thijsseh

Thank you for the explanation. If you don't mind, I would like to try to unpack this a bit more as it will clarify the process to all of us.
My understanding has always been that 'auto upgrade' means just that; they take your miles and put you in the higher cabin (F in this case). They would let you know so that you can select a seat (and look forward to the experience!).
But in that case, I would have expected that 'the system' does not know / look at what you have already upgraded and charge you the SYD/DXB (non through) rate. So my question is really: did 'the system' combine both upgrades into a 'though upgrade' by it's own accord? It almost has to be the case, as I have been told that once you have two 'leg only' upgrades in place they can no longer be combined.
I hope I make myself clear and that you can give the extra detail! I have never been successful with an auto upgrade and have avoided them where they were 'missing leg' upgrades as I was worried about the above.
Thanks.

Brostman

I am also curious to understand the details, as I currently have a two segment trip upcoming, where I was able to upgrade the first leg (HKG-DXB) to F from J by checking MMB regularly. I had auto-grade set & sufficient miles available for the first leg upgrade, but the system did not auto upgrade, rather I had to upgrade via the "Upgrade with Miles" function of MMB. I do have auto-upgrade for set for the second segment (DXB-ORD), but currently am short of miles to upgrade based on the miles required for the second leg only upgrade... I am reluctant to move more miles into EK unless I know there is availability..... however, the combined total miles for the original J award plus the miles used for the HKG-DXB upgrade is greater than the "through award mileage" for a HKG-DXB-ORD award in F.

Based on JudeS' s experience, I think I will let the auto-grade remain on the DXB-ORD leg, in case the "system" independently/magically provides the upgrade for the second leg and hopefully would recognize they have already collected the requisite miles based on a through award number of miles. Make sense to anyone??

pomkiwi

Recent Trans-Tasman Experiences?

i've got a SYD-CHC return booked with the outbound in three weeks and the return in five. It was booked as two one way trips - outbound in Business Saver, return in Business Flex. There are 11 empty seats in F on the outbound and 13 for the return.

Obviously I can't upgrade the outbound leg until check-in opens but I'm curious as to when EK might release seats for upgrade for the return (I have auto-upgrade selected). When I made the reservation EK would allow upgrade with miles at the time of purchase but only for single pax bookings not for couples.

pomkiwi

To answer my own question, the upgrade opened 4 weeks prior to departure. The auto-upgrade hadn't been actioned but I was able to do so myself.

S.R

Flying EWR-ATH in J on a booking with 3 others. Would like to upgrade to F with miles, will most likely have to be at the check in counter due to availability.
Say there are only 2 seats in F left once we arrive at check in and 2 of us on the booking want to upgrade with our miles, while the other 2 will stay in J.
Will us all being on one booking be an issue? Should I preemptively split us all onto separate PNRs? I don't want that to be what stands between me being in F and 777 J Especially with a clueless contract check in agent.

thijsseh

You can only upgrade all passengers on the PNR. So to do what you suggest the booking needs to be split. In my experience check in agents (or at least the supervisor) can do this, but maybe you should not count on that. Probably worth splitting preemptively, not much of a downside to that. Chances of op ups for 4 people are very small, that would probably the only risk (one or two of you getting an op up and not the other two).

shaned

I'm flying EK209 - ATH to EWR in June, currently booked in J, looking to upgrade to F with miles. Been checking almost daily since I booked. Auto upgrade is set but there has been no availability to upgrade or book an F seat using miles. Not really that surprising. Here's the rub: EK209 is actually DXB to EWR with a stop in ATH. When I search DXB to EWR on Expert Flyer it shows F1 A0, and the seat map shows one available seat. However, when I search just the ATH to EWR leg (the leg I'm book on in J) it shows F4 A4 with the seat map showing 7 available seats. My question is, are there 7 available F seats on my flight? Or just one? I can make a mock cash reservation online for seven F seats, which makes me think there are indeed seven seats available, but the DXB to EWR thing has me leery.

T-15.01

is auto-upgrade (or upgrade) inventory different to award inventory?

i.e. is someone booked in Y Flex, setting up an auto upgrade for confirmation into J getting access to inventory different to what a straight J award ticket would be getting?

NYC1

auto upgrade isn’t reliable so keep checking
not surprised you can’t upgrade for now considering the flight is in June but I bet your odds are good
the plane you’re taking from ATH to EWR arrives a couple hours earlier from DXB. DXB-ATH is a “popular” route in F so it’s very likely that that route on your day is almost full in F. So if someone wants to fly DXB-EWR, it’s DXB-ATH and ATH-EWR so if the flight is almost full to ATH, it limits their ability to sell DXB-EWR as well but ATH-EWR frees up. Based on what you’re saying, I bet DXB-ATH is also F1 or max F2.

NYC1

They’re unrelated. Auto upgrade is a site feature that doesn’t work well.

Inventory is whatever revenue management/algorithm decides it to be, and availability flows from there.

doenutt

Is the best way to secure 2 F award seats by booking 1 J and 1 F (separate booking) and hope for an upgrade from J to F on the other ticket? AFAIK, Emirates do not release 2 F awards per flight online, correct?
How much would the upgrade cost be from DXB to SFO/LAX?

NYC1

See this thread. Best strategy for 2 F award tickets

Regarding cost, check out the mileage calculator on the EK site under Loyalty. It will show you all permutations.