Upsale To First Class
 

Hi everyone. I have a ticket booked in J for JFK-DXB-HYD on 9/25 and I'm looking to change it to 9/21. I called EK, and since there is no J available from DXB-HYD, they said its going to be an upsale to F. To my understanding, they UG to First, then just change the flights. It costs $2300, which is usually what upgrading this route J-F is. I'm just hoping the agent wasn't confused and is just stating the fare difference for the available fare, but that should not cost this much. I'm going to go ahead and book it. I'm just talking about it on here because I've never heard of this upsale thing. Usually to UG, even a paid UG, there needs to be seats available in the booked cabin, at least to my knowledge.
Unfortunately seats 2A&K are taken already JFK-DXB, so it looks like I'll be taking 1K. Light load that day. Only me and 3 others so far, but I expect it to go out full as it usually does on Fri/Sat nights.

I just looked up availability and it seems that EK524 is sold out in business but EK526 (leaving 6 hours later) is wide open. Unless you really need to be in HYD at 3AM, it might be a better value to stick with J and step out for few hours in Dubai before catching the next flight.

I prefer 524. I get into HYD by 3, get to my house by 4-415, and then have time to unpack a little, and rest before starting the day. I've never taken 526, but people I know that have say that it sucks because of the 3am departure, and 8am arrival. Not sure why, but it really never works with connections from JFK, so I avoid. I took 528 one time, but I didn't like that either, as I like sleeping on this flight.

I am a bit confused on the post

If you want to upgrade to 1st class, it will be repriced based on the difference between fare paid and the 1st class fare for the journey undertaken ( plus any change fees which may apply ) which would seemingly be what the agent quoted

What I mean is, I'm currently booked in J. I wasn't looking to upgrade, but am forced to UG if I want flights 202 and 524 bc J isn't available DXB-HYD

Forgot to mention that because you're Gold you'll be guaranteed a seat even on over booked flights so in your case you'll be fine to waitlist.

I think the Gold Guarantee only guarantees a seat on the flight, not necessarily in the class you want. If the OP invokes this they may end up in Y which I don't think they want.

Chances are he will be accommodated in F as it is wide open in both Y and F.

My understanding was that if there flight isnt sold out then there would be no point to the guarantee since it doesn't provide guaranteed access to a specific class. If flight is wide open in Y&F what point does it serve?

I am still kind of lost on what the post was trying to address

You have a business class ticket for a flight; you wish to change to another flight where business class is not available and so your main option is to pay for 1st class which has a fare difference of $2300

If upgrading a fare , you pay for the higher fare basis and book onto the flight; there is no need for there to be business class availability when paying for a 1st class ticket

Upgrading a fare is quite different to using FF miles to upgrade a booking

Sure, just clarifying the rules in case someone picks up on this.

You are correct. I know that the fare will be higher since I've paid to UG this route before. I just wasn't sure that you could upgrade without there being seats in your booked class of travel first.

If paying to travel in 1st class, all that is required is availability in 1st class ; it is no different to it would be if you were just buying a new 1st class ticket now; you would not need there to be availability in business class or economy class in order to purchase a 1st class seat on the flight ; think of it as cancelling the business ticket and just buying a 1st ticket