Oops. Had a few too many last night. I meant upgrade Using miles!!! LOL

Another data point for email upgrade offers. A friend who is Skyward Blue is flying SIN - MEL on a Saver fare in a couple of days and was offered a one way upgrade for SGD 340 (about USD 270). The flight looks quite empty in Y and quite busy in J, so I'm quite surprised. But it's a great price for a 7 hour overnight flight.

Spot on. Email upgrades are worth it for overnight flights. For daytime flights I dont feel it is value for money.

For a Y -> J upgrade, yes. But for a J -> F upgrade, I think it's better value on a day flight.

My view is exactly the opposite. Overnight flights have no real benefits in premium cabins since you are asleep. Daytime flights when you are working is when you can really appreciate the extra space and service.

I agree, unless the flight is a ULR flight (more than 12h), then it probably has a day and night component. A nice, relaxed meal with service and then plenty of time to sleep, work, enjoy the IFE. Then F is worth it.

It's a lousy price, especially as the flight is emptyish in Y.

Why would you pay to sit in a fullish area (J) when you could stretch out over 4 seats in the back?

I've become a bit more bullish lately and I always decline the email offer as the op-up Gods always seem to smile on me when this occurs. Best thing to do is track the load via EF, and if you hold Gold status, and economy looks like being oversold, then turn the offer down. I also think that the price of SGD$340 is a little steep. I've done this flight plenty of times in Y and survived.

If I was Blue or Silver, I might have a different viewpoint, as at least this is a way you could guarantee the bigger seat...

Indeed, as a Gold I can understand the reasoning for declining it. But if you're Blue and have flown EK 3 times in your life (and never in J), it's a great opportunity to experience the premium product. I've never actually received the email myself, but I'd be inclined to take up the offer if the price was right.

Xxxxx

Hello All,

I am new member but an a frequent lurker at Flyer Talk. Travelling on EK 432 DXB to SIN having been trying to upgrade for Y to J for a month with no joy, call center tells me that flight is sold out! I am silver and there is also a Blue member travelling with me on the same PNR, do you think I have any chances of an upgrade at all? Or should I just check in on-line and forget all about it.

Welcome to FT!

If your flight is tomorrow and there's no availability, then it's quite unlikely that the upgrade will open up. It's the end of the work week in the UAE, and also the start of Eid holidays, so it's a busy travel time. You can always try at check in or onboard, or keep a lookout online. I'd suggest you don't do an OLCI, because if you do and it becomes available, you'll have to be offloaded from the manifest and rebooked on the flight (no charge, but it's a hassle).

Yes, welcome...

Have you looked at the load via ExpertFlyer? When is the flight? Also, have you compared what the load looks like on the 404?

Loads are tough right now...but with the new 4th flight added, things have eased just a little bit

Thanks for the welcome, I tried using Expert Flyer but didnt understand any of it ( technology challenged). The flight is on 4th November (EK 432, Dep:02:45)

Thanks for the welcome, yes it seems all of us overworked souls in Dubai are trying to run off for the long weekend supposedly all EK flight to SIN are soldout . I will hold off the OLCI and keep fingers crossed for an opening while i check in. Thanks for your help.

Just checked on EF for you (testing out my new membership haha) - it does indeed look very sold out! All of economy and all of business, with 1 seat in first.

I have a question of my own for those more knowledgable than myself; flying a segment from CDG-DXB on EK74 on 26th December. EF is showing up to W9 in economy (M onwards 0) with J7C7I7 in business. I was hoping for a miles upgrade for myself and wife, just wondering if this sort of load makes it more or less likely that availability will open up closer to departure?

Thanks!

That's just because they've blocked all Saver inventory (M onwards) during the holiday period. The flight is probably empty. They'll open up Saver inventory later if they can't fill up the seats. But getting an upgrade shouldn't be hard in holiday season as premium loads are low, though Paris can be a bit of an exception to that.

Ahh that makes sense, thanks a lot ung1 :)

Just checked on EF the availability for my flights to KUL on Sunday/Monday...

J0 C0 I0 O0 Y0 E0 R0 W0 M0 B0 U0 K0 H0 Q0 L0 T0 V0 X0

F4 A4 J0 C0 I0 O0 Y0 E0 R0 W0 M0 B0 U0 K0 H0 Q0 L0 T0 V0 X0

Hoping that the Op-Up gods look down on me (solo traveller) favourably!

I am flying to MUC this weekend and my flight is almost sold out in Y (and I am in Y this time). J has seats.

Should I do OLCI or refrain from it and show up last minute?

I always keep asking this myself and don't have an answer. Even though I have flown with EK for so many years.

What's your guys take?

I wouldn't do OCLI. As far as I can tell, all op-ups are handled/processed at the 30-min mark prior to flight closing. Funny thing is I've never been upgraded ex DXB, so have no idea how the process works. I reckon if you keep checking with the desk in the lounge "how does the flight look etc", it's the best way to monitor the load...good luck. Let us know how it goes.

How many J seats (if any) do EK block off incase of Y being oversold?

Thanks for checking!

