Zero. If it shows on your booking, you are eligible. Be sure to collect your voucher when you check in. I do not believe they are enforcing the shortest connection rule any more.

Thanks modularmayhem and jackiedada Appreciate the quick answers!

NP. You should check your visa eligibility - it is great if your Passport gives you visa free entry into the UAE. Otherwise, you have 2 options:
1. Apply for a visa at the EK Desk (free of charge) in the arrivals hall and endure a wait of 2-3 hours.
2. If you are eligible for a Visa on Arrival, walk over to the Marhaba desk on the opposite side and they will issue you a 14 day visa for AED 200.

Just to clarify, the above 2 only apply if you need a Visa for entry and have sent the required info to them but EK has not been able to process your visa by the time of your arrival. Happened to me once (decided to go with the AED 200 option) and was surprised to see several others whose Visas had not come through from EK. They mostly chose to head to the lounge.

Thanks for the heads up. I qualify for visa free entry, but i am tempted to send my details anyway and get them to preprocess it.

I just chatted with Emirates about my ORD-DXB-BKK F award reservation next month. I did not take the middle of the night flight to BKK and decided on the morning flight instead. Was still eligible for the free hotel. She said it would be JW Marriott or Le Meridien. Anyone know where they are putting F pax lately?

As they said, could be either depending on availability.

Nothing to pre-process then, you just walk up to the counter and they stamp you in.

Got JW Marriott Marquis yesterday.

Did they provide transportation to and from the hotel? Was it pretty easy or a hassle? Thanks

Yes, transport is provided. However, the JW is around 30 minutes away as opposed to the 5 minutes for the Le Méridien.

Thanks - that's OK. I kind of hope I get the JW as I'd like to visit the Dubai Mall/see the Burj Khalifa for a couple of hours before bed. I assume a 6am ride back to the airport won't take too long.

JW has a shuttle to Dubai Mall FYI

dubai connect availability is really weird.

For the same itinerary, the J seat got dubai connect
For another J seat which got upgraded to F, dubai connect was not available.

EK staff didnt even know why it was not available, giving out all sorts of excuses
Terrible EK service

It’s become wobbly. I had a two day stop in Dubai recently and apparently I was offered it when I should not have been. They need to fix the system logic. Service works best when reliable and predictable, not a lottery.