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