Dec 28, 2017, 12:45 pm
Last edit by: Zol
Please post your 2018 Operational Upgrade Experiences in this thread.
Around the middle of 2016, Emirates modified their Operational Upgrade Policy favouring type of ticket over status holders, giving non status passengers on Flex and Flex Plus tickets an advantage over (for example) Silver members on a Saver ticket. During the latter half of 2016, less Op Ups were reported but we would still like to hear when they happen.
Link to the 2017 thread: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/emir...ost-here.html#
Please use the following format for ease of reading and of course, discussion is still welcome.
Example:
Upgrade given: Y - J
Upgrade location: Gate
Route: BKK-DXB
Flight number: EK385
Type of ticket: Saver
Date of travel: 040115
Tier status: Gold
Tier miles to date: 18,000
Skywards miles balance: 80,000
Number of pax on the same PNR (Including OP): 1
Number of pax upgraded: 1
Safe & Happy Travels and May The Upgrade Gods Look Upon You.
Saltire74
Around the middle of 2016, Emirates modified their Operational Upgrade Policy favouring type of ticket over status holders, giving non status passengers on Flex and Flex Plus tickets an advantage over (for example) Silver members on a Saver ticket. During the latter half of 2016, less Op Ups were reported but we would still like to hear when they happen.
Link to the 2017 thread: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/emir...ost-here.html#
Please use the following format for ease of reading and of course, discussion is still welcome.
Example:
Upgrade given: Y - J
Upgrade location: Gate
Route: BKK-DXB
Flight number: EK385
Type of ticket: Saver
Date of travel: 040115
Tier status: Gold
Tier miles to date: 18,000
Skywards miles balance: 80,000
Number of pax on the same PNR (Including OP): 1
Number of pax upgraded: 1
Safe & Happy Travels and May The Upgrade Gods Look Upon You.
Saltire74
Your Operational Upgrades Experience 2018 - Please Post Here
Sep 3, 2018, 3:06 am
#76
Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: BLR
Programs: EK-Gold, SPG, Amex
Posts: 58
I asked if I had been upgraded, but the agent in BLR said it's possible because the onward flight was full, however the seat allocation is not reflecting in the system yet.
Like you said, at T-60 I got an email from EK saying I have been accepted into EK029 with a seat number. But all the confusion regarding the upgrade as I described above had already occurred by the time I got the email.
Like you said, at T-60 I got an email from EK saying I have been accepted into EK029 with a seat number. But all the confusion regarding the upgrade as I described above had already occurred by the time I got the email.
Sep 4, 2018, 8:03 am
#77
Join Date: Aug 2016
Location: Dubai
Programs: Skywards Plat, QR privilege club Gold, Topbonus Gold
Posts: 106
Upgrade given: Y - J
Upgrade location: 12 hours before
Route: DXB-FCO
Flight number: EK095
Type of ticket: ECONOMY FLEX Plus
Date of travel: xx Aug 2018
Tier status: Plat
Tier miles to date: 12K
Skywards miles balance: 490K
Expertflyer was saying fully booked flight in Y and few seats available in J.
I had this pending old forgotten Eco FP ticket that was changed few times and i was hoping to upgrade with cash OLCI or with miles at Check-in or lounge or even at the plane door but 2 days before the flight someone checked EK Load internally for me and flight was overbooked by +16 in Y, +8 Staff waiting... 5 seats available in F so some got bumped from J too.. Only one Plat booked in Y (that was me) , hence day before the flight a +1 number was already under the confirmed J load EK App.. OLCI been offered upgrade to J but decided not to since upgrade chance was quite high for this one and night before my BP was already in J.
Upgrade location: 12 hours before
Route: DXB-FCO
Flight number: EK095
Type of ticket: ECONOMY FLEX Plus
Date of travel: xx Aug 2018
Tier status: Plat
Tier miles to date: 12K
Skywards miles balance: 490K
Expertflyer was saying fully booked flight in Y and few seats available in J.
I had this pending old forgotten Eco FP ticket that was changed few times and i was hoping to upgrade with cash OLCI or with miles at Check-in or lounge or even at the plane door but 2 days before the flight someone checked EK Load internally for me and flight was overbooked by +16 in Y, +8 Staff waiting... 5 seats available in F so some got bumped from J too.. Only one Plat booked in Y (that was me) , hence day before the flight a +1 number was already under the confirmed J load EK App.. OLCI been offered upgrade to J but decided not to since upgrade chance was quite high for this one and night before my BP was already in J.
