Flex allows changes for free, whereas Saver requires a payment of $25.

If EK want to restrict F award availability then they will - indeed, they have done so already.

Another 'enhancement' I fear.

Changes for free? I know my OP was long, but in there I state they wouldn't let me change anything without canceling my current reservation with a US$50 cancellation fee, and I had to rebook a new reservation. That was to just change one leg from Y to J!

Changes in class of travel on a redemption ticket have always been like this. Cancel (whatever the fee is) then rebook.

And, thus, changes aren't for free. ;)

So, then, what is the benefit of FLEX over SAVER now?

Just seems preposterous they would get rid of true FLEX F and put it in the SAVER F bucket when you look at the cost of using miles with a FLEX F redemption. I.E. A return ticket JFK - MLE is 300,000+ miles in FLEX F.

I was looking to change a current redemption booking in F and couldn't find ANY availability in FLEX on EK407 (MEL-DXB) for the next 4 months. What the!

Exactly, how would you choose a saver over a flex redemption if you wanted to or does it always just default to flex. And if you wanted to upgrade from J-F, shouldn't this work the other way round and offer more availability since it is all flex now !!
I am getting zero availability on upgrades now....

On http://www.skywards.com/Spending_Miles.aspx?SkinID=7 , it states

Date Changes : Free
All other changes (within programme rules) : $25

It doesn't say that all changes are free

12 month validity vs 3 month
2 stopovers permitted vs 1
Refunds $50 vs $75
date changes free vs $25

The issue now is that those don't justify the difference in miles required between FLEX and SAVER, the main value was the availability offered with FLEX which is now gone.

User partner miles on Emirates?
 

I have one quick question. So if I have miles in either Japan Air or Korean Air, should I look for the Z classes if I want to use either of the partner miles to redeem on Emirates? It used to be only F Save awards are available for partners but now both Saver and Flex are coming from the same bucket so I wonder if this changes the partner redemption.

It's only showing Saver for the flights I looked at (mostly the 'perfectly' timed EK409 :mad:). This is weird.

Um, what's the issue? surely you would generally want the lowest price option to be offered?

In typical fashion yes. But in my case 3-month validity for saver is a major issue. I've booked a flex reward just for the 12 month validity.

If you just make the booking with a return date > 3 months will it not automatically quote a flex fare?

Yes it will. Just like whimike, I am aggravated by the fact that I can't locate flex (or even saver) seats on EK407 for the inbound of a current redemption ticket.

:rant on:

The more I think about this issue with all FLEX and SAVER F inventory coming from the old SAVER bucket, the more annoyed I am. Just recently the Alaska Airlines award chart came out for EK. While I have to use 300,000+ EK miles for an F JFK-MLE return redemptions, an AS member only needs to use 180,000 AS miles for the same redemption. JL members only need 135,000 JL miles.

All of these partner airline awards come out of the Z SAVER bucket. So, as an EK Skywards Gold, I need to use 50%+ more miles and have to compete for available F seats with members from other airlines. Under the old scheme at least I could avail myself to FLEX F inventory in exchange for being a loyal EK flyer and paying the exorbitant amount of EK miles required, and with the old FLEX F inventory that came out of the A bucket I wasn't competing for seats from people redeeming from other airline programs.

With this change in the FLEX F bucket, when it comes to redemptions EK is treating its loyal customers far worse than customers from other airlines.

When actually comparing milage earned, assuming you are top tier on either FFP, for various J bookings on EK that I tested, you will earn nearly as many AS miles as EK miles. For example, a FLEX J return JFK-MLE earns 39,750-43,750 EK miles (based on award accelerators) or 39,300 AS miles. Yet, to redeem using EK miles it takes 50% more miles than AS miles!! How does it, then, make any sense to credit to EK vs. AS if in the future you plan to redeem premium cabin seats using your miles? :confused:

:rant off: