ft101

OK, got you now. When you go through the upgrade procedure you'll see a screen as per my pic below. Below the flight number and aircraft type it says Business / Saver and that's what is important to you as you'll get the benefits of the ticket type you change to. There are 4 options - Special, Saver, Flex and Flex Plus. As you're aware the cheapest option does not offer chauffeur drive or lounge access so if these are important to you then avoid anything that says "Special".

Everything about this type of upgrade is the same as if you've purchased the Business Class ticket in the first place, and as iFlyMoreThanYou says, call to do it rather than online as Change Fee should not apply but gets added automatically online.

fabian87

Thanks guys, happy travels!

Mister P.

Great, thanks!

friedablass

I know I'm going to sound like someone's overly worried grandmother. But today flight EK204 is delayed by almost 2 hours again . The incoming aircraft is only landing within the next 15 minutes which was the original departure time. It just makes me really concerned when I see this happening...

iFlyMoreThanYou

The inbound was diverted for a medical case, so this again is not a representative data point.

friedablass

That's a relief. Thanks for your constant reassurance and your quick responses .

Metanoia

Got enough miles to upgrade from J to F, which would you choose?
SEA-DXB on new-ish 77W (new J, old F)
DXB-LAX on A380

I don't much care about the shower but I do love the bar.

Leaning towards the SEA flight as I've never done long haul F on the 777 and don't like the idea of such open seating in J for a long flight, but wanted some opinions on the new 777 J product as well.

friedablass

Another thing to consider is that the flight to LAX is about 3 hours longer so you get to enjoy F for that much longer. But it's definitely a tough choice, not sure which I'd choose.

thijsseh

I would choose the 77W flight. The difference between F and J is much bigger there, so ‘more bang for your buck’. Have not checked the time of day of each flight, but I think both are ULH so will have the full service (sometimes on shorter overnight flights the service is cut - i.e. no caviar service in F) and that would influence my choice. If you desperately want to do the F lounge, that would point towards the ex DXB flight.

Metanoia

Thanks! I was thinking along those lines, and there's definitely a risk they'll send an older 77W with angled seats.

FYI the 77W SEA-DXB is blocked at 14h35m and is a 1600 departure and has the full service including caviar. And if they decide to send the newest 77W, even better.

The DXB-LAX is 0830 departure and like someone said is quite a bit longer. Since it's a daytime flight I spend a lot of time at the bar so I might not feel the difference. And at that early in the morning the F lounge is meh. I can get plenty of scrambled eggs in the J lounge.

friedablass

SEA - DXB flight is an overnight but departs early enough (4:35 pm) and is long enough so shouldn't have any service cuts as you mentioned. And it's certainly true that the J here is certainly less desirable than the J on the A380.

DXB to LAX departs at 8:30 am and is more or less an extra long daytime flight. If you don't care about the shower nor the Emirates DXB First Class lounge then go with F on the SEA flight.

iFlyMoreThanYou

I also suggest dxblax, but for a different reason.

I always fly dxb lax as a night flight. It departs at night LAX time, so I stay up in Dubai and sleep the first half of the flight in an attempt to minimize jetlag.

Metanoia

I've tried this before but been unsuccessful, I usually end up staying up most of the morning and sleeping the second half. I've just gone back to having a decent amount of sleep the night before, napping on the plane for a couple hours, and staying up to 10pm when I get back to to the west coast. Any tips to make this work better for me?

Also, have any tips for avoiding jetlag on the flight over to DXB? Always looking to optimize my plan.

Mods: move to brunch if necessary

iFlyMoreThanYou

I fly to the US anywhere between every week and every 3 weeks or so, and am basically jetlagged all the time. Initially staying awake before a LAX/SFO/SEA-bound flight didn't work for me either, but it works wonders for me now, so perhaps you can give it another chance.

Departing from the west coast, I do the same thing: I wake up early 2-3am the night of the departure, so I can go to sleep right after take off. I wake up 6 hours into the flight, then stay up for the remainder and then go straight to sleep after landing (7~8pm)

I find the 11am departure ex-JFK the easiest to adjust back to DXB time zone, since you arrive back in town at 7am. Sleep the last part of the flight, then after landing, go to work which will keep me awake until I go home.

Metanoia

That sounds painful, at my peak I was doing this trip once every couple months! Always to the west coast though.

These are good tips! I'm guessing you're more of a morning person? I wouldn't be able to go to sleep any earlier than 11pm most nights, but I guess I only sleep 5 hours before departing DXB. Just have to move it up a few hours.