Marc Liljeqvist

Had a very interesting experience with the Emirates help center this weekend. I wanted to upgrade my NRT-DXB flight from Y to J, but saw in the app that no milage upgrades were available.

I first signed up for auto upgrade, but wanted to contact the help center to ask when or if they would normally release the upgrades, because previous experiences have taught me never to completely trust the auto upgrade system, as I once was able to upgrade myself without ever getting a mail.

At first the dude I spoke to in the chat was very formal and said the upgrade offers could be released at any time, and that I should consult a local office. I thanked him and said I would do so. Then a long pause where I could see he was typing. He then asked for my name and booking reference. Sure. Then another long pause.

Then he came back and said there was one seat in J that was planned to be released for upgrade on a later date, and he asked me if I was interested in it. I said yes of course.

But this make me wonder. If the seat was there the entire time and was planned to get released as a milage upgrade offer, then why not just make it available? What does Emirates gain from holding it back?

kq747

Simplest answer is that they're hoping someone will pay for it. But their revenue management team probably determined that by a certain date it is ok release?

Just thinking out loud here...

eternaltransit

Selling it to someone else for $$$$.

Probability of sale weighed against making a Skywards customer happy.

sydtogla

After you said you were interested, what did he tell you? Did you get the upgrade?

Marc Liljeqvist

Indeed. He took care of it in less than a minute. An hour later I got the confirmation that I had been auto upgraded. I don't know if it was his doing to make it more official, or if I would actually have gotten the upgrade anyway.

But very cool. I honestly never expected an upgrade through the chat. That`s a first

m3red

and thats a great upgrade to get/use points on. Long, long flight.

imhere2stay

testtest

ft101

I saw it a couple of times today - it just popped up. It may depend on what you're trying to do at the time, your country settings, or maybe the availability of operators.

imhere2stay

i see. i still dont see it. did you go on the contact us page? what country setting do you use?

ft101

Not via the contact us page. Maybe sensitive to the feature you're trying to use. I was in Manage a Booking or On-Line check in.

I'm in the UK, English language.