Last edited by Bubus78; Sep 4, 2018 at 8:04 am Reason: typo
Sep 5, 2018, 5:38 pm
#78
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: Manchester, UK
Programs: Emirates Skywards (Gold), Hilton (Diamond), Radisson (Gold)
Posts: 370
Upgrade given: J -> F
Upgrade location: At gate
Route: JED - DBX
Flight number: Can’t remember
Type of ticket: Business FLex Plus
Date of travel: 30 Aug 2018
Tier status: Gold
Tier miles to date: 55K
Skywards miles balance: 57K
It was a fortuitous upgrade, as a disruptive passenger that needed to be removed delayed take off by 2 hrs and landing by 1 hr, so a normally 2 hrs flight was 5 hrs on the plane.
Shame no wine though :-(
Upgrade location: At gate
Route: JED - DBX
Flight number: Can’t remember
Type of ticket: Business FLex Plus
Date of travel: 30 Aug 2018
Tier status: Gold
Tier miles to date: 55K
Skywards miles balance: 57K
It was a fortuitous upgrade, as a disruptive passenger that needed to be removed delayed take off by 2 hrs and landing by 1 hr, so a normally 2 hrs flight was 5 hrs on the plane.
Shame no wine though :-(
Sep 22, 2018, 6:10 am
#79
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 18
Despite being Gold for the last 4 years and always ending the year with around 140k tier points and, generally flying on Flex or Flex Plus tickets, I have never received an Op Up from Emirates 
From now on, I’m just going to fly with them the bare minimum to get the 50k points to keep Gold and then put the remainder of my eastbound travel to Qatar or Singapore Air.
From now on, I’m just going to fly with them the bare minimum to get the 50k points to keep Gold and then put the remainder of my eastbound travel to Qatar or Singapore Air.
Sep 22, 2018, 11:15 am
#80
Ambassador, Emirates
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: LGW / AMS / CPT
Programs: SA KL BA EK
Posts: 4,272
Despite being Gold for the last 4 years and always ending the year with around 140k tier points and, generally flying on Flex or Flex Plus tickets, I have never received an Op Up from Emirates
From now on, I’m just going to fly with them the bare minimum to get the 50k points to keep Gold and then put the remainder of my eastbound travel to Qatar or Singapore Air.
From now on, I’m just going to fly with them the bare minimum to get the 50k points to keep Gold and then put the remainder of my eastbound travel to Qatar or Singapore Air.
Next there is the algorithm which decides who gets upgraded: Plats first, then Flex+ ticket holders in order of status, then Flex and so on.
To sulk because these rules have never resulted in an op up for you is not entirely logical. Unless SQ or QR have rules which give you a better upgrade probability. And even then, the overall ‘package’ (fare, schedule, hard and soft product) must justify that change.
My first (and to date only) op up was on a Flex+ J ticket. And I was a lowly blue member at the time. Went ‘through the ranks’, now Gold. No more upgrades given. Sad but that’s how the system works.
Sep 22, 2018, 1:55 pm
#81
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 18
The benefit of, say, Qatar or Singapore for me is the lounge access when traveling economy on shorter routes through either Star Alliance or One World.
My employer pays for business or first class on anything over 8 hours, Premium economy from 4 - 8 hours and economy for anything below 4 hours. Consequently, it’s not at all uncommon to fly to somewhere like KL and spend a day or so in meetings there and then go on up to HaNoi on Malaysian (if I can get a real cheap ticket, I go Air Asia).
This rolling year, I have managed to get 146k tier miles on Emirates and 1,200 on One World (albeit only with two BA flights currently so I need to do a quick day return somewhere to ensure I retain Silver), so it makes sense to me to reduce my Emirates spend to a ppint where I retain Gold, but increase the spend on OW or *A to benefit from greater lounge access.
My employer pays for business or first class on anything over 8 hours, Premium economy from 4 - 8 hours and economy for anything below 4 hours. Consequently, it’s not at all uncommon to fly to somewhere like KL and spend a day or so in meetings there and then go on up to HaNoi on Malaysian (if I can get a real cheap ticket, I go Air Asia).
This rolling year, I have managed to get 146k tier miles on Emirates and 1,200 on One World (albeit only with two BA flights currently so I need to do a quick day return somewhere to ensure I retain Silver), so it makes sense to me to reduce my Emirates spend to a ppint where I retain Gold, but increase the spend on OW or *A to benefit from greater lounge access.
