Cannot upgrade
 

Hello there,

I have a question about Emirates. I asked somebody to book me a ticket from Budapest to Kuala Lumpur with Emirates. Unfortunately he booked an economy class ticket instead of a business class ticket(my mistake).

Today I have phoned Emirates to ask whether it is possible to upgrade to business or first class. They have told me, since I apprarantly booked a promotion ticket, I am not allowed to upgrade.

Could somebody tell me if there is a way around this, in my opinion, ridicilous system?

Thank you in advance.

Welcome Gino0810. The first question to be asked, was this booked through a travel agent or directly with EK.? If EK then you can deal with them directly and ask how much you would need to pay to change the ticket to Business. In this instance you wouldn’t be upgrading but up-faring. Not sure if possible on promotion tickets but would be slightly surprised if you couldn’t. It would basically boil down to the fare difference being paid.

If the ticket has has been purchased through a travel agent, then you will have to deal with them to make any changes. EK generally waives the fare change fee to up-fare whereas you may find travel agents don’t.

Let us us know how you get on.

S

Hi Gino and welcome to the EK forum. What do you mean by "you asked somebody", who is that person as it doesn't sound like a boss or relative, and why was it your mistake that they booked Economy and why would you expect them to book Business? Is this a cash ticket or a mileage award ticket?

The cheapest round-trip fare ex-BUD to KUL on EK is a T fare with a base fare of $249. There don't appear to be any published Special fares, so this is a Saver. The fare rules state:

So you can upgrade for cash. The agent may have understood you want to upgrade with miles which is indeed not possible until check-in. You could try calling again, however if this is an award ticket or booked via a travel agent you won't have any luck with EK, if the latter the travel agent can upgrade for cash.

Hi all,

I phoned Emirates first and they weren't helpful at all. I know phoned the travel agent and they have arranged it for me. How nice.
Thank you very much for your help.

Yes - Emirates would not be able to upgrade a ticket bought via a travel agent. Glad you got it sorted.

Hi Gino,

just to clarify for you if you booked it via a travel agent the airline (regardless of Emirates or any other airline) will generally never touch the ticket as it is the travel agent's responsibility, thus while understandably frustrating there isn't much EK could have done as it isn't their prerogative to modify a travel agent's ticket, only after the first flight is flown can they change it.

I think EK or airlines can touch Travel agent booking/tickets within the last 72H before flight.

One other thing it that to cancel and reissue the ticket in J class.

Usually once check-in opens (48hrs) or at the latest once the reservation goes under airport control which I believe is around 6hrs before departure

Not entirely accurate. Airlines have access to and can modify agent booked tickets. It all depends on the circumstances and the degree of policy enforcement within the airline.
At the very least, a situation that necessitates a ticket re-issue like upgrading with miles/points is fine.

Few anecdotes: booked through Expedia on ME several times. In one instance ME cancelled and refunded the ticket, in another a ME call centre agent refused to touch the inbound flight (outbound was flown) saying this is an agent's ticket - a quick HUCA got through another agent who did the change without a single comment. Another example, AA issued tickets on QF stock. 3 separate instances QF refused to change flights and pointed me to AA. In a fourth instant QF changed the ticket (I am not sure what they did in their end but it remained AA stock). Also few years ago, EK forced a re-issue from their end (not sure about the technicality but I didn't call AA) on an AA stock EK metal ticket despite the EK agent's themselves asking me to call AA (it was a stuff up by AA agents btw).