A bit of a random one and I was wondering if any people on the EK forum might have any suggestions/ideas. Over Christmas I'm going to be booking some trips for next year and something that I'm really keen to try out is Emirates A380 First Class.

I'd only be able to do this one way and have only got just over 20,000 Skywards miles - so would buy a business class ticket and upgrade.

I was wondering if people had any ideas on which routes I could take doing this - that would give me the best opportunity to experience first class while being within the 20,000 or so mile budget - the only route that springs to mind is Sydney - Christchurch; but with the recent Trans-Tasman cuts - do people reckon it'd still be operating with an A380 in around Nov 2018?

Really grateful to get any suggestions you might have - not overly bothered about which route/ location as can plan a trip around it.

Thanks!

I don't know how many miles are required off-hand but one I did on a low miles budget was HKG-BKK, I used 39k miles for an outright redemption, upgrade is likely to be around 20kish. Other 5th freedom routes or shorter routes might also work, but not sure how many are operated by an A380, like CMB-SIN, which is a 77W if I'm not mistaken.

HKG-BKK upgrade to First is 13,000 miles from a Business Saver ticket and 10,000 miles from a Business Flex or Flex Plus ticket.

I have upgraded to First on this route a few times now.

Thanks - but BKK to HKG is now operated by a 2 class

I wasn't aware. I last flew in First July this year.

If it was me personally I would save the miles and use them for a longer flight. I currently have around 80,000 which will get me an upgrade from business to first across a flight like DUB - DXB - PVG or SIN whilst still having 30,000 miles spare (currently pricing flights from DUB - PVG)

It's a nice touch having access to the first lounge etc.
An easy way of upping miles is going for an Elite credit card. I put every day purchases on mine and pay it off in full every month.

Upgrades for long haul flights are around 50,000. First spend bonus can be anywhere from 10,000 - 20,000 miles just like that which is fantastic!

Sorry if I'm putting you off short haul first but that's my own personal opinion to save them.

Not at all - useful! I currently have a Emirates MBNA, but will take a look at getting an Amex card with sign up bonus. My only issue is as I'm wanting to upgrade from Business, I still have to � for that ticket for which the cost goes up the longer the flight!

Ok fair enough.
No need to bite my head off

Sorry - I wasn't! Was a useful idea, the sign up bonus would give me a enough to do a J Class LHR-DXB, so think I might settle for that!

I find the ME fares are generally more than India or very similar Far East, so distance or flight length is not always the driver.
e.g. Delhi/Mumbai �1800/ Muscat �2200 / Dubai �2300 / HongKong �2300 / Bangkok �2000
Bangkok is always a great destination and in general you can upgrade outside of peak

Thanks all for your help with this - looks like I'll be grabbing EK418 (BKK-SYD) in Business. Seems to be the longest flight you can upgrade on under that band.