HI there

Need some quick assistance please! :) I am on a disastrously long haul flight tomorrow from MEL to Budapest. My route is MEL-DXB-MUC-BUD (the MUC-DUB leg is via Lufthansa though)

My question is - I have silver status, and am really hoping for an upgrade, at least on the MEL-DXB leg. However I have been checking on MMB religiously all week and whenever I do, it says "Sorry, there are no reward seats available in the next higher class for the flight(s) chosen. Please try again closer to departure.". My flight is at 9.25 pm tomorrow though!

So does this mean that there are no options for an upgrade. Seats are almost filled up on the seating map (in economy I mean), it looks like a packed flight. I haven't received any email about a cash upgrade or anything. Does it look good for an op-up tomorrow or should I try a cash upgrade at the ticketing counter?

Thanks for any advice!

While ExpertFlyer is not 100% accurate, the flight looks "heavy". I can see 5 seats unassigned in J, Y looks full and there is as yet, no one in F.

My guess is that they will work the Y list until J is full (and push any J customers into F). Could be good for an op-up (depending on how many Golds and Silvers in Y). I doubt it if EK's Inventory Management will release any D class award seats at this point, given the oversold nature of the flight. And you are unlikely to receive the upgrade email at this point either.

Get to the airport early - secure an exit row at least. The MEL staff do everything by the book. If you do receive an op-up, remember no lounge access.

Great thats helpful!

How do I secure exit row seats if I haven't been able to do it via MMB? Can I just ask at the counter?

Thanks again :)

They will allocate them at check-in on a first come, first served basis. Good luck. Let us know how you get on...

somehow i never get them... but then maybe i am never there on time :D

Remember that flights out of UK are charged an air passenger duty. (NB: There is no APD on flights INTO the UK!!!). If you do an upgrade you will have to pay an additional APD for a London--- Dubai flight in addition to the 25K miles(assuming that your original ticket was a FLEX economy).

If you have a business class ticket then the maximum APD is already included in the price of the ticket, so there is no extra money to be paid for an upgrade to F using miles.

Better value is to upgrade on flights from Dubai to UK and avoid the APD altogether.

Bit more info on APD. As I mentioned in the earlier post this Applies to flights departing the UK and not flights coming to UK. APD is lower for economy seats and so when you upgrade to business using miles, Emirates will ask you to pay for the difference between the Business Class APD and the Economy class APD.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Passenger_Duty

i found out the hard way! :(

me too !!!!. :(

Does anyone know the likelihood of receiving an upgrade offer (email/check in/ at the gate) from Y to J flying BAH-DXB-AMS?

This will be the first time that I've flown this route with EK, so no idea how busy it is or its main demographic. I've only just signed up for Skywards (i.e. Blue) as I normally fly KLM or EY.

golden email
 

Hi
My flight from Sydney to Dubai is on Wednesday next week (21st sept) EK413 ...I almost never travel and am SO dreaming of that golden upgrade for cash email *sigh*. Could someone with access to info about such things tell me how busy the flight looks. ...also feel free to let me know if you think I am totally deluded for a brand new blue skywards member.
Cheers

As it currently stands, it doesn't look bad:

EK 413 0 SYD
21/09/11 21:10 DXB
22/09/11 5:45 388
Daily
90% / 14m P4 A4 J7 C7 I7 O7 Y0 E0 R0 W0 M0 B0 U0 K0 H0 Q0 L0 T0 V0 X0

Source: EF
POS: US

This shows that Economy is fully booked and Business and First are wide open.

Xxxxx

Thanks GigoloArt! Do you have an opinion about how far out from the flight they might send an email (if I got lucky that is)? ...also, is ringing them up to volunteer myself a stoopid idea?

Sorry jammy, I myself have never received such email!

My experience with all of the upgrade emails I have received is that anywhere between 48-72 hours prior. They do this because they are over sold and have excess capacity in Y.

My thoughts on this. The IM (Inventory Management) systems works thru all the Golds in Y and offers the promo. Then the Silvers. Then the Blues. They see if this assists them with the management of their oversold Y cabin.

Obviously a percentage takes the offer.

