Fully agree. Not really more nor less.

For Platinums in J/Y there is also being put ahead of Golds in op-up priority (mostly, though of course it's up to the dispatcher/load controller at the station).

One relatively unpublished benefit of Platinum is also a 15-20% discount at the Timeless Spa in the lounges - not sure if that extends to the Hotel. Although now I will be a little sad if there are no more slots available! :p

The quantum leap in F&B:
Food
Buffet is similar, but you can avoid eating things that have been out for an hour or two by taking advantage of the a-la-carte which is freshly prepared and is a different menu to the buffet. Not so much difference to JCL for breakfast things (apart from the waffles, porridge/kippers, pancakes on the menu) but definitely for the all-day menu. 6-7 options. Warm bread basket in the FCL. The toast is actually hot. A la carte dessert menu in addition to the ones on the buffet. I think the cheese selection is also much more extensive at the self-serve, as well as balik salmon if that's your thing. You used to be able to order the all-day menu at breakfast but I'm not sure if you can do the reverse - not sure if that's changed recently because the last time I did that was six months ago.

Beverage
Not too different from J. Waiter service if you don't want to stand up at the coffee machines and bar. Arabic coffee at the station - not sure if that's available in JCL.


On board, as many have posted previously - depends entirely on the crew.

Maybe.

I got upgraded over Plats as Gold, so that's moot (over my boss too. Twice). Haven't seen a Gold get ahead of me yet, though.

:td::td:

Were you inbound or outbound from DXB when you, as a Gold, were upgraded over a Platinum?

As a data point I was outbound from DXB to LHR with a colleague who is Gold and he got upgraded at the gate when we arrived together and the lady said to me (as a Platinum) better luck next time! Although I suspect not meant that way her phraseology is potentially exactly how it works.

I had more upgrades as a Gold (F-J/J-F) than with Platinum on average in a year. Since Plat only one overall! :/ (KUL-DXB).

I cannot ever recall being upgraded at an outstation. Must have happened; just can't remember. So I'll say outbound from DXB.

I'll also slightly amend that equation:

Plat = Gold + FCL + 1st Class check in + (earning miles faster - miles you wont be able to use)

I know, know, it makes no sense, but I'm sitting on 300k which I can never seem to use nowadays.

Sure, I'm totally aware there aren't hard and fast rules about upgrade priority - all sorts of criteria and it's at the final discretion of the load controller/dispatcher in the end (usually). You might have pax originating at the station taking priority over connecting pax, solo pax on the PNR, notes on the booking because of a previous experience, the news that someone has been really unpleasant to ground staff being communicated along the grapevine or honest mistakes...probably not worth trying to divine whether there are any procedures that are followed every time!

Whether there should be...well...a long debated topic I think! EK will do whatever works for them...

^ Excellent ! It's true, I had some trips to Sharjah with these nasty buses. Even with the 'Pimp my ride' FC bus, it's a journey !

Landed this morning from Phuket (to Dubai).

Ticket: Economy Saver. Checked in at the First Class counter in Phuket, got an exit seat, phew... Anyway, the chap gave me a voucher for the lounge (Coral Lounge) then pointed to a guy behind me who escorted me through the VIP channel all the way to the lounge (and offered to carry my bag).

That was nice.

Nothing special from the trip this week covering MAA-DXB-JFK and IAH-DXB-MAA other than the usual - Golds getting upgraded ahead of me and the cursory "if you need anything, let me know".

Are you serious. How did you confirm that they upgraded Golds before you/ Plats? If so and if I were you, I would write to skywards about it.

I know it because they talked about it on the bridge comparing boarding cards. I was right behind this group. This was on the DXB-JFK leg.

It would just be another item of correspondence for their overworked shredder. I had one upgrade in six years as Gold and none since I became Platinum at the start of the programme and as I have posted before I was on a flight with a colleague who is Gold and he got upgraded and I did not. The lack of transparency of EK's opup process must (in my view) be deliberate and therefore I would suggest that they would not do anything with correspondence on that subject (as they seem to do with a lot of other subjects) other than ignore it or, at the very best, send a canned response that would not answer the question in any meaningful way. I for one gave up writing to Skywards very early on as it became quickly clear to me that they only go through the motions of having a customer service back office and in fact only have a team of dedicated justifiers with extremely thick skins who are only empowered to fob people off rather than being empowered to solve problems or rectify service shortcomings. Such attitudes within organisations are more often than not from the top down and I had this confirmed (to my personal satisfaction at any rate) when I engaged in written correspondence with Maurice Flanagan (he was not a Sir at that time) where he immediately assumed an aggressively defensive posture and completely ignored the detailed points that I had made in support of my suggestions as to how they could do better by being more transparent in a particular area of their operations that had very negatively impacted on me - he actually responded by saying that I should not be making suggestions to him about customer service as he had checked me and my company out and had discovered that we had some dissatisfied clients too. No I am not kidding, he really did this himself so clearly my observation had touched a very raw nerve because he took me on personally. Some of those on this board that know me personally have suggested that this exchange of correspondence with him has had me consigned to the EK service blacklist ever since. I will probably never know.

Even EK customer service was more responsive, how can you complain about being denied a benefit that was never published in the first place?