Hi all!
I had to spend some skywards miles as they were about to expire. I booked 2 tickets for FRA-DXB-FRA (June) travelling in Y with the intention of upgrading to J using the miles. Business seats were available on all legs in the EK booking engine. So, I bought the Y tickets and was able to upgrade the FRA outbound from Y to J. However, I can't upgrade the return flight (...premium seat not available...).
What can I do now? Any suggestions from the community?
I did DXB/FRA in Y once, was hoping not to experience that again...
Thanks!

If your miles are going to expire (I assume end of Feb) then either pick new dates if you are flexible or burn them on another reward item. Let us know your dates perhaps we can help search

Hi,
yes, miles expire end of Feb. However, I could use those for the upgrade FRA-DXB.

I have additional miles that I want to use for the uprade on the return leg.

We (2) are booked on EK47 on 10Jun2012 depart DXB 14:30 arrive FRA 19:20

Unfortunately I would rather not rebook to other flights, as these saver-flex tickets have relatively high charges for changes. Also, I was planning the afternoon flight as the early morning departure to FRA (03:40 or 08:25) does not quite justify the charges for hotel costs.

I always thought that as long as a premium class shows availability on the EK engine, I can upgrade from the lower class on the same flight. This principle has worked for me in the past. Have there been changes to this?

Cheers
Roger

I don't know when you last tried but it has been the case for the last few years that you need 'D' inventory to upgrade a ticket to Business. It used to be 'I' and at one point 'C', but now upgrades are quite scarce. You only have a day, so act soon!

40000 miles were to expire. Spent 65000 of 140000 miles on the outbound upgrade, so I guess miles expiration isn't an issue anymore? I wasn't aware of c, d inventories for upgrades. Thanks for the info. I guess we will just have to sit through Y...

Yea the expiring miles will be used up first. So no miles expiring anymore.

You may upgrade at check-in desk 3 hours before flight, if you are eligible Silver Skywards member at least.
The only condition is availability of seat at selected class of travel,regardless of booking code.

Yes but their flight is in June by when miles would have expired.

I have already been able to allocate the expiring miles on the outbound upgrade. So from a miles perspective there should be sufficient funds for the return upgrade. Unfortuntately I loose my silver status today, so check-in upgrade is probably out of question. Spanner in the works!

My conclusion: as a leisure traveller there is not much incentive for my EK stickiness. My irregular flying pattern with DXB as a transit hub makes silver/gold status perks pretty useless (travel coordinator, eGate). Access to the business lounge is ok, but the experience is nothing when compared to First Class. Also, I need the upgrade mechanisms when I want to fly (as opposed to flying when upgrades are available - which I can't check using normal EK planning tools).

As my main focus for leisure travelling is on a memorable trip, in the future I will only look to EK when competitive F class fares exist. Damn shame. Love flying them though...

This is incorrect. Upgrade availability can be checked by looking for Saver Reward availability in the appropriate class, as this comes from the same fare bucket.

Saver Reward availability that is I believe (as opposed to Flex Reward availability).

Correct - I'll update my previous post for accuracy.