Upgrade J to F with miles
 

Does anyone have recent data points to share on upgrades clearing J-F using miles? I'm flying ATH-EWR next month, and F has been completely empty since I booked the ticket. However, they haven't opened any upgrade or F award seats for some reason. Not sure what others are seeing on this or other routes?

Is this a Saver J? If so, it *appears* (but not confirmed) that F upgrades are no longer allowed until check-in :-

Big & Bad Changes to EK Redemptions and Upgrades - June 2021 - FlyerTalk Forums

Thanks! Yes, I have saver J award tickets, so it sounds like like I'll have to cross my fingers for open seats at check-in.

I'm circling back to contribute a data point on this. We had saver J awards ATH-EWR ticket with 30K points to waitlist for UG to F. We went to check in ~38 hours prior to departure and saw that our upgrades (2 of us) had cleared. There were 2 other pax that had been booked for ~6 weeks (I'd been checking the seat map), and a 3rd person was also seated in F (perhaps another UG?) at departure, so 5 of us total. We did not receive an email or text letting us know our UG's had cleared, but I had looked 3 days prior, so it cleared at some point between 72 and 38 hours from departure. The lounge they use at ATH is pretty awful with no exciting food/drink options. At boarding, I found it odd that they had ~30 or more pax board before First/Biz were invited to board, because they had kids with them. When they did invite First/Biz to board, it was a bit of an unorganized cattle call. The onboard service was excellent and back to a pre-covid experience, except for masks. The crew were no longer wearing the white gowns. When we arrived in EWR, they only had F pax disembark from 1L and sent the forward biz class cabin pax to 2L.

I upgraded my ticket from J to F last week online, about three days (but definitely prior to check-in opening) before the flight.

Question: when you request an upgrade from J to F and are waitlisted, what happens if you don't have the 30k miles into your account? Basically, I'm planning on redeeming miles for a J ticket and waitlist for F, but I wouldn't have the required 30k points and would need to transfer from Amex. If the miles aren't in the account when the upgrade clears, is it voided immediately or do you have a little time to top up your miles?

There are numerous mentions of the word 'waitlisted' for an upgrade in this thread. Mainly from US based travellers, which is understandable as this is the norm there.
The only 'waitlist' for miles upgrades I am aware of, is the 'auto upgrade' feature. Am I missing some other way to get 'listed' for an upgrade? Or are we all talking about the same thing but in a different 'language'?

Sorry about the confusion! I am talking about the auto upgrade feature indeed. If it clears at some point, does Emirates expect the needed points to already be in your account ? And if they aren't, what happens?

I was able to upgrade J to F recently on a Business Flex+ ticket at the airport and it worked out great, and the website is quite clear about that. But, saver tickets have different wording:

You can upgrade a Saver fare using miles as long as there are seats available. In Economy Class, you can upgrade at check‑in or on board. In Business Class, you can upgrade at any time up to six hours before departure.

Does this mean that a saver award in J cannot be upgraded at the airport? I find it odd that they say you can do it up to 6 hours before but I am pretty sure auto upgrades expire at 48 hours. This also contradicts itself by saying you can upgrade at any time as long as seats are available, but then puts the 6 hour limit on the business ticket.

does doing online check in have any effect good or bad on upgrading to F with miles especially if I do it at the 48hr mark? I'm hoping sometime between now and 48 hours my auto upgrade goes through especially since the F load is light but also don't want to decrease my chances by checking in too early

do not check in else if availability happens you’ll have to off load and then upgrade

thanks, I'll assume then if I were to check in I wouldn't be presented with an offer to upgrade. I'll just check in at the airport

correct - or email them on twitter a few hours before to check

I have a flight on the 10th with EK, on a CZ code CZ7870, EK classified the fare as "BusinessSpecial" will I be able to upgrade at check in or only on board? for now its wide open with F and A availability (4 each) and only 3 seat selected in the F cabin (I know it doesn't mean much)

you can’t upgrade for 2 reasons 1] it’s not an EK no and 2] it’s a special which technically can’t be upgraded at all.