Expiring miles 31st October question
Oct 18, 2018, 9:18 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 444
Expiring miles 31st October question
My wife and me are both Skywards Silver, each with circa 90k miles. We both got emails to say we have around 35k miles expiring at the end of the month. We have upcoming J returns GLA-MEL in December so I went into MAB and it says upgrades available but only on DXB-MEL and 140k each! Upgrade not feasible even using all the miles before the end of the month.
The next thought was spend 35k miles in Emirates High Street before losing them. We've both identified items we could purchase.
Before doing this I wanted to check that we will be left with 55k miles after the end of the month? I.e. we won't go down to 55k after purchase and then have 35k taken off on 31st? In essence are we spending just the expiring miles and not dipping into the balance remaining?
Thanks in advance for any advice.
The next thought was spend 35k miles in Emirates High Street before losing them. We've both identified items we could purchase.
Before doing this I wanted to check that we will be left with 55k miles after the end of the month? I.e. we won't go down to 55k after purchase and then have 35k taken off on 31st? In essence are we spending just the expiring miles and not dipping into the balance remaining?
Thanks in advance for any advice.
Oct 18, 2018, 10:29 am
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 444
We got another email to say we were close to Gold but with miles expiring we'd be too far away and probably costly to use the 35k and buy more to achieve gold. As far as I can see, as long as we fly J we get chauffeur pick ups and J lounge access and it's neither here nor there if we are blue, silver or gold? Extra baggage allowance not relevant to us as we don't go near the 40kg J allowance.
Oct 18, 2018, 10:47 am
#4
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Economy, mostly :(
Programs: Skywards Gold
Posts: 7,801
Thanks; as I suspected/hoped. 140k each. As soon as I clicked on upgrades available it showed none for GLA-DXB and all of return flight but DXB-MEL outward was available but it said in red at top not enough miles for this. We're J Saver fare so presume it's more miles to upgrade? Seemed steep to me too but will have another look before any purchases with expiring miles.
We got another email to say we were close to Gold but with miles expiring we'd be too far away and probably costly to use the 35k and buy more to achieve gold. As far as I can see, as long as we fly J we get chauffeur pick ups and J lounge access and it's neither here nor there if we are blue, silver or gold? Extra baggage allowance not relevant to us as we don't go near the 40kg J allowance.
We got another email to say we were close to Gold but with miles expiring we'd be too far away and probably costly to use the 35k and buy more to achieve gold. As far as I can see, as long as we fly J we get chauffeur pick ups and J lounge access and it's neither here nor there if we are blue, silver or gold? Extra baggage allowance not relevant to us as we don't go near the 40kg J allowance.
Oct 18, 2018, 11:29 am
#5
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: UK
Programs: EK skywards Gold, BA, VS silver
Posts: 194
[QUOTE=skywardhunter;30329053 Being on a saver might be the issue. Might be worth paying cash to upfare to Flex and then upgrade to J.[/QUOTE]
Op is flying J anyway. Did you mean F??
Op is flying J anyway. Did you mean F??
Oct 18, 2018, 2:34 pm
#6
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 444
Yes, another option to consider and explore but I'm guessing the cash upgrade from saver to flex J won't be the same amount but more than the difference between saver and flex fares quoted when we booked.
Oct 18, 2018, 4:08 pm
#7
Join Date: Mar 2018
Programs: Skywards
Posts: 9
I've just checked the miles calculator and it shows 70,200 miles to upgrade from J Saver to F for DXB-MEL?
Maybe the 140,000 is for both people, in which case it might be possible to split the booking and then upgrade separately.
Maybe the 140,000 is for both people, in which case it might be possible to split the booking and then upgrade separately.
Oct 18, 2018, 8:19 pm
#8
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Economy, mostly :(
Programs: Skywards Gold
Posts: 7,801
Yeah that's what I was thinking, I never seen an upgrade anywhere in the system that costs more than 100k
Oct 19, 2018, 6:04 am
#10
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 444
Correct, I just checked again and it is trying to do the upgrade for both of us on my miles which are insufficient but we each have at least 70,200. Can I transfer enough of my wife's miles to my account first so there are at least 140,400 and then do the upgrade as the easiest option (not sure how to split the booking so I can upgrade each separately and a bit wary of splitting the booking anyway).
Oct 19, 2018, 6:18 am
#11
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Economy, mostly :(
Programs: Skywards Gold
Posts: 7,801
Correct, I just checked again and it is trying to do the upgrade for both of us on my miles which are insufficient but we each have at least 70,200. Can I transfer enough of my wife's miles to my account first so there are at least 140,400 and then do the upgrade as the easiest option (not sure how to split the booking so I can upgrade each separately and a bit wary of splitting the booking anyway).
Oct 19, 2018, 6:23 am
#12
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 444
In the meantime I looked at transferring 50,000 of my wife's miles to my account but discovered there is a charge of US$15 per 1,000 miles which would cost too much for 50k. However, I discovered there is an option to create a My Family account and pool the miles and I'm in the process of doing this (hoping I won't get so far and then discover there's a similar charge for that!). Is this a suitable option or would you still recommend calling and doing it separately?
Oct 19, 2018, 6:37 am
#14
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 444
Thanks; seems like a good idea to pool miles for this and future upgrades though. My wife has an email with my invite to join the family account and hasn't yet clicked on the invite link until I've seen some replies like yours. Thanks again; bottom line I know could be a phone call to Emirates customer services to do it.