They don't block off J seats, as that would be counter productive. They do however oversell each cabin up to a certain limit (except F, I believe), and then usually a bunch of no shows mean they can still fit everyone into the aircraft. If not, they go into offering VDB vouchers and asking people to take the next flight.

GigoloArt I've got exactly the same situation this weekend. Flight is zeroed out in Y (though seat map still has a fair number of seats vacant), but J has seats.

Of course, I'm only Silver so will probably be in Y either way, but I'd like to know what happens if you're flying before Saturday noon.

Turns out EK has special fares to SIN right now from DXB. AED 2100 in Y and AED 8000 in J (haven't seen that in a while), so expect flights to be completely full!

I flew out to SIN via DXB from LHR on the 22/10. Got and op up from J to F LHR-DXB on EK4. For the record I did OLCI as soon as I could and selected a seat as soon as I booked the ticket. The flight was full and got my first 'First' boarding pass when boarding from the lounge at Heathrow. Up to then I had 23K, the girl just said 'We have had to move you, as the flight is very busy'. I didnt even notice until I was in the queue to get on the A380.

So just reporting back that we did not get ugpraded the flights were fully sold out. Returning from KL on 7th Nov we were given the option to give up our seats at 19:30 flight and take the 2 am one, at first we were offered one free ticket to any Asian sector. We refused this as we were giving up two seats EK then offered us two free tickets, taxi fare back to the city and a free dinner. We were also told that they would try to upgrade us for the 2 am flight. We took up the offer and received our free tickets and taxi fare there was some cofusion with the dinner claim so i will be sending an email to customer affairs shortly. We were sadly not ugpraded for the 2 am flight although another passenger who decided to skip the earlier flight was, he also had no status with EK and I had Silver! I think it may be due to the fact that we were 2 passenger and they only had one seat.

Been checking EF quite regularly for upgrade to business for a flight CDG-DXB on 26th Dec. Up until recently have had no availability for the entire week but just today I noticed all days except the 25th & 26th have upgrade availability now.

Availability is showing approx J4C4I4 for those days and J7C7I0 for the 26th. Would this recent change make the possibility of the 26th opening up in the near future or does it mean given they have but the 26th hasn't, it's less likely now?

Cheers

Hello Ladies and gents,

Can anybody explain to me what does this mean?

P2 A2 J4 C4 I4 O7 Y7 E7 R7 W7 M7 B7 U7 K7 H7 Q7 L7 T7 V7 X7

I'd really appreciate it.

Thank you!!

Are you looking to upgrade using miles? If so you have to search
For D (for economy to business) or for Z (business to first) availability.

Yep, with miles. Availability in D just opened up for most days in that week bar the 25th and 26th of Dec. Was unsure whether this means it's less likely for the 26th to open up given it hasn't at the same time or if there's still a good chance it will become available closer to the date.

Cheers

The letters are fare classes. P & A are first, J, C & I are business, the rest are economy.

The numbers are the minimum number of tickets that are available in that class. So, R7 means that there are at least 7 tickets available in R class. The higher letters are usually the cheaper tickets, so you'll often see something like :-

P1 A0 J2 C0 I0 O7 Y7 E7 R7 W7 M7 B7 U7 K7 H7 Q3 L0 T0 V0 X0

and also


F,P, A = first

J, C , I, O = Business

everything else is economy


The letter C instead of a number( example VC instead of V5) means that that type of fare is closed. If it is L instead of a number(example VL instead of V4)
then it means that it is closed but the waitlist is open.

.

BNE/DXB
 

Hello everyone,
have been reading the EK forum for quite a while now but only registered today. I recently moved down under and will take my first big leave back to Europe. Currently I'm booked on EK435 BNE/DXB 18DEC. The flight looks as follows: I'm gold with 62K stat miles YTD, flying economy on E fare, what do you think the chance of an op up is? I really would NOT want to spend 15 hours in an economy seat :D There are no upgrade seats available atm.

Thanks for the feedback! ^

If you want to increase your chances of upgrading by using miles, I would suggest setting a seat alert on expertflyer. They do release seats at the last minute but you have to be quick. I just missed a seat that was released for a
Flight in a few weeks time. I knew that a seat had become available, but lost it to someone else due to a 2 to 3 hour delay in logging in.

Regarding operational upgrades you might get it if you are very lucky. But personally I don't trust lady luck for Long haul.

Just to need a quick confirmation by the forum: If someone is booked on a reward ticket in Y, he cannot upgrade with miles to J, correct?

http://www.skywards.com/Spending_miles.aspx?SkinID=7

I had a look at the rules and there is no info that you cannot. I have never done a reward booking(always use miles for upgrades). Does the reward ticket begin with a number other than 176??as mentioned in the rules?

Thanks for checking - we haven't bought the ticket yet. I will let you know!

Anyone else has been in this situation?

Correct, you cannot do a double upgrade. Refer to section 13.2 of the T&C's
However, you can go from Y to F in the following manner. For example, if you used miles to upgrade your flight from Y to J, and then got to the airport, EK can then op-up you from J to F. This has happened to me several times. Obviously load and route dependent.