If you're Gold and you can see via EF (ExpertFlyer) that the flight is oversold, I would recommend against it. I never take the offer now and everytime without fail, the op-up comes thru. The upgrade ex Australia now is A$175 from MEL-SIN.

Thats 3 good bottles of champagne :p

Here's a data point for the upgrade email offer. DXB-BHX, 18 Sep, e-mail sent 72 hours prior to Silver member, offering a Y-J for AED 1639. EF shows J7 Y1.

Terms and conditions here if anyone is interested.

Food choices might be limited. AFAIK you have to sign something agreeing
That your meal choices may not be available.Moreover you have to spend
More skywards miles as they charge as if you have a saver fare even if your
Ticket is flex.

The above info is at least a year old. Waiting for senior members to correct me if I'm wrong. :-)

I did an on-board upgrade earlier this year from a Flex ticket and was charged the miles to upgrade from Flex, not Saver.

I can see I'll be obsessively checking my email from Sunday night now!
...come on you wise flyer talkers, let's have a go at the odds? I'm thinking 10% chance... I'll let you know how I go?
Cheers!

...nothin' yet :(

I have never received one in some five and a half years of travel on EK and have been on enough flights to earn over 2.5m Skywards miles ... hope springs eternal though!

You mean excess capacity in J right?

Of course, my mistake! I have been eating too much cheese lately (and perhaps the odd glass of German Riesling ;))

Upgrading with Miles
 

Hi everyone! Husband and I are on a flight to depart on 30/04/2012 from SYD-LHR via DXB. We chose to fly out of SYD instead of BNE (where we live) because we wanted to fly the A380, with the possibility of an upgrade (hopefully!!!). We booked the flight directly through Emirates not via a travel agent.

We are both Skyward Blue members and currently both possess enough frequent flyer points to upgrade to business class one way (we are on Flex Economy tickets at the moment).

Being a rookie i didnt know you could not book upgrades this far in advance and was ultra dispointed when I rang Emirates to ask. :confused:

I've read through this thread, and i know it talks alot about people receiving op-up's with their Gold status, or people receiving upgrade emails just before the flight. But what about the people who have enough miles to upgrade? Do we have to wait for availability for seats until a few weeks before as well?
Sorry if its a stupid question - im new at this. What would you suggest our 'plan of attack' be? I've been reading alot of Expert Flyer. Is this a good place to start?

Thanks in advance! :D

I'm flying out of MAN on Wednesday and I booked tickets in J
more than 2 months ago. I was able to book an upgrade straight away
using miles.

I remember that someone had posted that there are only a few seats
In each class per flight available for redemption/upgrades. Emirates obviously prefers fare paying customers !

They then try to fill up the rest of the seats by full fare customers.
Upgrade availability then keeps coming up the closer you get to the flight(sometimes even a few days before!).

The other thing to remember is that upgrades open up only by sector and not for your entire trip. For example SYD DXB and DXB LHR are two sectors .

It costs more in miles to upgrade both sectors separately at different times (availability might be different for both flights) than if both were available at the same time.

I remember someone posting (was it ung1?) that what he does is to look for
Flights that can be booked using skywards miles in the class that you would like to travel.( For example J or F). See if emirates shows availability for
Redemption bookings using only miles. If it does then it means that you can book a ticket using cash and upgrade using miles (Y--J or J ---F).

sputnik_euro,

Firstly welcome to FT and the EK family. Actually, we like to think of our little forum as a family, albeit a quirky and dysfunctional one ;)

April 2012 is way too far ahead for The Sheik to release an award seat. Welcome to the world of inventory management.

The best thing I would do is open an account with ExpertFlyer (its only $10 per month). Then set up an award seat - seat alert. As soon as one becomes available, it will automatically email you. You can then request the upgrade online via the manage your booking section on ek.com

My personal opinion is that you will have better chances on the 380 (as there are 76-J seats versus 42 J seats on a 777). Although the opposite could be true in the sense that more people are wanting to travel on the 380...time will tell.

With EF, you can also track the load - its not perfect, but it is an indicator.

The upgrade emails dont typcially trigger unless the Y cabin is oversold and there is plenty of avail in J. These emails are sent 72-48 hrs prior.

