I have a business class ticket EWR to ATH at the end of May and have been patiently waiting for First upgrade availability to open up. There are 4 unsold seats right now. I have the points in my account to upgrade and have set auto upgrade to on, and I check the website everyday, multiple times to see if anything opens.

I figure that I will probably reach the 72 hour window without the auto upgrade and had planned to try for upgrades at the airport when auto upgrade cancels. I need some suggestions and I have a few questions:

1. At the 72 hour mark when the auto upgrades cancel, should I call Emirates and start asking for the upgrade?

2. If that doesn�t work, I plan to be waiting at the EWR counter 3.5hours before the flight departs to get in the same day standby line. Is this enough time to be first in line. I don�t care about waiting at the airport, I really need to sleep on this flight. Is 3.5 hours sufficient for this particular desk at EWR?

Any suggestions I am missing? I do not have status with EK, I�m just a regular skywards member and this is my first ride with them.

Thanks, Joel

Your strategy is really all you can do. Sometimes they will upgrade FCFS, sometimes they do it by priority. But getting in line is the best move, and you'll kick yourself if you don't get there early and find out your seat was swooped up just before you got there.