So. I've been chasing an upgrade from flexi saver to business on EK406 from DXB-MEL for a week now. Had auto upgrade set but have passed the 72 hour window. Still no upgrade and expert flyer says 18 seats free in biz . -i've been calling and chatting to the help desk to see if there is availability and there is none, then right after i hung up the phone this morning I get an email saying I have been selected for a special one time only upgrade offer to pay 35.100 skywards for an upgrade (instead of the 54k that I have that I intend to use for this flight) . -imagine how annoyed I was! however upon clicking the link, it still says there is no availability..... I only opened the link maybe 5 mins after the email was sent so possibly they opened one seat only and someone else got there first.... But still it baffles me!!

What is a flexi saver ?

They wanted you to hold out for a cheaper upgrade; 18,900 miles saving is a lot. Try again at the airport but you will pay full miles

Sorry i meant flex plus.

So this morning I tried the 35k upgrade email again and low and behold I got a seat in business.

-woop!

Recent experience....

Flying SYD-DXB with a J Flex ticket. I had both auto-upgrade selected AND notifications set on EF for any Z availability.
Spoke with EK call centre a week out, and they confirmed no award seats available, however only 3 of 14 seats had been booked (which corroborated with EF).
T-96 - I checked the EK App, and sure enough an upgrade was available. No auto-upgrade / no notifications from EF.

On the upside, it coincided with the Skywards 25 Million Members promotion, so I managed to pay 25% less in points.

I had auto upgrade set on EK408 DXB-MEL on 15 September.

I was in Ethiopia with no internet access, but luckily visited a hotel with internet available 4 days before and incredibly received notification 10 minutes later. EF was showing 8 empty seats in F and up until the airport took control, no other seats were taken, and I must assume I was the only Z upgrade.

F was full on that trip so probably the balance was checkin and onboard upgrades.

This is the first time I have used auto upgrade, with low expectations due to previously documented experiences of FT members. But it worked well for me.

More likely op-ups

Yes, you're right

I am sorry for resurrecting this thread, but has anyone had recent experiences in using Auto Upgrade as EK Platinum, versus requesting to be waitlisted through the call centre?

My typical process when for whatever reason I get booked in J has always been to call up asking for an upgrade to F with miles. If there is no availability as Platinum they can waitlist the upgrade and I have had a 100% success rate in getting it cleared at least one week prior to departure.

Tonight I called EK to do the usual and was told that if waitlisted through the phone I would have a lower priority than if doing it through Auto Upgrade. Hung up and called again, only to be told the same (much to my surprise!).

I had always been under the impression that the manual waitlist would put Plats into a better position rather than using the Auto Upgrade function. Has this changed? Any experiences?

Bumping up this thread.

Have a Europe - DXB ticket for this weekend and see the autoupgrade option from Business to First.

I have signed up for the autoupgrade - however, any recommendation on whether I should speak to the call center - will that help in any way to expedite the request?

Yes, ask the call centre as well. Auto upgrade is notoriously unreliable. Of course J to F upgrades are (depending on where in Europe you are starting the trip) often quite difficult to get.

Bumping this thread. Are they difficult due to limited availability (i.e. all F seats are sold) or as EK doesn't release them?

Both, but it seems that EK are often quite slow in releasing them as the algorithm ‘hopes’ to sell them for cash shortly before the flight closes. This is of course depending on a number of other factors (including overselling of J seats for which they might need op-ups)