I am currently on auto-upgrade for a HKG-DXB-ORD flight...... if both segments upgrade individually (as they become available, if they come available), the miles for J award + upgrading the two segments will be about 50% more miles than an outright F redemption. Not sure about the fees, but I am expecting that any additional fee will not exceed the difference in the fee on an F redemption vs. the J redemption I already paid. As others will more experience have indicated here, if you can get an agent to book the upgrades as a single "through fare" than the miles should not exceed what an out right F redemption would be. The premium only comes if the individual segments are upgraded piece meal.

Not really asking about through fare differences. I also wasn’t aware you could upgrade a J redemption to F with miles.

My question was J redemption miles plus fees + miles to upgrade to F vs F redemption and fees. Could work it out on the website but thought someone who has done it would have already worked out the difference.

Fees are same but miles are definitely a bit more compared to booking straight in F, but i have no qualms about paying an extra 20% or so.

YYZ-DXB-BOM costs 163.5K in F. YYZ-DXB is the same price FYI.
Now, YYZ-DXB-BOM costs 138K in J + 89.7K (70.2 K + 19.2K ) for the upgrade if cleared = 227.7K

The net extra cost of YYZ-DXB-BOM is 63.5K
The net extra cost of YYZ-DXB only is 44.3K

So yes, it does cost more, and if an F award opens up close to departure, the J award ticket should be cancelled and rebooked straight in F. If not, are you going to stinge out paying the extra 44.3K or 63.5K, when the upgrade is available right in front of you to confirm?
Given the exorbitant taxes, in my opinion, its not worth flying a J award. For myself, Emirates is all about flying F, and if my upgrade does not clear, I'd prefer to be refunded and stick with my backup flight

Talking about upgrades on Emirates (given for free or using points), the biggest tip I ever got, is that the fare of the ticket is more important than the Skywards tier membership, so if only one upgrade can be given and the choice is a Silver full flex or a Platinum super saver, then the Silver customer will get the upgrade.

If one really wants an upgrade it is anyhow smarter to take a full flex ticket, as it will consume less points.

+1

Not quite... A Platinum would still get the upgrade in this case. You are correct for Blue / Silver & Gold, but Platinum still trumps fare basis.

However... it's also been said that in some cases this can be overridden for whatever suits EK at the time :)

You are quite right for operational (free) upgrades.
As far as I know, for miles upgrades it's first come first serve.

I set an auto upgrade for a PEY → J and check daily. All I have ever seen is "no upgrades available". Should I call and ask for availability? How do people know if there is upgrade space available?

I have never had success which calling when the ‘no upgrades available’ message had told me so. But it has been reported to work at times so calling can’t harm (especially close to the date of travel). After Expert Flyer stopped reporting award / upgrade availability for EK (and a host of other airlines), there is no reliable way to find them as far as I know.

I recommend that you keep checking online daily, especially as you get closer to departure. I set up auto-upgrade 3 months in advance and 6 days before the flight I checked online and the auto-upgrade was gone, but I was able to upgrade on the website. Business was 40% empty at the time.

+1

In some ways this is nice, though I prefer the mathematical approach with little extra spending, as now I know being slightly better dressed and using the right language can be important.

The system, and anyone manipulating the system, will probably never have seen or spoken to you so it's unlikely either of these makes any difference.

Auto upgrade has just worked for me again - DXB/BNE on 16th November, J to F and got 2A so I am a happy bunny!