When you upgraded your ticket was reissued and at that point the earlier flight may no longer have been available (or not available in J).

There are minimum fare requirements for DC, too

I guess it is possible that the earlier flight did not have any J availability; didn't check.

update: Actually now that I think about it, pretty sure the day of/day before my upgrade was processed, EF showed saver award space for the flight before and after mine

I mentioned this upthread - but the same happened to me *after* I made a change to the booking. I wonder if there is a bug?

Hi

Just got my tickets and happy to see that I qualify for Dubai Connect. I will arrive in Dubai at 5.10 am and leave the next day at 3am, a 21h50min hour layover. When do I get my hotel and for how long? The hotel is airside right? Can I leave the airport and head into town and the return to the hotel?

The hotel is not airside. You clear immigration and customs first. If you need a visa, the voucher is provided at check in and you would go to a desk at the far end of the arrival hall before immigration desks to receive it. After, if in F/J, go to the chauffeur drive desk, if in Y follow the signs to the shuttle and be taken to the hotel reception directly and check in. You will have the hotel until about 2 hours before departure when the shuttle/car will take you back to the airport and you will go through exit immigration.

And confirm what is happening with your bags for that length of time, every time I have used DC I have taken a carry on and my bags have been checked through to the end destination.

Conversely, I have a flight in paid J flex MEL to ADD In September.. Arrive DXB 13:00, departing the next day at 10:30. DC is offered.

7 weeks later, MEL to EBB in paid F flex, same flight into DXB. Arrive 13:00, departing 09:25 the next day. No DC offered.

In each case, there are alternative flights available out of MEL which could reduce connection time in DXB to around 4-5 hours.

So I can't see any correlation between ticket price or class of travel and the triggering of DC offers. I'm yet to notice any consistent pattern. I have to suspect their algorithm for generating the offers at time of booking is somewhat flaky.

hi all, flying JFK-DXB-MLE in two weeks.
My layover in DBX is 8h5m but I've not yet seen Dubai Connection offered under My Booking. I booked my trip as part of an Emirates vacation package, not sure if DC is excluded if booked this way? As I understand, if I qualify for DC, it should have shown up in my booking info a month prior to departure.
I get in DXB at 7:45 p.m. and leave for MLE at 4:20.
Two questions:
Since the bulk of my layover is overnight, is it worth going into the city? Are things open to see/eat that late (or early)? Emirates travel agents said I have enough time to go to the Burj and come back, but I'm not necessarily interested in going to the Burj - would much rather see some street life/have dinner with locals, etc.
Am told that I need to get a tourist visa to exit airport if I decide to leave the airport. How onerous/long is that process at the Dubai airport? And altogether - going through security/immigration/customs exiting and re-entering airport - how much total time would I really have to be in Dubai?

TIA!

What passport are you on? You likely don't qualify for DC due to shorter connection available or ineligible fare.

You can definitely head into the city, there'll be plenty of places to eat or drink. There aren't really any locals in DXB, it's all a bit fake city of skyscrapers... Well I suppose you could visit the south. The Burj is amazing in person, worth a drive by at least

I'm US. I don't mind seeing the Burj in person, just not keen on going up to the observation deck.
What's good to eat in Dubai? I have no idea what the reigning cuisine is, though I assume the meat will be halal.

Definitely don't go to the observation deck. It's overpriced and underwhelming. The Burj has the world's largest mall at its feet and a massive fountain which does a musical show every 30 minutes or so.

Every cuisine is available, though pork can be hard to come by unless you're staying in a five star or buy it yourself. The beef is halal, but that hardly matters, a lot of beef in Western countries is also halal even if not advertised, because its easier than maintaining separate facilities for halal and non-halaal. If anything the meat is cleaner if halal.

You want TGI Fridays, Five Guys, Starbucks, they're all readily available. As are tons of amazing high quality fine dining places.

Oh, and you don't need a visa, you'll get a stamp on entry, that's all

IMO I'd stay away from the malls to eat (you can get those restaurants globally) and instead venture to the likes of Satwa (close to downtown / 15 mins from the airport variable on traffic). You'll be treated to some incredibly tasty (and cheap) Arabic, Pakistani & Indian cuisines. Most places are open late into the night - a couple that stand-out are Al Malah & Ravi's.

I agree, Satwa is cool. The food choices are basic but varied and good, and it has more personality than many other areas of Dubai. It's close to a large Indian enclave, so the food and the feel is good. In comparison, most pseudo-toff English haunts in this town are crashingly boring, seemingly matching those who enjoy and frequent them.

So you post this advice a day or two after I buy a ticket to the Burj Khalifa VIP lounge!

In reality, I know that I'm probably spending way too much, in most people's opinion. However, I am a huge fan of skyscrapers. I just want to visit the highest lounge in the world. I have been visiting the observation deck of the Sears Tower in Chicago since I was a kid. For many years it was the tallest building in the world.

After I visit the lounge on Level 154 of the Burj Khalifa, I might think too that it is "overpriced and underwhelming". Who knows?