No more "Comp Upgrades"
 

Could this be true, my partner flew this week

CAN-DXB-MIL-DXB-BEI-DXB-CAN

and many of flights were overbooked and he did not get any complimentary upgrades, he has been Gold for almost 5 years and has over 200K points, usually he gets upgraded, but this time not even once, any thoughts??

I had the same problem since January. Been a Gold for a long time now. Got upgraded almost every time in the past. Did several flights in the last three months. No UPGRADES!! Is this a policy change to make us buy the higher class? What is the point in getting to Gold if all you get is access to lounge which we rarely use. Any one else have the same issue?

Gold Members are Not always given an upgrade....If a Business Cabin can accomodate 30-40 pax, and out of them 25 have actually purchased the ticket, there can be a possiblity that there were 20 Gold mmbrs already in que before u and they have been gvn the COMP Upgd.....

Just because 70+ pax are GOLD, not everyone is going to get a COMP UPGD, depends if seats in Bcls Cabin are avail or not.

Op-Ups in Ek are not really given as "compliment" to customers but rather as a "neccessity" because booking classes are oversold PLUS the next available cabin spares empty seats. Plus there is a more random selecting among Golds at outstations rather a systematic one..

Maybe the guaranteed seat reservations or the complimentary e-gate facility or the priority baggage delivery or the Gold Desk assistance or the extra baggage allowance. The network wide lounge access would make it worthwhile for a lot of people - it's not Emirates fault you choose to rarely use it.

I Appreciate everyone's comments, at the same time has anyone noticed in the last 3 months a decline in Upgrades? I flew one trip with 4 flights and got Op Upd 3 out of 4, my next trip in Feb, also 4 flights no op ups at all. Emirates has always had a policy of "sell seats until the entire plane is full", is that still the policy or has it been changed, because that's the policy that provides us with upgrades.

Three flights on EK this month, (Well 2.5). Got Oped up on both sectors on one flight it was overbooked.
No Opup on the second one, but it was a two class config (CGK).
EK 372, no opup. The whaleboat was full but that one always carries a billion Golds each time, every time.

this year I have had two Y to J and one J to F -- which based on number of flights is higher percentage than last year.

I find it quite interesting that this some Golds expect the upgrade the majority of the time. Many flights wil lbe overbooked when you check in but with no shows etc (they are quite good in revenue management to work out thenumber of no shows) flights go out right on or woith limited empty in Y or J depending. I am sure there is a thread where someone with inside information informed us of th epercentage of no shows on some routes.

One of Four segments upgraded this year, but the flights were empty. Cant complain.

How to increase the odds of an OpUp
 

A) EK is not a charity, but a business. They OpUp ,( like every other airline ), when they need to make room and sell some seats
B) The reason they send those "Upgrade for only $XXX" emails, right before departure, is to entice customers to pay for an upgrade on over booked flights
C) In order to increase your chances, make sure you book on packed flights [ Just switched from EK373 to EK419 because its packed ( according to seatcounter.com )
D) OpUps in reality is the revenue management department doing its job, not a gift from "the business" to "the customer"

Although in all fairness, OpUps with EK are a hit & miss. Been sure that would be opped up at the gate only to discover that there were a billion golds on that plane ( smile and the crew will let you take a peek at the manifest ;) )

On my routes (DXb to Germany) flights have been packed for the last 2-3 months. No upgrades for me anymore (from Y), but most flights were pretty much booked up in the premium classes as well.

I started the year well with 5 out of 5 op-ups out of SIN (to MEL). Missed the last 2-flights but the loads were not full in Y.

Flying out of MEL today back to SIN and first time in 12-months received an op-up to J, but flight is full and loads out of MEL on the 405 are solid for the next 4 days or so.

My op-up history in the past 12-months with EK points to EK's policy of upgrades on the routes I fly, all dependent on load and nothing else.

I just got an op-up from Y-J on MAN - DXB EK020. Flight seems full and when I tried to check in online I was told to "see an agent". First op-up I've had from EK; so pleased to see the status occasionally works!

