I was being a bit impatient waiting on my tickets being re-issued so had a quick look at EF to see what my choices were going to be. Have had 23 A & K before and quite liked them but on the EF seat map there was only 1 window seat available (18A I think it was). The rest were aisle or DEFG seats. When my ticket was eventually re-issued and I went in to MMB, I had the choice of around 8 or 9 window seats to choose from.

Safe & Happy Travels

S

status is the best when in y.

I thought they were improving platinum but haven't seen much aside from the odd f car although on the drivers screen in Dxb I'm still showing as gold for some reason...

The confirmation of f seats at t-5 and j seats in space available is the big difference I've seen.

Expert Flyer should have showed whether they were blocked or occupied. To add to me previous comment about having the whole cabin to choose from, this usually excludes 10 - 14A/B and Row 26 (on three class flights) which are blocked by EK.

Could your change have coincided with these being released, or maybe a Travel Agent booking?

Anything is a possibility :D. The CTA that my company use don't have my EK Skywards number so it's only entered once I go in to MMB and manually enter it. I seem to recall that on EF, the window seats were blocked rather than occupied.

S

Depending on the route some seats are also blocked for use by codeshare partners. They are released when online check-in opens I believe.

I experienced this with our upcoming trip to South Africa where several months ago there appeared to be very little choice of seats on the legs from and to DXB on line. Someone suggested it was because of the SAA codeshare.

That's exactly it.. I was gonna cite that as an example but couldn't remember if I had seen it on EY or EK. Possibly both.

Can anybody confirm that ?

I had in mind that EK was one of the rare airlines not to limit seating choice depending on status (for which I am totally supportive though being Plat).

On A380 JCL, window seats often go out first, for obvious reasons of longer pitch and additional storage.
On A380 FCL, 1A/K often go out first, though one window is missing and there is less space.

I am almost 100% certain that seating choice is not restricted based on status. EK would have also made a big deal of advertising such a benefit if it existed.

It is known that some seats are blocked for codeshare, infants, etc. and open up at various points prior to departure. I've been told before that certain seats are blocked for SAA due to codeshare so I am quite certain of this.

Not restricted

Biggest lost is actually not access to lounge outside DXB, but the lost chance for Op-ups when tickets are over sold.

Lounge in GIG (frequent) is nothing to crow about, and I've hardly visited SIN's lounge.

Ah well...

Never understood this. 1 A and K are the worst window seats in F.

+1

Maybe, the pleasure to have #1 on BP ?
Or, to be on the alleged foremost section of the ship, which, in the old days, was synonym to lower noise and less shaking ?

Row 4 is second worst, due to galley noise. (just experienced that :( )

I pretty much always travel with Mrs M3red so we go for row 1 or 2. Row one is almost next to row 2 window...

I've never sat in row 4 but wouldn't fancy it.

I have the same issue keeping Gold. My year ends 31st Aug and it appears I am going to re-qualify (just) by making 50 flights. I currently have 43K Tier miles and mainly hack it to RUH and back on saver tickets. Considering the cost of these EK gets way more cash out of me and gives out fewer miles than those who fly J.

Not sure why Emirates doesn't reward people like me better as 2 J class returns to SFO gets you Gold where as 50 short-haul trips with ticket price between $400 and $700 only achieves the same