It's pretty strange but this is what I have redeemed this year so far
Dxb-cdg F A380 saver miles in march
Dxb-hkg J mix of flex and saver 4 trips Jan, feb, aprl, July
Dxb-bhx J mix of flex n saver may
Dxb-lgw J saver n flex Jun may and June
Dxb-jnb Y april saver
As a matter of fact I just booked my ticket to hk last week and it was a last minute thing and I booked less than 8hrs and I got flex seats
So I don't know why you are having this problem
Anyway good luck and hope you can find a way to burn those miles

all your flights are FROM Dubai and on EK. What I want is a flight from Japan (preferably not NRT. Best would be KIX) on a partner airline!!!!!!!!!!

The absolute emergency solution would have been something from Germany within the next few weeks.

So, thanks for the input but I absolutely don't see how that relates to my problem.

You are complaining about Skywards not getting you a flight on a partner airline-- an partner airline that CONTROLS the award inventory it gives out.... this may win for the most absurd venting ever!!

and how is that absurd?
They claim to have partner airlines. they claim it is possible to book award flights on these partner airlines' routes. (You can look that up on their website as you are apparently not aware of this: www.skywards.com). It is possible to transfer miles you earn on partner airlines to skywards but NOT the other way back. So the only way to book these flights is through EK.

So again. Where is the absurdity? If they cannot get any flights of these carriers (for whatever reason) they shouldn't post it on their website, right?

I just upgraded a flight from Frankfurt to DXB on 10 September - I looked at days either side of that and upgrades & full rewards were available. In fact, I just looked at random dates on ExpertFlyer and most EK flights had reward availability. If travelling from Frankfurt, you will always need to go via Dubai. THere are plenty of rewards Frank-Syndey via DXB for example.

I take your point on partner airlines but I am not sure what EK can do about that if said partners dont release seats.

the only flight i will have with EK where I could have used an update would have been from FRA to DXB on Sep 27th then from DXB to NRT on the 28th and backwards NRT to DXB March 26th and DXB to FRA 27th. I called. They said nothing was available. Other days are unfortunately not at all useful as this is my only EK flight in the near future in will remain the only one (most likely). Dates are inflexible too.

I am not a big fan of the program, but I dont think its a scam. Its just not good for your purposes. You are doing the right thing by choosing not to credit your future miles towards Skywards.

Meanwhile for the orphan miles, consider this a possibility. . .
https://www.skywards.com/Rewards_DonateMiles.aspx

I thought I'd chime in since this seems to be a favorite topic for discussion here.

I don't know who the OP was writing to or calling, I've always received prompt replies from Skywards.

The fact that reward seats are not available this far in advance from one port, that Emirates doesn't even serve, doesn't make the program a scam. A lot of seats were available to and from FRA and MUC some weeks ago. Availability is usually greater closer to departure.

Did you try using something like Expertflyer to see what is available? How about buying a ticket and using miles to upgrade?

I thought I'd chime in since this seems to be a favorite topic for discussion here.

I don't know who the OP was writing to or calling, I've always received prompt replies from Skywards.

The fact that reward seats are not available this far in advance from one port, that Emirates doesn't even serve, doesn't make the program a scam. A lot of seats were available to and from FRA and MUC some weeks ago. Availability is usually greater closer to departure.

Did you try using something like Expertflyer to see what is available? How about buying a ticket and using miles to upgrade?[/QUOTE]

Why are you people going on about EK flights?! I was mainly complaining about flights of partner airlines not being available or EK flights from Germany to Japan or alike. NOT ABOUT EK FLIGHTS TO DUBAI! And I still do have the same opinion that if they cannot give out ANY flights of these partner airlines then they shouldn't post it on their webpage.

As I also mentioned: I have tried to get upgrades for my flight. Didn't get them. Posted the dates. Feel free to check them again. And yes I have used expertflyer. There were availabilities on UA but still I couldn't get a reward flight to Hawaii.

And booking some random flight I am not going to use for anything just to get an upgrade that might possibly be available on a totally useless date to a totally useless destination (i.e. Dubai)?!?!?!?!? ...... oh come on. What kind of suggestion ist his?! I don't even know what to say about this.

I understand your frustration with not being able to redeem on partner airlines. These are also advertised as such because you can earn miles on them. I don't know how the technicalities work, but some posters say that inventory is controlled by the partner airline. Using miles on partner airlines is not the best use of miles anyway, and EK is a DXB based carrier so naturally flights will be to DXB. EK doesn't advertise that you can redeem on, say, Etihad, because you cannot. Period. You can redeem on say JAL subject to a long list of terms and conditions which probably specify that inventory is limited. A lot of people, including myself, find a lot more value in Skywards than in other programs that, for example, add fuel surcharge onto mileage required for an award. That doesn't make it a scam.

It is quite pointless to come on here 5 days before your miles are going to expire and compain that you've been searching for the last three weeks. You really ought to have posted on the forum 3 weeks ago as more people would be able to actually help in a constructive manner.

Thanks ung1,

that was probably the closest thing to a helpful comment I got here so far.
You're also right that I should have posted here earlier but I just didn't expect this would happen, i.e. that they wouldn't find a single flight for me on any partner airline. Otherwise I would have been seeking for help here much earlier. Though I do not see how that could have helped so far...

I also do realize that EK flights naturally go THROUGH Dubai but they don't neccessarily have to go TO Dubai. So flights TO Dubai were apparently a redemption option but not flights to other destinations I enquired, for example Teheran in August and September (might be because of Ramadan, but still).

I could not agree more with the frustrations felt by others. This program used to be a great one until they started to make their changes recently. The worst was from 1st June onwards they did alot of internal changes not known to any of the skywards members whereby they changed the booking class of upgraded business from I class to D class. As a result, D class is not available on the booking system for months and months to almost all the destinations. They dont have the ethics of informing even their elite members. And yes, I fully agree, talking to them is an exercise of restraining yourself to react to their rudeness and blunt replies!!
Come on guys, whats the fun of burning miles if every time you double the miles used for flex tickets and not saver tickets!!

do you have a personal stock holding in EK or some other reason to endear you to this airline to be so defensive about it? A fellow FTer has vented his frustrations and instead of helping each other out especially newbies you berate him/her.

You're right. My post was a little harsh and for that, I apologise to the OP. It was not my intent.

And no, I have no stock holding or any other reason to endear me to EK apart from the fact that my total experience with them has been nothing but positive (compared to the other airlines I fly). Are they perfect? No. Do I think that their reward scheme could be improved? Yes, most definitely. Do I think they need a 4th tier? Yes.

But from personal experience and from the hub I fly from (Singapore), EK delivers for me, the best bang for my buck.