Got an op-up as a Gold from C to F yesterday DXB-BOM. Asked at checkin if the flight was full and was told yes. At the gate, my BP beeped and I was given a new one for 2F. First time in the 77W private suite - loved it despite the bling and the crew were fantastic.

got a comp
DXB>CGK today

My sister (Silver) got op'ed from Y to J for DXB DUS today.

Why shouldn't there no upgrades? These are operationally neccessary, Economy was overbooked, Business some seats left, do you (TO) think they will pay compensation and let Eco pax out of the plane instead of moving the loyal customers forward?

99% of upgrades in a day happen for operational, not for complimentary reasons.

Siting in the lounge just now in BKK and just been upgraded.

Been upgraded twice in the last three weeks.

No noticeable change for me.

Best Regards
Flying Fireman

Op ups on 50% of my flights so far this year (not counting the sectors where I was already ticketed in the highest class on the aircraft), including twice this week.

Got upgraded on 2/2 DXB-FRA sectors in the past 2 weeks from Y to Business, being Skywards Silver.

Gotta Love them suites!
 

My mom and I flying Y in October got upgraded to the private suites and it was really nice. The only problem is that after flying in the suite you don't want to fly in Y or C any more!

So you got double upgraded from Y --> F?

And got another op-up C to F on my return flight BOM-DXB today. The agent at the gate scratched out my seat number and scribbled 1F on my BP. Saves paper, I suppose :D

economy to business
 

I have been EK Gold for like 4 years and the only times I have been uggraded have been on a few onward flights DXB to African destinations.

Also a few times on BKK - HKG leg of DXB - HKG.

So it was an extra pleasant surprise earlier this year to get upgraded in both directions DXB - Brazil - DXB, a 14 hour flight.

I had been trying Singapore Air for the last few flights but it is a bit too sterile for my tastes.

Next week go HKG - Nairobi return on EK, nice to get an upgrade for a leg or two, if you never expect them, it is always a nice surprise :p

I am gold with them for the past 6 years and do the BOM-DXB-JFK route in Y quite often with them. Earlier, I used to get upgraded to J on at least 1 leg of my onward and return journey if not more. My upgrade success in the BOM-DXB was however very poor which I shall come to in a little while.

However, I didn't get upgraded on my trip last december which made me feel a bit frustrated a bit and so I made it a point to find out the reason why I had suddenly lost favor with Emirates. I have made two trips to NY this year and didn't get a single upgrade. After I did some looking around and sneaking a peek on the flight rosters, the reason became fairly clear. The flights were just not full - and so no complementary upgrades. On my onward this time to JFK, a couple tried to argue with the gate agent that they were gold and could she get an upgrade to which the agent retorted back immediately that the flight wasn't full in Yand so there were no complementary upgrades given in Y to J.

I believe that the reason why EK flights from BOM aren't going full is due to two main reasons (apart from the fact we still aren't out of the recession fully):

1. There are now 5 daily flights BOM-DXB by EK and demand is just not up to capacity.

2. There is increased competition on the BOM-DXB, BOM-LHR, and BOM-JFK from Jet and Kingfisher and they are weaning away a lot of flyers from EK possibly due to their better fares and of course service.

So unless EK does something that can really help their cause, comp ups aren't going to be coming easy. I really hope that EK can get their act together soon which would be really good for them (and me :) )

BTW, I have always wondered why I rarely got upgraded on the BOM-DXB leg even though the flights were full and the conclusion that I have reached is that there are some folks who seem to have good personal contacts with the ground staff who manage to get upgraded and the other folks like me have to put up a smile and walk straight into Y. Anyone else have a similar experience?

I think it is clear for everyone that EK does NOT give any complimentary but only operational upgrades. Thats why they are called op-uped.

In order to get an operational upgrade, Y or J needs to be overbooked AND the higher cabin class has room.

On flights to and from RUH for instance, you would NEVER get an upgrade because it premium cabin is ALWAYS booked out.

No personal contacts with any of the EK staff in BOM, but I have about 50% op-up success rate as Silver/Gold on the BOM-DXB leg. I'm usually on EK501 though which is ALWAYS full/oversold compared to the other flights.

I have taken 4 flights ex DEL into DXB in the past 2 months - been upgraded for all of them except for the most recent one....seats were plentiful in Y. It's a privilege to get an op-up.

