Practical benefits of EK Silver
 

Just got my EK Silver membership status. From what I can tell, these are the practical benefits of EK Silver:

1. Priority boarding;

2. EK lounge access in DXB.

Are there other benefits? Needless to say, I'm delighted!

Yep, that's pretty much it really, as far as the travel 'experience' is concerned.

You will also earn Skywards miles at a higher rate. And I think there's a slightly enhanced baggage allowance (assuming you want/need to lug extra stuff around with you ....!)

Given his easy it is to reach Silver, I don't think it's realistic or viable for EK to provide too much over & above this.

Get yourself up to Gold for something (a little) more worthwhile ;)

- Higher priority in case of op-up requirements
- 12kg additional baggage allowance
- You can now upgrade on board on a space available basis (actually more useful than it sounds!)
- Priority check-in desks; useful at some stations definitely

You might be raising expectations there et, re the op-up priority. Higher than Blue, sure ; but you have to hope against hope there aren't too many Plats & Golds of course .......(inc. all those QF friends of ours !)

Thanks for this. It's very unlikely that I'll get to Gold with EK. I simply don't spend enough with them!

However, the priority check-in desks will definitely be a good thing at LHR T3. Baggage-wise I never get anywhere near to the Economy/Blue limits anyway but it's useful to know if I want to bring back some heavy shopping from DXB.

Depends on the OPs travel patterns - BKK the other day had lots of Silvers and even non-status pax getting op-ups, J-F and Y-J!

Were you one thus favoured?

Indeed - had a pretty "lucky" trip, op-up on 2/4 sectors.

That said, it is one of the perks of the EK pricing structure: I bought my ticket 2 days before departure and ended up buying a Y class (as in, the fare was Y fare basis) ticket, which to me screams 99% op-up chance :) - they don't seem to close off the very cheapest buckets close to departure and force last minute bookings into Flex Plus, for instance.

Turns out I was the only Platinum on my ex-BKK flight, and they op-upped some Blues.

As a destination, Thailand has so many positives - not least its overwhelmingly charming people. But sadly I fear that traffic out of BKK may well be rather heavier than inbound in the short term.....:(

Sorry to sound dumb, but what's an op-up? I've heard it mentioned many times on FT. Does it mean operational upgrade? Does it cost money?

Next year I want to do a multi-city trip on EK in J: LHR-DXB-BKK-LHR (one week in DXB, one week in LHR).

I looked at this earlier this year and the cost was cheaper than a BA LHR-DXB-LHR trip in J.

Yes, an op-up is an operational upgrade. They are complimentary and essentially is just a seat change. It just so happens that your new seat is in a better cabin class. Of course, you may also be downgraded, but on EK that only happens in extraordinary circumstances - they prefer to deny boarding, and it's not extremely, extremely unlikely it is going to happen if you hold EK status.

LHR-BKK is an extremely competitive route, with all sorts of carriers serving it. Hence the reason where fares there on all classes are very good. LHR-DXB though: either on BA or EK you will be paying a premium for the O&D nature of your itinerary.

Been a Silver for just over a year now (although briefly dropped down to blue before a recent flight pushed me back up), all on the back of Y travel.

- Lounge access in DXB has been very welcome, although the back-and-forth to the A lounge if not arriving or departing from A, a little less so. But I now think that I have the timing down to a science. The Moet is always nice, but one of the benefits that I've felt more has been being relaxed about eating the on-board food in Y, and instead sleeping through it if inbound to DXB, knowing that there is a decent spread at the lounge. And no more having to march up and down the concourse to find a recliner at peak periods!

- The J check-in desks indeed useful to skip the regular Y line, and seems like the agents are much friendlier and chattier - maybe because most in that line are for J?

- Increased baggage allowance has been helpful in helping family cart possessions across continents, and being able to throw caution to the wind in knowing that going over the regular Y allowance of 30kgs is nothing to worry about.

- Don't forget the tags :) (That is, until you're seated in Y next to a Gold/Plat when the purser comes down to do the greeting...:p)

And in the mysterious op-up process, how much attributable to being a silver is uncertain and of course far from a sure thing on a fully booked flight...but 3 of 15 segments have gone from Y to J. All on 777s, never on an A380.

Have qualified for a second year, but after the changes to the fare structures and mileage earnings earlier this year, not clear if I'll retain it on the basis of the same travel pattern!

Nicely-constructed post sant2585, giving a good summary & insight to any readers not familiar with the world of EK :)

I'm hoping to fly more with EK than I do with BA at the moment so I'm planning some flights over the next 12 months - all subject to funds of course.

I was more than happy with simply flying with EK as a Blue tier member and in Economy. I really do find EK a very special airline on the LHR-DXB route.

In that case there is one more tangible benefit to Silver: your Silver card also acts as a UAE e-Gate card for faster immigration on both departure and arrival at DXB (or actually at AUH). It can be activated for free at the DNRD office at Arrivals at T3.

You may also be registered for smart gate, but you'll find that the e-gate is even quicker, especially for departing DXB.