Do you really think so??? I have made numerous comments about how easy it is to attain Gold on EK in the past and was quite humbled by some of the responses I got from regular Y passengers. While I still say Gold is ridiculously easy to attain for the average F/J passenger, it was pointed out to me that while I could attain gold with 3 one ways (platinum with 9), a economy passenger may have to make TRIPLE the number of flights to get status. It's certainly possible to get Gold with only Y fares but Platinum? That's a hell of a lot of time shoved in the back of a plane. I'm not so sure there will be many Economy Platinum members (that's just a guess - your right, it would be interesting to hear from others

I am a mix bag when it comes to travel. I fly Y on short routes, J on mid routes and F on long hauls (DXB - IAD, DXB - LAX). I hit Plat at my 11th month mark.

Now... That was also with a stint of VS travel (BIG MISTAKE! They where trying to get some of my corporate travel and cargo, I played along... but flying through London SUCKS!).

I fly EK pretty much exclusively due to living in Dubai, their flight schedule and their product. I am a big EK fan but, I am also a bit jaded...

I have not gotten the "call" yet. Don't really care to be honest...

What I was actually implying is that there may be a lot of pax who may do a significant part of their flying in Y (>50%), but not all. I can definitely think of my case where I'll end up doing 50K-60K miles in F/J and the remaining 90-100K miles in Y.

Not sure how much the experience in Y or J as a Plat is going to be any different than as a Gold. (but I am hoping that it should, a bit more than the 20 second lip service that the SFS comes and gives at the beginning and ignores you for the remainder of the flight...)

Its a well known fact the even the Golds have categories in them depending on the revenue per member,tier miles flown, segements flown etc. This now one Gold member gets upgraded over the other. I hope they dont any multiple categories in Platinum.

Oh, I wasn't aware of that. How/ where did you get this information?

Anecdotally it would strongly appear that the first letter of one's last name seems to be much more important than any of the items you mentioned - A being best and Z being worst.

This isn't my experience at all.

I concur....

Can you share your experience/ what makes you believe this?

Guys, there is actually a whole thread about this (here) - just before we open pandora's box here.

I disagree regarding the thread you link to. It is there just as a record of what upgrades have been received and some background of those receiving them.

As far as I'm aware, no one has analysed them to sub-categorise the Skywards levels, and nowhere has there been a published list of how any potential sub caregories affect upgrades.

Well, it sucks as hell, but my company doesn't pay J or F for anyone except the President and VP (and we're a large multinational!). I've obtained Gold in 3 months. If I continue travelling like I'm doing nowadays, I'll be Plat in month 10 approximately. And most of my tickets are longhaul Y Saver (though I use all my hard earned points for upgrades where possible) so it's possible...

That's my case... we are begining a new venture in Hong Kong, so the first year we keep a low profile on our costs... so Y it is !!!

I'm traveling Western Europe - Far East every month, but in Flex. So I'll get 12K per month... I'll have one longer in August, so I might make Plat

I've actually got an upgrade many times when "D" class was unavailable by calling the call centre, whereas my brother, who is also a gold (but flies much less), was not able to get an upgrade on the same flight.
I've asked the criteria, and have been told that there are different grades of gold based on tier miles flown, etc.

I finished my journey to DXB and when i boarded the aircraft, i was greeted by the pursor at the aircraft gate "Welcome, Mr XXX, Thanks for being Platinum".. she then took my bag and rolled it to my seat and helped me put it in the bin (though i asked her to let it go.. she insisted to help me - very sweet)

My boarding pass still said Gold. I quizzed her regarding how she knew - she said that they that received an email from DXB advising them that i would be traveling with them along with passenger list.

I could see the difference in the attitude - crew was very hospitable, they repeated came to check on me, asked me if I need somethig or if they coud do somethign else to make my journey comfortable.

It was niceeeeeeeeeee.......!!!