I know you may not want to hear this, but award seats on EK are tightly held and you may find this coming down to the wire (ie last day or even day of departure). There's not a lot you can do. This is pretty standard across all the airlines (Qantas being probably even stingier).

Good luck. Keep us posted. And come back soon...

Thanks ukdoctor & eightblack for your response (and welcome!).

We did choose to fly on the A380 as we were thinking there would be a possibility of more award seats available. (plus, who doesnt love a plush bar in the sky!) But i'm thinking that if our chances are slim, I might change to fly out of BNE and try my luck on upgrading on the 777-300ER. It's a tough decision to make.....and i guess only time will tell.

I will open my expert flyer account right away.

Thanks again for your help.

Welcome to FT!

Lo and behold, there are award seats on the 777 SYD-DXB the entire week in April.

If your tickets are freely changeable and the upgrade is important to you, I would change to the EK415 pending availability on the 380 flight. (BNE is not available for upgrades).

To London, only the LGW flights have availability and you'll likely get stuck on the old seats. Patience is the key here - setting up an alert is the way to go. Upgrades do usually become available.

Hi ung1 - thanks!

I swear i looked at it before and that did not come up! Is it because I have been putting the whole flight in (SYD-LHR) not in sectors?

Are there no upgrades available from BNE full stop? Or is it just in this point of time?

So basically my options are to change my flight and upgrade now on the 777 or wait it out to see what MAY become available.

haha its a tough one.....

Nothing from BNE at this point, probably because options are a lot more limited with EK being one of the few carriers, and only a couple of 777s each day.

If you search by schedule you should be able to see the 77W out of SYD. What are the change conditions on your ticket? If it costs a decent amount of money, just wait.

I bought a fully flexible ticket as I wanted to have the ability to change my dates (i'm moving overseas so needed the flexibility to alter dates if necessary). I don't know if there are different levels of flexible tickets, but I do know I shouldnt be charged any fees if I want to make changes to this one. I will check though, just in case.

I like having the confirmation of a business ticket if I decide to go down the 77W route, but I'll kick myself if i missed out on an opportunity to be on the A380. I wish i could sweet talk Emirates somehow!!! :D

While the A380 has the novelty factor and the onboard bar, the cabin feels like a dormitory with rows and rows of beds. In that sense I much prefer the 77W, especially the forward mini cabin (and 6 A/K to be precise). It is almost like being in F. If you do manage to upgrade the entire SYD-LHR, see if you can do one sector on the 380 and the other one on the 77W (so clear your upgrade for the 77W and waitlist on the 380 to LON) so you'll get to experience both cabins.

...well the naysayers seem to be right. I'm sad to report that my lowly blue status has not helped a bit in getting a cash upgrade email offer. 36hrs to go till my flight on, reportedly full, EK413. Nothing but tumble weeds in my inbox. I shouldn't have got my hopes up :(

ung1 thanks so much for your help.
I took your advice and was able to change my flight from SYD to DXB(free of charge) and have now been upgraded to business class. I have kept my A380 flight from DXB to LHR as is for now (which at the moment means an overnight stop in DXB) and will keep watching EF to see what other upgrade flight are available. Might end up changing to a 777 anyway for the last 7 hours, but im not bothered any more about the A380. I think im just more excited to be able to fly business!

Thanks again - as my husband said "These guys really do know their stuff!" :D

Be careful about doing a 777 to LHR as some rotations might have the old J seats, and then if you come after me with an axe, our moderator will happily tell you how to find me! Do try to get onto the A380 for one of the legs - it is quite a nice experience.

haha OK, we are still booked on the A380 from DXB. We are going to be staying overnight in the hotel in the airport (as the 380 flight leaves early the next day) and here's hoping we will be able to upgrade the last leg closer to departure!
Thanks again for all your help!:)

could not help but rubbing it in:
 

flew HAM-DXB-CPT-DXB-HAM in J two weeks ago; got OPUPs to F on both
sectors into DXB..
thank you, EK! ^

keep trying. I managed to op up on DXB LGW a day before the flight!!

You must have friends in high places or meant that you got an on line upgrade using Skywards points. :p