extramileage

Was comparing a J mileage ticket versus Y flex + miles to upgrade.

This is what I got (one way, as part of round trip):

Cash Eco Flex + Miles: AED 1,285 + 39,000 miles to upgrade

Business Saver Miles: 45,000 miles + AED 1,435 in fees


Who came up with this retarted pricing structure? At the very least there should be a dilemma for the pax "Use more miles or more cash?". Here, it's a no brainer.

subject2load

Yours is one of countless examples that serve to highlight what a totally ridiculous and irrational structure Emirates have managed to create with the current scheme.

You do indeed have to wonder who came up with the Skywards pricing points / redemption rates - and then decided that yes, we feel this is a fair way of rewarding our loyal customers.

Here's my own favourite example (which I have no interest in booking, but chanced upon it when responding to a forum enquiry a while back....) :

You could fly LGW-CMB for GBP494 in Y Saver return

OR you could get yourself a free award ticket instead.

Well .... maybe not quite 'free'

You will actually hand over GBP308 by way of quaintly-named carrier-imposed charges & taxes, while EK will also happily take 65K miles from your account.

Which means those 65K hard-earned miles have been attributed a value of .....Ł186

You really couldn't make it up. Oh hang on ......Emirates have done !

subject2load

Further to my own previous post ......

I know folk will point out that upgrades are a much more cost-effective use of miles than outright awards. I'm very aware of this - but it's still no justification for the horrid cost of 'buying' a ticket with miles.

(mind you.....if you've been busy accumulating oodles of miles with the likes of AS (and US-style credit card churning), but without any previous history of travel with Emirates.........then roll up roll up for your F class seats on EK .....)

eternaltransit

I think there's only one logical explanation as to why the surcharges are so high on all redemptions - a dictate from the head of revenue management: "make sure that every single ticket, revenue or redemption, means we get enough cash to pay for fuel and charges we have to pay our suppliers, then charge whatever you want for miles".

Probably a backhanded way of showing how much the fuel and handling costs are on various routes though

subject2load

eternal - I'm sure you paint a very realistic picture there.

I know the small print makes it clear that surcharges & taxes are not included in redemption figures as quoted on the mileage calculator tool, but I doubt I'm alone in my view that the relative rates for earning v spending are horribly skewed in favour of EK and to the detriment of ourselves. But no surprise there, I guess.

Whilst not directly comparable, the cash element of an award ticket (ie over & above miles) has all the flavour of the days when Ryanair would take out full-page press ads offering tickets for 1p ......until such time as the ASA eventually stepped in to stop the practice.

kuroko

Have done the calculation several times. I guess the problem was/occured at the moment were yq was excluded from the fare but the miles for a reward booking were not really amended.

Anyway, should get back to yq in the fare soon.

781elephant

Yes on top of that in your example if you purchase the Eco Flex ticket you also get miles both ways so the upgrade is actually discounted!

Its always better to purchase economy then upgrade, as you don't have to pay additional tax.

HOWEVER -> sometimes its not possible to upgrade from Econ to Biz and therefore safer to purchase the Biz with miles direct. This is why perhaps there is the premium.

extramileage

Totally agree, although when a "Saver" mileage ticket is available, it means that D class Y to J upgrades are also available.

ft101

Why would the ASA stop it?

1p tickets were available with nothing extra to pay.

subject2load

The ASA stepped in because there were taxes + other mandatory charges to pay, and these had not been made clear enough within the ads. The ASA and OFT both considered that the so-called 'one penny' - or even zero cost - fares were being promoted in a misleading manner.

This all dates back some time, and it must be said that Ryanair has since cleaned up its act significantly when it comes to press and TV ads.

More about it here
http://www.which.co.uk/news/2006/11/...t-wasnt-99702/

and here
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7337165.stm

ft101

But fares were available for 1p total price.

Neither link is about 1p all in fares and in the second one the complainer allegedly "couldn't remember and couldn't provide any evidence of the flights he was trying to book."

Seems like a poorly informed Ryanair bash.

eternaltransit

There were both regular all-in 1p flights (which you had to pay with a Visa Electron card, no less!), and also campaigns that featured a headline price of 1p, but didn't include taxes and fees etc. - the OFT stepped in to stop the latter practice of regularly advertising fares without adding in mandatory charges.

A little off-topic though

pokeable

No car service for AS redemptions, though