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