Gold upgrades
 

I have just found out that on each Emirates flight there are two seats automaticaly held for Gold members to upgrade. An agent told my colleague that information this morning so I called and tried to upgrade a flight in September from LHR to DXB on A380 (never upgrades available) which I have been looking to do for ages but never any availability. I specifcally asked to be put through to the Gold desk. I asked the agent if any upgrades were available and she said no but as I was a gold member she would put in a special request...30 seconds later, upgraded.

I have now doen exactly the same for a second flight from GLA-DXB.

so I guess the trick is to call as early as possible to get one of the two seats allocated for Gold upgrades.

hope this helps - I have a smile on my face knowing this.

Y-class to J or J to F?

GLA - DXB is only 2 class so would be Y to J.

Y to J but the agent said that they also have J to F

Nice 1 mate, called skywards and managed to get my trip to osaka upgraded, no availability showing online, called them and was told they had seats for gold members. Shame they couldnt take miles from my partners account coz he is silver, so its all mine thats been used!

Just called the gold desk, with high hopes, but no dice this time.

I'm flying on EK4 in a couple of weeks and tried to get a C>F upgrade.
When he told me there was no availability I specifically mentioned there should be additional seats reserved for Gold cardholders, which he agreed with but said they were also already taken.

I asked him to add a note on my PNR as a last ditch attempt. Just checked my booking online though, and it does now show that I'm on the waitlist for First (which when I spoke to the generic call centre a week or so ago they told me there was no waitlist)

Won't hold my breath, but we'll see. I'm sure I'll be impressed with the A380 anyway as I usually fly from BHX.

Just another perk of being a gold member! :). Will keep this in mind for the future.

At the risk of straying OT, I've been trying to keep an eye on seat allocation on EK4 on 17th August to see how my chances are faring (I'm still waitlisted on an upgrade from C to F)

I've been trying to check on seatcounter for the past few days, but keep getting error messages - is everyone else having the same problem?

Should anyone else manage to get onto it, would you be so kind as to check availability on EK1 on 2nd Sept too? ;) (again, from C to F)

Thanks all!

Does anybody have the US based number for the Gold desk? I made Gold a little while ago, but my account is based in DXB and I haven't received my materials yet.

Thanks! Valuable information!

...I did a search for this too - maybe it would be a useful sticky to have the worldwide numbers somewhere?

I noticed that there's no list of phone numbers on the back of my card, and I've thrown the old one away.

Hyperacusis - I got through by calling my local (UK) service centre and asking to be put through to the Gold desk (which seemed to be in Dubai)

I am having same problem - for last few days.

What is the "Gold Desk"?

A desk made of gold! No it is a facility for Gold members whereby there is a dedicated team to assist you with hotels, forward travel and the like.

It would help if they actually had a dedicated team to help Gold members with their regular reservations instead of stuff like that. :mad:

that is exactly what they do. If you can't get a specifc flight/upgrade/reward, call them and they will see what they can do.

How do you reach them?

Usually by telephone!

So I called the US reservations desk (1-800-777-3999) and asked to be transferred to the Gold Desk. They were able to do this, but the Gold desk seemed pretty clueless about this two-seats for upgrades option. One of them said that Gold members are able to waitlist for upgrades, while the other said that the rule applied only to revenue tickets when the flight is sold out. Don't suppose anybody else has had better luck with this when calling from the US?

well, I have more positive news to report.

My mother and her sister (mum and aunt) are visiting me in November from Glasgow to Dubai (a typically difficult route to get an ug as the load is so high and they only have 2 classes).

Anyways, I called the Gold desk and aksed the availability for upgrade from econ. He said there were none. I asked him to check his system for Gold upgrades. He said yes there were two still available for both legs. Great, I would like to book I said. He advised me that he needed to put me over to reservations to book the ticket - In the past I would usually find this very problematic if I am not one of the passengers.

This time, the guy from gold desk must have advised the reservations desk that this was ok (first time ever on emirates) and I booked my 2 econ flights on a separate credit card (although I did have to pay a bit more for doing the transaction over the phone). When that was all done, I asked the guy for my upgrades....no way,, I asked to go back to gold desk...he asked if you would like to speak to the same guy but you may need to wait as he was on another call. I said, ok anyone at gold desk.

Got referred back. Same reply, no upgrades available. I asked what about the gold allocation, she said she would check (takes about a minute) came back and said yes!!!!!

Superb!

The lesson is, always ask to double check!

Nice one, Freakstar!
Clearly they like the tone of your voice better than mine - Next time I might get you to pose as me ;)

I'm still waitlisted for my flight on Tuesday, but can see that there are still at least 4 revenue seats in F, so still have my fingers crossed that they'll release them soon.

