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
Mar 15, 2016, 4:58 pm
#3001
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Chicago, IL
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Mar 15, 2016, 7:16 pm
#3002
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Location: BOS/ORH
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Mar 16, 2016, 5:09 pm
#3003
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Mar 16, 2016, 5:29 pm
#3004
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend, Moderator, Information Desk, Ambassador, Alaska Airlines
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Wirelessly posted (beckoa's BB: Mozilla/5.0 (BB10; Kbd) AppleWebKit/537.35+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/10.3.2.858 Mobile Safari/537.35+)
Well I just cancelled an EK booking.
Will try out JAL F instead
Well I just cancelled an EK booking.
Will try out JAL F instead
Mar 16, 2016, 6:09 pm
#3005
Join Date: Sep 2012
Posts: 4,431
How many award seats does EK give out for LAX-DXB? Based on my experience with AS site, I would've guessed 2. But this month, my wife and I flew LAX-DXB and DXB-MAD in F, and in both flights there was someone in his 20s (not the same guy). I suppose they could both be wealthy, but my guess is that those guys booked with miles. If EK limits it to 2 F seats via AS, I suppose they could've used EK or JL miles. Or does EK release award seats last minute if there are lots of empty seats as was the case here?
Mar 17, 2016, 4:52 am
#3006
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Canada
Programs: UA*1K MM
Posts: 23,300
How many award seats does EK give out for LAX-DXB? Based on my experience with AS site, I would've guessed 2. But this month, my wife and I flew LAX-DXB and DXB-MAD in F, and in both flights there was someone in his 20s (not the same guy). I suppose they could both be wealthy, but my guess is that those guys booked with miles. If EK limits it to 2 F seats via AS, I suppose they could've used EK or JL miles. Or does EK release award seats last minute if there are lots of empty seats as was the case here?
Maybe used miles to upgrade from J on above premise?
I don't see why they wouldn't release more than 2 if 12 seats are projected empty.
I
Mar 17, 2016, 6:13 pm
#3007
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Florida
Programs: Hyatt Diamond, Hilton Diamond, Club Carlson Gold, Choice Elite Platinum
Posts: 433
I'm thinking about booking non-stop MCO>DXB in November. What happens if they cancel that route? Do they just cancel my booking or will they automatically send me through JFK? (Sorry if it's a dumb question.)
Mar 17, 2016, 11:37 pm
#3008
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: YVR - Vancouver, with most winter weekends in Whistler.
Programs: Aeroplan 35K, Alaska MVP, Marriott Titanium / Lifetime Platinum, Hertz President's Circle
Posts: 4,609
How many award seats does EK give out for LAX-DXB? Based on my experience with AS site, I would've guessed 2. But this month, my wife and I flew LAX-DXB and DXB-MAD in F, and in both flights there was someone in his 20s (not the same guy). I suppose they could both be wealthy, but my guess is that those guys booked with miles. If EK limits it to 2 F seats via AS, I suppose they could've used EK or JL miles. Or does EK release award seats last minute if there are lots of empty seats as was the case here?
Mar 18, 2016, 7:49 am
#3009
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Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: BOS/ORH
Programs: AS 75K
Posts: 18,323
Ek hasn't dropped a US route yet only changed from A380 to 77W in cities that A380 may be too much so I wouldn't worry
Mar 18, 2016, 3:14 pm
#3010
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Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 20,404
"Throttling"
Has anybody had experiences with AS "throttling" EK availability?
I was about to book 3x DXB-IAD in F; 2x from one account, and 1x from another.
I did a search on AS for 3 pax right before this transaction. Upon completion of the first, the availability for the other two disappeared even though EF and QF still have it available.
I also did a search DXB-JFK; EF shows a few F spots for the day I'm searching while AS shows no availability.
I was about to book 3x DXB-IAD in F; 2x from one account, and 1x from another.
I did a search on AS for 3 pax right before this transaction. Upon completion of the first, the availability for the other two disappeared even though EF and QF still have it available.
I also did a search DXB-JFK; EF shows a few F spots for the day I'm searching while AS shows no availability.
Mar 18, 2016, 3:18 pm
#3011
Suspended
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: SEA, FLL, Martha’s Vineyard
Programs: AS MVPGold75K, Hilton Gold, IHG Platinum, Pan Am million-miler
Posts: 2,019
Has anybody had experiences with AS "throttling" EK availability?
I was about to book 3x DXB-IAD in F; 2x from one account, and 1x from another.
I did a search on AS for 3 pax right before this transaction. Upon completion of the first, the availability for the other two disappeared even though EF and QF still have it available.
I also did a search DXB-JFK; EF shows a few F spots for the day I'm searching while AS shows no availability.
I was about to book 3x DXB-IAD in F; 2x from one account, and 1x from another.
I did a search on AS for 3 pax right before this transaction. Upon completion of the first, the availability for the other two disappeared even though EF and QF still have it available.
I also did a search DXB-JFK; EF shows a few F spots for the day I'm searching while AS shows no availability.
Mar 18, 2016, 3:19 pm
#3012
Community Director Emerita
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Anywhere warm
Posts: 33,745
I also have not seen perfect correlation between EF and AS. It's an indicator but not spot on. Yes, it's frustrating.
Mar 18, 2016, 3:24 pm
#3013
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 20,404
Thanks for these tips - I'll give them a call now.
Mar 18, 2016, 3:48 pm
#3014
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 20,404
...annnnnnnnd problem solved! ^ Thanks for the sage advice. 
Mar 18, 2016, 4:40 pm
#3015
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Canada
Programs: UA*1K MM
Posts: 23,300
How many award seats does EK give out for LAX-DXB? Based on my experience with AS site, I would've guessed 2. But this month, my wife and I flew LAX-DXB and DXB-MAD in F, and in both flights there was someone in his 20s (not the same guy). I suppose they could both be wealthy, but my guess is that those guys booked with miles. If EK limits it to 2 F seats via AS, I suppose they could've used EK or JL miles. Or does EK release award seats last minute if there are lots of empty seats as was the case here?