Goodbye Gold...
 

After ups & downs for 3 years, I have to finally say goodbye to my Gold status.

With major cost cutting in my company, all flights since 2015 chosen based on cheapest possible (Special). :(:(:(

Sucks to be on a route with Specials. My regular routes sometimes have Savers but it's typically <20$ difference to select a Flex fare which earns twice as many miles as a saver.

Is it worth upgrading your tickets yourself to flex to get the extra miles? If you travel a lot in y from Dxb gold is well worth it.

That's a shame, I always try to avoid booking savers, within our company it is mandatory to book tickets which can be cancelled.

I hit Gold in August 2015 and experienced one flight as Gold with no perks because I was already booked in J - haven't had a single flight since... looking likely I'll lose Gold in September without ever experiencing the benefits :(

You didn't get the onboard gold greeting?

Even if company policy is cheapest I'd argue that they should allow Flex. On my regular out a flex is often just 15usd extra each way for double the miles and easier to change.

I recall from when we met in the DXB lounge a couple of years ago that you travelled for work regularly, and to a variety of destinations. Will you be close to achieving Gold under the new rules? I'm thinking upgrading at your own expense as m3red suggests, or even a mileage run or holiday flight?

:D :eek: on EK?

There's always some hidden gems. ;)

I'll probably do one to renew platinum.

Because Plat adds a lot of benefit when travelling in First, right :D

Just considering the classic MR if you look in that corner of FT (an odd world indeed) is like 4cpm (cents per mile) while on EK the best I've ever seen is around 8-9 (on flights to/from DME if you're interested, however in Y Flex and Flex+, J and F not as good.)

If only it were like that on every route. On my regular route, SYD-GVA, flex is A$230 (or 22%) more than saver each way. (That is, it's cheaper to buy saver and eat the change fee if needed.) Flex Plus is 170% of the saver fare. US$15 for more flexibility I could justify to management. 22% more so I can get points, no.

I'll probably fly a bit more j next year and not travel quite as much (said that this year too) :D

Plat is good for getting d class upgrades so quite worth it if I'm close to the 150 mark

Having just attained Gold I'm looking forward to seeing if there are any differences. One thing I will note is that when I was waiting for my tickets to be re-issued (Y-J), I checked on ExpertFlyer to see what J seats were available on my DXB-PEK A380 flight and there wasn't one window seat showing as available. When the ticket was issued, I went in to MMB and had a few window seats to choose from (unfortunately 23A & K already gone), so, would appear that as Gold more seats are opened up for choice.

Safe & Happy Travels

S

I've never noticed that before. I travel with EK for leisure, and as some of my trips are over peak times (Xmas especially) I book early. I've often had the entire cabin to choose from at seat selection.

I'm Gold now, but this has been the case even when I've been lower down the Skywards pecking order.

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

If you do 50 trips between RUH and DXB you deserve I/o status. :D

Well I guess it's actually 50 flights so 25 returns. About 18 of these are Riyadh, 3 or 4 JNB and the odd DOH. Either way, all that flying and still not renew gold sucks (and yes, sucks even more the time spent in RUH)

I know people they do the ruh-dxb-ruh on 3 days every week :D

Row 4 is great if you don't want to be in your suite and instead cause the galley noise that people complain about ;)

LOL.

Reminds me of my first EK 380 flight in F . Not saying anything else and I'm taking the 4th amendment .

In my defense it was for a stag do at DXB (of all places ) in 2010/2011??.. All paid for by a friend who is now happily single again . :-)

Wow! I didn't think anyone actually makes gold on sectors

I would be so happy if it's based on sectors, as I normally travel GIGxDXBxSIN.

I guess the biggest shame is that EK is not in any airline group that allows you to accumulate tier miles.

I've had quite a few flights in the past 6 months from GIG to US and Europe, but none of these allows me to get tier miles with EK.