Reward ticket on EK First Class
 

Had posted this question earlier on another thread but I guess didn't get enough attention, so starting a separate thread for it. Would really appreciate any input -

Has anyone used their OnePass miles to book reward travel on Emirates FC? Specifically looking for sfo-dxb-bom return ticket. The Continental rewards chart does mention 180K miles for a FC ticket on a non-CO flight (series 10), but the CO customer rep told me that FC on Emirates is not allowed. If that is true, it would be a real bummer for me. Earlier this year I was able to book it using my United miles for the same route (and you wouldn't believe the no. of miles that were needed most likely due to a mistake on United's part) and after traveling in the EK FC suite even business class seems a big downgrade (this is from someone who has almost exclusively traveled in economy till now).

Anyway, now I have collected enough miles on Continental with the hope that I'll be able to use them for the EK FC. If this doesn't work out I'll be very disappointed.

You can only redeem Onepass miles for EK Y and C , no F.

That is correct, at least until the move to :-:Alliance you can't redeem for FC on most of the 3 class carriers. You can do Virgin Atlantic 'upper class' but it is technically positioned as a business class.

VS UC is not Business and It is not First, it is Upper Class :-:

Man that's bad news. Then what is the 180K miles entry for, as there is a separate entry of 120K miles for business class.

I wondered the same thing, maybe the level is there in case they open up the reward. The only F reward I know on CO is QF F.

Virgin Upper Class is considered first class in this instance.

So if you did EWR-LHR CO LHR-DXB VS it would bump it to 180 K

Anyone who has traveled on the VS upper class think that its worth the extra miles over other business class (like say EK) which also has flat beds.

I had my heart set on the EK suite, but its time to come back to reality I guess. Or may be time to start building up my UA miles again.

I believe so. It should only be 120k on AF or KL or EK, although sometimes the actual award requirements are more complicated than what CO shows on its website.

I think EK only has horizontal flat beds in J on the A380, their other aircraft are either angled-flat beds or on some aircraft, including some London-Dubai routes (maybe only LGW?) older-style recliners. My info may be outdated and EK has a notoriously large number of different configurations.

That said, I don't think that large a premium for VS is justifiable over EK or even AF/KL unless you absolutely must have a horizontal flat bed.

Yes, it's unfortunate we can't redeem for international F rewards (except very expensive QF awards). That may change when CO enters Star Alliance, I'm not sure. Wouldn't change the ability to redeem for EK's F suites, but you could at least try for LH, SQ, NH, etc.

Thats sort of "unfair" as VS itself (on their website) compares its UC to BC of other airlines. I'm seeing that one pass is relatively stingier than (or rather not a generous as) United MP. One of the main problems I see with one pass is the non-availability of saver awards (at least for the routes I'm looking for) even many months in advance.

CO doesn't generally release rewards "months in advance" so that would explain part of your troubles. I'm on a reward right now booked at the standard level on the dates I wanted and I've got another booked for August/September. I booked the first one around January and the second one just a couple weeks ago.

As for the levels that they rate various rewards at for the redemption charts, the real problem is with the charts, IMO. They are horribly inconsistent and incredibly difficult to decipher. And that is on top of the fact that for various different rewards business class redemptions are charged at the F prices.

I used CO miles for IAH-DXB-HYD on business class 120k. I was told that first class is not available for redemption.

The business class product on EK is very good, nearly flat and very comfortable.

I think VS has always viewed its UC as "better" than business class. Does that qualify it as "first" class? Maybe, maybe not.

As for CO availability (CO has no control over partner award avail.), no it's not always there when you want it but they are good about eventually releasing the inventory.