Thanks again for sharing this tip - It didn't quite work for me this time, but can see that it will in the future.

wow - very exciting! lets hope its available on the dxb/lhr on the 001!

well, i have done it on the 004 in sept:D

...The waitlist didn't bear any fruit for me this time. I logged onto MYB on Sunday and found I'd "dropped off" the waitlist.
Called the gold desk but didn't get anywhere there either (although they've now waitlisted my for my return flight)

I'm flying out on EK004 tonight, so will now give Down_The_Back's tactics a go and see if I can get myself upgraded whilst in the lounge.

Wish me luck! :)

Be soooooooo interested to know how you did?

I tried asking in the lounge if the seat next to me was empty this one time. They said I would need to ask at the gate, though this was probably because I would otherwise have missed my flight. For some reason, the T1 lounge doesn't show the correct boarding information for many flights.

Well I'm at the lounge now (got here super early - had a long commute on train / chauffer car and typically everything went to plan) and well..... I chickened out!
Checked flightstats just before I checked in, and F availability had gone down from 4 to 2, but still 7 in J. I'm pretty keen on seeing F on this flight (it's my first time on A380) so I asked at check in. I was worried that someone else would do the same thing and take the last available seat(s).

Thought I was going to get it straight away - the person at check in made a call to someone, but then said that they'd sort it out in the lounge, but it was looking very good.
I'm sitting here, with a glass of wine and everything crossed!

I'm flying back on EK1 in a couple of weeks, although understand my chances on this will be particularly slim, but *promise* I will give this a go!

FF

FF enjoy your flight, assuming you will get it.. My little tip so you can Bragplain (like complain but brag at the same time)...

Go to the bar at the back of J and ask for a glass of Dom. They will then insist that it is only for F class passengers, then whip out your boarding pass from your top pocket! It's a guarenteed way to make friends, as the fab bar staff, then hand it out to anyone you are speaking with! ;)

Have a good one buddy!

Love it! Would be great to bump into you one day - I'm sure we'd get on!

Assuming I do get F, I will absolutely do this.
If I have to stay in J, I hope someone else in F does this - I'll be one of their new friends!

Really looking forward to the flight.. it's been a long time since a flight was exciting!
Just seen one (it?) land, and I'm sat at the window right next to the stand.

That will be it! I was on it on Saturday and you will enjoy for sure - good luck with J to F...

CHA-CHING!!! Just got paged, and have 3E.

2 minutes later they paged about another 5 people and asked them to bring boarding cards - F must be empty!

Time for my annual shower then - it's not even my birthday :)

Just as a follow-up, this wasn't an op-up - I've been debited miles.
..which makes me wonder if all the others were op-ups.

Won't use miles to upgrade on EK1 in a couple of weeks, so will see what happens.

Does anyone have a phone number to contact this elusive "Gold Desk"? Nobody seems to have any clue about it when I call the local Emirates office in Ghana.

Not sure if I did it the "right" way, but just called the UK service centre and asked to be put through to them. They asked if they could help first, but I politely said no and asked to be transferred.
Judging by accent, I would guess that I got transferred to Dubai.

HTH

While I don't know if what OP was told is true or not, if there are seats available in J-CL or F-CL on the day of departure, Silver and Gold card holders can upgrade using their miles at the airport. Blue card holders cannot do this at the airport since this is perk for Silver/Gold card holders.

These upgrades @ the airport work on a first come, first serve basis if there are seats available. If the desired class is already full, then it goes on a first come, first serve basis with Gold card members being upgraded before Silver card members (no shows).

Was on EK55 on the 27th August and was "upgraded" to an F Seat, but with J service. Not much difference if you have the lie flat in J anyway. So would call that half upgrade.

Again, does anyone know a way to contact this elusive "Gold Desk"? I've spent half the morning arguing with general reservations who swear that there is no such thing as the Gold Desk and that there is no way for a Gold member to wait list an upgrade request.

Was also told that there is no gold desk,but as a gold you can go on a wait list,have done this many times,it even shows on MMB.

Not to sure if this is correct or not but worth giving it a go.

Searching my contacts on my phone I have the Gold Desk down as 0844 800 4440, I really can't remember where I got this number or even if it is correct. Think I called them once a while back trying to change a seat, with no joy.

This would be if phoning from the UK, as other members have stated I think the Gold Desk is in Dubai ??


Best Regards
Flying Fireman

Have traveled J 2 return routes in past 2 months on Silver and never been OP-upped to F even tho the plane was empty :(

I called up the EK office and spoke to them about Gold benefits as i am going to achieve it in 15 days and why I should stick to EK over 9W as 9w offers upgrade vouchers to Plat members and the office desk told me I can ask for a complimentary upgrade at the check-in if there are seats available...:confused: wonder if its true or if she was just telling me this to get me off the phone.