Just ask the SFS or the Purser. They have the info on their manifest together with other interesting stuff like connecting flights. For example, out of the 201 passengers in Economy on the Accra flight I referred to, 132 were connecting from Guangzhou!

Is a special meal request a dealbreaker for getting an opup as status customer at EK ? Any experiences ?

I was op-up'ed 4 times on a recent trip (and I requested vegetarian meals). Doesnt seem to be the case

My fiancee (Silver) got now op-uped from Y to J the seventh time (!) in a row. But again, this is simply because Y was overbooked (holiday season) and she always travels in peak seasons..

I beleive Op-Ups decrease in the summer time as the occupancy rates on the business routes are rarely sold fully. For example I flew this year 6 times DXB-TIP, where in the first four I had the Op-Up, however in end May and June none.

I am an EK Gold for more than a year and before June completed the miles for next year.

So I beleive it will happen again after September, when the business travels will pick up again.

I might don't get you, but I believe summer (or holiday) time is the best time to get an op up from Y to J: Y is always oversold (which is the FIRST driver for an op-up) and J and F is rarely oversold (which is the SECOND driver for an op-up).

I am unfortunately always in the position where the flight is full, but not overbooked. One would think a mid July flight to CDG would be overbooked, but it was 90% full in all classes.

I did however enjoy 81A with an empty B seat, so an op-up wouldn't have changed much in terms of space and accessibility. On a slightly different note, the crew were great as always, the SFS came and chatted with me for a bit (I even told her about FT and gave her a link to the forum) and then later introduced me to the Purser.

So just to shock myself back to what Economy class is really like, I'm getting on some Ryanair flights next week (and an AF one, we'll see how that goes).

Upgraded on both HKG/BKK and BKK/HKG
 

I'm only a Silver and got upgraded on both EK 385 and 384 on 24 July and 31 July since both flights were full in economy. And I buy the cheapest econ fare available usually online. But Emirates is really cheap in that the upgrade doesn't provide for lounge access. I mean, the buffet food has to be thrown away if not eaten, so I guess they must be concerned about the drinks that might be drunk by the upgraded pax. However, since I have Priority Pass, this non-lounge access doesn't upset me too much, though the food in the Emirates lounge is somewhat better that PP lounge food.

Tourists to BKK are returning but the two recent grenade bombs might drive them away again.

As a Silver you get DXB J lounge access in T1.
Also, they def should not let in more people in the T3 lounge as it is overcrowded

Flight full?
 

Could anyone tell me how full the 17:00 departure from LHR to DXB is next Friday 13th?

Girlfriend and I are travelling on to PVG in economy and wondered if there was a slight chance that opups would be going?

I have tried seatcounter but my query fails and then I get locked out.

Recent experiences with BA have yielded a good return for OpUps

Im silver now :). Whats the best time to arrive at teh airport in order to get a possible op-up?

It is a matter of luck actually. No matter how hard you have tried to speculate your booking on a commonly overbooked flight, the chance is yet not always.

Just talked to the staff at counter. They said with a mild laughter that sometimes there were no-show people.

That is the end of the game. You don't win.

I got an op-up Y-C a couple of months ago, DXB-MAA.

No rhyme or reason, just showed up at the gate, the agent took one look at me, and gave me a new BP.

Now I know and you know why...

agree its prettt random, though checkin in online ASAP and gettin to the airport early for bag drop helps.
Flew PVG -DXB in april, we got bumped to J seat but economy meals, which still came with J starters and desert, and J cutlery/tableware. the silvers behind us got nil. Think that flight on the a340 is popular, and they sent us email offers for 1 way upgrade a few days before, which i suppose is a good sign that economy is overbooked!

Got upgraded two times in one month from Business to First between Dubai and Bangkok.
First time i checked in online 23 hrs before the flight and second time checked in at the airport.
Sometimes i get the upgrade few times a month and then again not for several months. But all the upgrades where because of overbooking.
I'm gold with about 200.000 miles balance.