Hi,
Flew from HAM to HKG, i asked the Business Class check in staff if they were going to upgrade me as i am a GOLD, the lady whispered shh... you have a special meal request so we don't upgrade clients with special meal request. Due to my religious believes i always ask for AVML, so i was quite offended. Is EK allowed to discriminate? I re confirmed the policy from the business class lounge manager and he confirmed that was true. He stated that clients dont like to take the eco meal once we upgrade them??????? Emirates business class lounge confirmed the same thing in Dubai...

1) would this happen to a emirati traveling in BA with a BA Gold Card who asked for a HALAL MEAL?
2) would this happen to a person with disabilities in BA with a BA Gold Card who asked for a Diabetic MEAL?

The best part is they upgrade a couple sitting next to me (GOLD NO MEAL REQUEST)

What rights do i have?

I feel sorry for you though I can confirm that what you state is indeed not the case. Maybe it is a different policy at HAM/ the lounge manager was misinformed. FYI, I have personally seen the J cabin roster marked with "AVML/ HML etc. uploaded in Y" for pax with special meal requests who were upgraded from Y. I have a colleague who is a Jain, is a silver (not even a Gold), has veg Jain meal request saved in his preferences, who has enjoyed upgrades to J from BOM, DXB and JFK included with the last one happening 3 weeks back. So, EK does op-up pax with special meal requests - no questions about that. Just not your lucky day.

Their good fortune...

None whatsoever as op-ups are not a published benefit of any tier - it is up to the airline's discretion.

Yes.

It is generally considered that a special meal choice is a sure-fire way to not get upgraded on BA.

It's not the policy but if it was tough luck it's not your right to get upgraded only good fortune

so you had a Y ticket, assumed you would be upgraded because of GOLD and were not (for whatever reason) and this is discrimination??

Discrimination Yes, A person without meal request would be eligible for this random raffle benefit. I agree its not published but we all know Platinum, Gold, Silver, Blue member's get upgraded if the flight is full.

Published or not published it is a policy...

My point is that if they show this kind of discrimination then why am I choosing them over other airlines, at times I have paid over 30% fare for EK.

… I can see the unsupportive replies (I guess you guys don’t have meal requests) but if you or someone close to you develops diabetes and ask for diabetic meal. Would you be okay to be excluded from this unpublished policy which does exists?

Lets make the situation much closer to home.

… Emirates come out with a policy to only upgrade Muslims as they usually don’t drink alcohol. This will save the airline revenue … what will you do?

I've heard the same line twice, once from BA J to F and once from LH J to F. The LH agent said paid upgrades are available but no guarantee of meal request (LSML) being fulfilled.

Can't see this as discrimination, there are operational constraints and unless you're departing from the airline hub and checking in early then it's quite understandable.

I can't see a logical link between this ridiculous suggestion and your initial point about discrimination.

And if such banana-inspired policy was to exist, do you think it'll be easy to tell whether an Arab or a non-Arab is a Muslim or not?

At considerable expense and personal inconvenience I changed my name to Aaron Aardvark because of previous possible missed upgrades due to "alphabet discrimination". So I'm prepared to do what it takes.

So OP wanted something for nothing didn't get it and is here honking on about discrimination.

When I got upgraded last year at check in (SGN-DXB) was told at check in if I had ordered a special meal (I hadn't) then I would only get the special meal for economy.

I've always assumed that special meals make you less likely to get upgraded on any airline so never order them (and when I have needed special food I have it in my hand luggage).

None of us is entitled to an upgrade but I think anything that makes you less standard (special food, special help, travelling with a baby etc) make you less likely. You have to decide what is more important to you (and I have serious, ie life threatening, food allergies so I'm not talking hypothetically)

That's the thing... some people WOULD complain if they got op up'd and were not able to get their special meal. So that's the remedy, even if not a great one, but I no airline can keep the whole list of special meals in J or F for op up contingencies even if it is a relatively common one (e.g. Veg). Since op up's happen last minute, no way catering can load the meals anyway.

Maybe the OP could have waived the meal (HAM-DXB-HKG is tough with no food though!).

Now can we talk about how PNRs with children never get upgraded??? (just kidding)

Ordering an Asian Vegetarian Meal does nothing to denote your religion so get off the discrimination bandwagon.

Precluding any pax (irrespective of race, religion, age, sex etc) from an upgrade is an operational decision and you lost out. Nothing to bleat about here.

Why don't you think that they needed to upgrade 2 pax out of 5 golds and chose the couple next to you because of other considerations - tier miles to date/ booking class, etc. rather than just the meal request. Accept it that you got passed over - just plain bad luck.

Just the other day, I was flying out with 678flyer to JFK (both of us are Platinums). I got upgraded to F and he didn't. None of us could fathom why I got the upgrade and he didn't. That's how EK's op-up criteria works.

No, i checked if the flight was full and if they would upgrade me. "check in staff whispered shh... you have a special meal request so we don't upgrade clients with special meal request. Emirates business class lounge confirmed the same thing in Hamburg and Dubai.