Sep 23, 2018, 1:40 am
#82
Join Date: Sep 2018
Posts: 7
Upgrade given: Y - J
Upgrade location: App 4 hours before check-in
Route: MEL-SIN
Flight number: EK405
Type of ticket: Saver
Date of travel: 230918
Tier status: Gold
Tier miles to date: 25000
Skywards miles balance: 15000
Number of pax on the same PNR (Including OP): 1
Number of pax upgraded: 1
Upgrade location: App 4 hours before check-in
Route: MEL-SIN
Flight number: EK405
Type of ticket: Saver
Date of travel: 230918
Tier status: Gold
Tier miles to date: 25000
Skywards miles balance: 15000
Number of pax on the same PNR (Including OP): 1
Number of pax upgraded: 1
Last edited by Stekrr; Sep 23, 2018 at 1:41 am Reason: Typo
Sep 23, 2018, 4:48 am
#83
Ambassador, Emirates
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: LGW / AMS / CPT
Programs: SA KL BA EK
Posts: 4,272
Upgrade given: Y - J
Upgrade location: App 4 hours before check-in
Route: MEL-SIN
Flight number: EK405
Type of ticket: Saver
Date of travel: 230918
Tier status: Gold
Tier miles to date: 25000
Skywards miles balance: 15000
Number of pax on the same PNR (Including OP): 1
Number of pax upgraded: 1
Upgrade location: App 4 hours before check-in
Route: MEL-SIN
Flight number: EK405
Type of ticket: Saver
Date of travel: 230918
Tier status: Gold
Tier miles to date: 25000
Skywards miles balance: 15000
Number of pax on the same PNR (Including OP): 1
Number of pax upgraded: 1
Sep 23, 2018, 5:17 am
#84
Join Date: Sep 2018
Posts: 7
Was offered paid upgrade 3 days out. Suspect very oversold economy as start of school holidays in Melbourne!
Sep 23, 2018, 7:19 pm
#86
Ambassador: Emirates
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: UK/AU
Programs: QF P1 + LTS, EK Gold, BAEC Gold, QR Gold, IHG Ambassador
Posts: 1,142
Do you have any info about other op-ups? I'm fascinated by this one because it seems to put status before fare bucket, which would be a change in the current (AFAIK) protocol.
Sep 23, 2018, 8:28 pm
#87
Join Date: Sep 2018
Posts: 7
No I didn't see anyone else getting one, but they seemed to do it before check in so I assume they made quite a few. I guess exhausted the list of flex fares before going by status... I also had one on the same route in January this year but was flying flex that time.
Sep 26, 2018, 3:27 pm
#88
Join Date: Sep 2018
Posts: 6
Apologies for a novice question, but does pre-selecting a seat in economy affect the likelihood of receiving an op up? I am flying tomorrow on an Economy Flex Plus ticket, am Silver, but I selected a seat while checking in today. It looks like economy is not full (so my upgrade chances are nil for this flight), but wanted to know going forward.
Also, anyone have experience with JFK-DXB flight op ups (or the return flight)? I do the flight about 6-8 times per year and have received one upgrade in the past 2 years (ironically, the same flight that put me into Silver status).
Many thanks!
Also, anyone have experience with JFK-DXB flight op ups (or the return flight)? I do the flight about 6-8 times per year and have received one upgrade in the past 2 years (ironically, the same flight that put me into Silver status).
Many thanks!
Sep 26, 2018, 6:27 pm
#89
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Boston, MA
Programs: EK Gold, A3 *G, AB Gold, Jetblue Mosaic
Posts: 1,386
Apologies for a novice question, but does pre-selecting a seat in economy affect the likelihood of receiving an op up? I am flying tomorrow on an Economy Flex Plus ticket, am Silver, but I selected a seat while checking in today. It looks like economy is not full (so my upgrade chances are nil for this flight), but wanted to know going forward.
Also, anyone have experience with JFK-DXB flight op ups (or the return flight)? I do the flight about 6-8 times per year and have received one upgrade in the past 2 years (ironically, the same flight that put me into Silver status).
Many thanks!
Also, anyone have experience with JFK-DXB flight op ups (or the return flight)? I do the flight about 6-8 times per year and have received one upgrade in the past 2 years (ironically, the same flight that put me into Silver status).
Many thanks!
Sep 26, 2018, 8:27 pm
#90
Ambassador: Emirates
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: UK/AU
Programs: QF P1 + LTS, EK Gold, BAEC Gold, QR Gold, IHG Ambassador
Posts: 1,142
Whats the fare difference between your Flex+ and J saver? It shouldn't be too outrageous on that route.