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 12,316
Upgauging to the A380 was a double-
Jan 5, 2016, 9:28 pm
#2705
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Eastern Washington
Programs: AS MVPGold 75K
Posts: 81
Thanks, very helpful.
When you changed a segment from economy to business or business to First (JNB-DXB), did the agent have to release the other segment (DXB-LAX) into general inventory and re-book the whole itinerary?
I ask because I have a LAX-DXB-MAD itinerary in First in March, and considered changing from MAD to BCN. However, I was told that to do this, the whole itinerary would have to be cancelled and re-booked, thus giving rise to the possibility that the LAX-DXB segment might no longer be available in F. I realize that your situation is different because the origin (JNB) is still the same whereas my destination was to be changed (MAD to BCN), so I'm asking if AS handles our respective changes differently.
When you changed a segment from economy to business or business to First (JNB-DXB), did the agent have to release the other segment (DXB-LAX) into general inventory and re-book the whole itinerary?
I ask because I have a LAX-DXB-MAD itinerary in First in March, and considered changing from MAD to BCN. However, I was told that to do this, the whole itinerary would have to be cancelled and re-booked, thus giving rise to the possibility that the LAX-DXB segment might no longer be available in F. I realize that your situation is different because the origin (JNB) is still the same whereas my destination was to be changed (MAD to BCN), so I'm asking if AS handles our respective changes differently.
I'm still hoping an F seat opens on the JNB to DXB leg so my daughter and I can sit together but if not... she will be fine in business. Since we are both in F DXB-LAX we can use the F lounge in DXB. But since I used 100K miles for each of us one way I am still hoping a seat opens up.
Jan 6, 2016, 9:40 am
#2706
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Houston, TX USA
Programs: United Platinum, Marriott Plat, Hilton Diamond, Avis President's Circle
Posts: 569
DaveInLA when the agent told me she could change the JNB-DXB leg to the higher class I ask her to confirm that the next leg DXB-LAX would not be affected. She said "no, I am just changing the JNB-DXB segment". The next day when I change my daughter's flight was told the same thing. I don't know why but I assume it was because the ticket was booked with individual segments not married. I did use multi-city and put in each leg JNB-DXB then DXB-LAX and LAX-SEA. (Making sure dates were correct DXB-LAX departs a day after the JNB leg leaves). Perhaps that is what makes them individual segments and easily changeable? But honestly I have no idea how I did that if that's the case and I didn't want to rock the boat by asking too many questions. I did book them online at Alaska air.com.
I'm still hoping an F seat opens on the JNB to DXB leg so my daughter and I can sit together but if not... she will be fine in business. Since we are both in F DXB-LAX we can use the F lounge in DXB. But since I used 100K miles for each of us one way I am still hoping a seat opens up.
I'm still hoping an F seat opens on the JNB to DXB leg so my daughter and I can sit together but if not... she will be fine in business. Since we are both in F DXB-LAX we can use the F lounge in DXB. But since I used 100K miles for each of us one way I am still hoping a seat opens up.
CLG
Jan 6, 2016, 10:21 am
#2707
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 25
I was booked JNB-DXB-IAH in J/F
I called AS a few days ago and after a few minutes they put me through to an "emirates specialist" who was able to change my dxb-iah to dxb-dfw without any issues.
Today after I found that EK was dropping the DFW I tried to swap back to the dxb-iah flight (plenty of openings on the AS site) but I was told that I couldn't make the change due to the married segment issue.
Any idea how to get in touch directly with this partner specialist?
I called AS a few days ago and after a few minutes they put me through to an "emirates specialist" who was able to change my dxb-iah to dxb-dfw without any issues.
Today after I found that EK was dropping the DFW I tried to swap back to the dxb-iah flight (plenty of openings on the AS site) but I was told that I couldn't make the change due to the married segment issue.
Any idea how to get in touch directly with this partner specialist?
Jan 6, 2016, 10:21 am
#2708
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: 6km East of EPAYE
Programs: UA Silver, AA Platinum, AS & DL GM Marriott TE, Hilton Gold
Posts: 9,582
My experience has primarily been with LH, which is why the EK rule stood out to me.
Jan 6, 2016, 10:41 am
#2709
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 25
Just got off the phone with AS partner desk.
I was told: " Oh yeah we can choose to change flights segment by segment, its not an issue at all."
Not sure how this was so easy for the Boise office but was not possible when I called the Seattle office.
Just goes to show the value of HUCA.
I was told: " Oh yeah we can choose to change flights segment by segment, its not an issue at all."
Not sure how this was so easy for the Boise office but was not possible when I called the Seattle office.
Just goes to show the value of HUCA.
Jan 6, 2016, 10:58 am
#2710
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2013
Programs: DL PM, MR Titanium/LTP, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 10,130
Anyone have experience with how long it usually takes EK to sync back up with an AS award if you make a change?
I had to move my flights back by 1 day and there was availability and I've since received the AS confirmation of the new flights (with same AS and EK PNR as before). However, when I try to enter the EK PNR into emirates.com to select seats on the new dates it errors out.
