I could be wrong but It looks like One Mile at a Time May have put in two adults instead of one. I picked a random date round trip JFK-MXP and it was 145,000 miles in business class.

OMAAT is not the most reliable source for basically anything EK related. Possibly for other airlines as well, but I have no experience with that so it would be unfair to make a blanket statement.

I consider myself a loyal EK flyer. I've been 11 consecutive years a Gold member with Skywards. Mostly Economy, but increasingly buying J tickets as I'm getting older and more tired of flying (ok, ok the real reason is that I'm getting heavier too ;)). I remember the times Platinum didn't exist and gaining 10k miles in Y for a long haul was normal. I remember the OpUps being prioritised based on status rather than ticket price. Over the recent years, I've negotiated with myself - and convinced myself - many times to pay the premium for Emirates compared to other airlines. Living in Dubai that's not an easy thing to do.

But that changes in 2023... 50k miles for a Y flex upgrade to West-Europe is a 25% increase compared to 2022. For a ticket that costs 4000 AED (return) instead of 3500 (2020) or 2700 (2016). I've just booked 3 flights of 3700 AED in Premium Economy with Air France for my travel to Europe in Q1 2023. And I booked a flight to Mexico in Business Class for 16,000 AED (against 26,500 AED for EK). That makes me Gold with Flying Blue.

Sorry for the rant. I know Flying Blue isn't ideal and AF/KL have their own issues, but the attitude of EK is just getting at Mount Everest levels and even I cannot justify to myself to continue paying such fares for insignificant benefits. All airlines are in the business of making money, and people are clearly willing to spend huge amounts on airline tickets after COVID, but EK's changes are "too far too fast" in my opinion to keep me loyal.

I have an F award itinerary booked and want to do a date change. Does anyone know if this will trigger a price increase?

call and ask but i’m guessing yes they’ll want additional miles.

According to many bloggers, it seems like EK have sent them a press statement saying changes to awards will be made gradually over the next few weeks till 31 January 2023. I haven't seen the statement from EK on their site officially, and I'm by no means saying this is what is happening, but I see no reason to think that these claims aren't true.

In any case, personally, I will continue to do my own research and see what the actual miles/taxes are through a search on the EK site.

That's certainly what I am doing. The mileage calculator is your friend, and as I normally use miles for J -> F upgrades, taxes are not as crucial as miles are to me.

You can't put # of adults into the calculator, it only shows amounts for 1 passenger.

What he was reporting was while actual bookings were showing the current (lower) redemption amounts, when you went to the mileage calculator it was showing the increases.

I had checked it when he first wrote this and he was correct the calculator was showing higher, but now if you use the calculator it shows the current (lower) redemptions.

Cynically you have to think they accidently updated the calculator but were not ready to update the actual bookings, and that the change is coming and it is just a matter of when. It is possible it was just a mistake, but from what we saw on the EU - DXB bookings and the communication the bloggers received I doubt it.

I don't see why they'd need to "stagger" the devaluation. The EU changes were implemented overnight, so sure why they wouldn't just do it all at once. But, we'll see soon enough.

It gets weirder and weirder and now I'm really confused! I just got offered (through MMB) an AMS/DXB J->F upgrade for the 'old' mileage rate! Double checked the calculator and it's true.
I was not planning to upgrade, it's not that attractive a sector to do so but now I am tempted..... Almost like I'm getting a signal to do it.

Edit: Taken it. Charged me the 'old' rate! 'Saved' 10K miles (not really as I was not going to spend them, but you get my drift.....)

Can’t speak for others thijsseh, but I myself certainly DO get your drift :D

Like you, I myself would have been conflicted to a degree, mainly because (as you say) it’s not the best of sectors for F ….plus, J class would be wholly satisfactory of course, given we’re talking EK after all. And like you, I prob would have ended up being tempted by the perceived (ahem!) ‘saving’. Safe travels :tu:

I expect a significant portion of the change in cost of your tickets between 2016, 2020, and now amounts to inflation.

Yeah - and 90k Saver. Matches the Miles Calculator (which was wrong for a while). So... no change at all for MXP-JFK.

………. at least until the next time they start doing bad things with the redemption miles (and surcharges masquerading as taxes) requirements 😡