Yes, this does seem to be common out of DEL for some reason, where they even op-up when the flight is not full. However, this is not the case on long haul routes.

Well B747-437B, i must say that either you are outright darn lucky or have a way with op-ups. I only take EK501 out of BOM, and of the 30 odd times I would have flown out of BOM, I have got upgraded no more than 2-3 times at most. I did have a success rate of > 50% on the DXB-BOM leg on EK500 though. So do you get an upgrade at Checkin or during boarding?

Usually at check-in but once also at the boarding gate.

this topic has even CNN's curiosity

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/06/04...des/index.html

That article is talking about complimentary upgrades using looks and charms, not OpUps. Besides, the focus of the article is domestic US airlines where the term First Class translates to Premium Economy at best, when compared to EK, SQ, NH or other proper airlines of the world. No wonder they give it away for free to their premium fliers (UA, DL for example).

It's funny so many EK fliers seem to not only expect upgrades, but they also get frustrated by not getting one! If you really want to fly C or F, then buy the tix. When you pay for Y, then you should have no expectations more than Y, thus no real reason to get frustrated over something you are really not entitled to.

Gold level is only 50'000 miles. Every Tom, Dick and Harry can be a Gold so it's not that big of a deal.

+1

While I philosophically agree with your statement, "if you want C or F, pay for it", I'm not convinced that generalisations such as "so many EK fliers seem to not only expect upgrades, but we get frustrated at not getting them" is accurate.

If we're generalising, then lets talk about the absolute hysteria and passion over on the UA forum - regarding all the 1K's, GS etc who are constantly waving their arms about not getting upgrades, and the fact that the upgrade lists are getting longer and longer...

The EK forum is tame in comparison.

And no, not every Tom, Dick & Harry can be a Gold. 50,000 tier miles still means you either need to spend the money in J or F or do the yards in Y. Grab any manifest in SIN, MEL, SYD, AKL etc and you will note that on a 777-300 for example, not every pax has status. Far from it in fact.

I agree with eightblack on this. Most "normal" people travel long haul once, at most twice, a year on vacation. Some regional travel if they are from the region (think S Asians in Dubai or SE Asians in Singapore etc). Yes, with fares going down, it has increased people's affordability to take these long haul flights, but that doesn't necessarily mean they are taking more flights.

That leaves a small number of people who travel either very frequently or very long distances for personal reasons (I do 4-5 a year and think that's a lot), or those doing it as part of their employment. And if you're doing it for work, you shouldn't be sitting in Y anyway, and certainly shouldn't be complaining about there being too many status pax. (just IMO of course).

Please tell that to all those employers who are moving their employees to the back of the plane- one of the reasons airlines are suffering so badly these day!

Actually, EK must be one of the few who like a full Y cabin. According to El Presidente Tim Clarke, 71% of EK's profit last year was derived from the economy cabin and according to a recent interview, its where EK is wanting to spend more time and effort (thankfully).

Most MNC clients I work with and know of have stipulated that all flights under 8-hrs are coach and anything over is J/C.

Two global companies I know of have a Y travel policy worldwide.

I think the 10 across Y cabin contributes to that. As do fares like US$ 1300 DXB-CDG!

Thankfully there are still companies that have J for any flight, though they are becoming fewer and fewer.

Perhaps I should have clarified: "Many EK fliers on this thread etc."

I've been flying about 120K every year for the past 5 years (except for last year: 8K! Ouch!) and this year I'm set for 200K (thank you very much recovering economy) but I hardly consider that heavy. I know people who've been doing 300K every year, for 6-7 years! And not just one or two... Alas, maybe I've become desensitized towards frequent travel and see everyone the same way.

And please, don't bring UA's name with EK in the same sentence! That's more or less like blasphemy! I actually was a 1K with them at some point a few years back and survived to tell my story!

My company, well known in its field, has a company wide Y policy! Everyone, from the top down flies in Y. What's worse, a lot of companies are now requiring travel on specific fare buckets only, even if they are sometimes cheaper than discount C/J!

Conversely look at any manifest in ACC, LOS, ABJ, etc... and you will easily see 40-50 Golds and another 75-100 Silvers. Preboarding is pointless because >50% of the flight preboards.