Family and orphan points
 

I joined Skywards last year and accumalated a reasonable number of points. I just joined my family, set up a family account and changed my earnings so points go to that family account. Now it seems that I am unable to pool the points originally earned with the family points. Emirates flat refuses to do anything that would help me not waste the orphan points, which obviously is entirely their prerogative, but it seems daft to work this way. Is there any recourse or workaround here?

No, family pooling kicks in from the time its set up and you can't move existing miles into a pooled account, unfortunately. If you're close enough to some type of redemption you could amend your earning to earn into your existing account for now until you reach the redemption level and then go back to pooling. You'd most likely still end up with some small amount of orphan points but hopefully fewer

I don't know if it's still the same, but when it was launched the family points system was decried as being a really bad option for most, with individual accounts for everyone being the way to go.

That was the older family option which only gave only a fraction if the miles to the pool.

The newer version gives all the miles flown by the family to the pool.

( unless things have changed in the last 6 months)

There is an issue of the older points staying on the individual accounts and becoming orphans..

I got around it by using the orphan points to upgrade a few sectors on a flight ( more expensive but better than wasting them )

Another option is to see if the duty free purchase is available if you have the minimum numbers.( again far worse than using it to upgrade but better than losing )

You can "manage" the accrual of miles from the specific family members into the family account by amending the percentage (0-100%) credited to the family account. This can help reduce the orphan points or top off an account up to a viable use.

However... I've now got 100k+ miles in the family account yet I'm still waiting for the ability UPGRADE using the family account.

Still says "Coming Soon" on the EK website. Any info on this?

They can upgrade you if you give them a call

Update: If you ask nicely enough, they will transfer the points in the family account back to the individual accounts.

I can report that upgrading from the Family Account is now available on the Desktop version of the site. (still says "coming soon" on Family page though)

You will have perhaps noticed that the upgrade interface in MMB has changed recently.

When an upgrade is available, there's now a "View Options" button to proceed.

Once you click that, a window will pop up where you can select any of either your account, the family account and any skysurfer's account connected to yours.