I'm assuming it's due to some lag between AS and EK in re-syncing changed reservations (since when I booked initially I was able to select seats virtually right away once AS ticketed it) but curious how long I should wait before just calling EK (don't want to waste the time if it'll resolve itself shortly).
EDIT: Called Emirates US and had seats assigned but still can't access reservation online using either AS or EK PNRs. The weird part is EK sent me a confirmation email once seats were assigned which includes a ticket and receipt for both the new flights and old flights under the original PNR (guessing that's why it is having issues since it now has IAH - DXB - SIN listed as occurring on back to back days). Even weirder it's showing the flights as "First Class Flex Plus" which is a revenue fare bucket that is essentially fully refundable F. Anyone have similar issues when changing? Do I need to contact AS or EK to get the old flights removed so that the PNR is clean with just the new flights that are on the correct date?
I had to move my flights back by 1 day and there was availability and I've since received the AS confirmation of the new flights (with same AS and EK PNR as before). However, when I try to enter the EK PNR into emirates.com to select seats on the new dates it errors out.
I'm assuming it's due to some lag between AS and EK in re-syncing changed reservations (since when I booked initially I was able to select seats virtually right away once AS ticketed it) but curious how long I should wait before just calling EK (don't want to waste the time if it'll resolve itself shortly).
EDIT: Called Emirates US and had seats assigned but still can't access reservation online using either AS or EK PNRs. The weird part is EK sent me a confirmation email once seats were assigned which includes a ticket and receipt for both the new flights and old flights under the original PNR (guessing that's why it is having issues since it now has IAH - DXB - SIN listed as occurring on back to back days). Even weirder it's showing the flights as "First Class Flex Plus" which is a revenue fare bucket that is essentially fully refundable F. Anyone have similar issues when changing? Do I need to contact AS or EK to get the old flights removed so that the PNR is clean with just the new flights that are on the correct date?
Last edited by Duke787; Jan 6, 2016 at 11:32 am
Jan 6, 2016, 11:36 am
#2711
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Mountain Time Zone
Programs: AS Million Miler/Marriott Lifetime Titanium/ IGH Ambassador
Posts: 5,990
I was booked JNB-DXB-IAH in J/F
I called AS a few days ago and after a few minutes they put me through to an "emirates specialist" who was able to change my dxb-iah to dxb-dfw without any issues.
Today after I found that EK was dropping the DFW I tried to swap back to the dxb-iah flight (plenty of openings on the AS site) but I was told that I couldn't make the change due to the married segment issue.
Any idea how to get in touch directly with this partner specialist?
I called AS a few days ago and after a few minutes they put me through to an "emirates specialist" who was able to change my dxb-iah to dxb-dfw without any issues.
Today after I found that EK was dropping the DFW I tried to swap back to the dxb-iah flight (plenty of openings on the AS site) but I was told that I couldn't make the change due to the married segment issue.
Any idea how to get in touch directly with this partner specialist?
Jan 6, 2016, 6:34 pm
#2712
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: BOS/ORH
Programs: AS 75K
Posts: 18,323
Jan 6, 2016, 9:30 pm
#2713
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Eastern Washington
Programs: AS MVPGold 75K
Posts: 81
Not sure what I can do to prove I'm truthful. I have been following this particular thread for almost a year and have posted questions along the way.
I booked my ticket with 1st leg in coach and 2nd leg in first because that's what was available and though hopeful (but wasn't going to count on it) that I could switch the first leg to a higher class if availability arose. I got lucky? The stars aligned? For some reason my ticket wasn't booked as married segments? I have no idea. But I'm grateful for having the miles to book such a nice trip and for helpful Alaska agents.
I booked my ticket with 1st leg in coach and 2nd leg in first because that's what was available and though hopeful (but wasn't going to count on it) that I could switch the first leg to a higher class if availability arose. I got lucky? The stars aligned? For some reason my ticket wasn't booked as married segments? I have no idea. But I'm grateful for having the miles to book such a nice trip and for helpful Alaska agents.
Jan 7, 2016, 5:21 am
#2714
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Houston, TX USA
Programs: United Platinum, Marriott Plat, Hilton Diamond, Avis President's Circle
Posts: 569
Not sure what I can do to prove I'm truthful. I have been following this particular thread for almost a year and have posted questions along the way.
I booked my ticket with 1st leg in coach and 2nd leg in first because that's what was available and though hopeful (but wasn't going to count on it) that I could switch the first leg to a higher class if availability arose. I got lucky? The stars aligned? For some reason my ticket wasn't booked as married segments? I have no idea. But I'm grateful for having the miles to book such a nice trip and for helpful Alaska agents.
I booked my ticket with 1st leg in coach and 2nd leg in first because that's what was available and though hopeful (but wasn't going to count on it) that I could switch the first leg to a higher class if availability arose. I got lucky? The stars aligned? For some reason my ticket wasn't booked as married segments? I have no idea. But I'm grateful for having the miles to book such a nice trip and for helpful Alaska agents.
CLG
Jan 7, 2016, 8:35 am
#2715
Join Date: Sep 2013
Programs: AC SE100K, AA EXP, SPG Plt, HH Dmnd
Posts: 1,507
Was just told repeatedly by DFW agents that there is no lounge access in DFW (not that I was going) or DXB on F tickets lol