Kostya

I have got Barclays Emirates Skywards credit card in the US about 2 months ago.
It supposed to come with an automatic Emirates Silver status for the first year.
However, my status has not been not updated to Silver (still shows Blue).
I do receive Emirates miles from the credit card, but no status.
I have called Emirates - they said that I should call Barclays.
I have called Barclays - they said that I should call Emirates.
When I got both Emirates & Barclays on the phone - they admitted that they have no clue what is going on and said that they logged a support ticked for the back office that should take up to 12 weeks to resolve.
Is this normal for Emirates & Barclays? Or am I just unlucky?

Brostman

Based on my experience, you may just be unlucky due to Barclay's technical glitch, whatever it may be. I signed up for the card last February and saw my status updated about 1 week after I was approved and the card opened. The bonus sign-up miles appeared at the end of the billing cycle in which I achieved the spend requirement. I do not know the frequency of Barclay's & EK synchronizing info, but it would seem to clearly be a Barclay's issue in your case. I was considering upgrading my Barclay's card for the Gold EK status to possibly give myself a better shot at an upgrade for a Feb flight, but need to reconsider given your experience. Hope they resolve the issue quickly for you.

NYC1

I don't know the details of the upgrade that you're trying to get (you may want to post them for the experts here) but it's questionable whether gold status will make a difference/help and you may want to save the money (if this one upgrade is the only reason you're getting the higher level card).

Brostman

Thanks for the suggestion. I am waitlisted for an upgrade on a HKG-DBX-ORD flight. What others have advised here is to not expect anything to clear until sometime after T-30, and possibly not until check-in. It is still 2 months away, and business travelers haven't probably yet starting booking for that time period, but the HKG-DBX segment looks like there is good availability for the week we are flying... but Mrs. B is already booked in F and I in J... so I am limited to the specific flight & day.

The DBX-ORD segment is the one I am worried may mot materialize. And J on that segment is already is already booked 14 of 42, so likely there will be a multitude of upgrades waitlisted. Not sure where status is the prioritizing factor in the hierarchy of upgrade attributes, but was willing to improve my chances by getting Gold, even if I won't be able to sustain it into the next year. I am open to any suggestions/advice.

NYC1

It's a crap shoot and just depends on how busy that particular flight will be and how many in J will even think/consider upgrading. On the flight to DXB, you may be on a 777 or 380. Odds are better on the 380. To ORD, it's the 777 so fewer seats. It's not entirely clear how status plays (and gold isn't the end all) but if you just want to improve your odds, sure. I've been on plenty of EK flights where we left with empty seats in F and plenty where it was full. Flights to/from the US are usually full in F. I don't know about ORD. If you don't have Expertflyer, you may was to subscribe to get better info on how full your flights are.

thijsseh

The upgrade hierarchy is supposed to be:
Plat (independent of ticket class) > Flex+ (and within Flex+ in order of status) > Flex (again in order of status) > Saver..
This seems to be applied most of the time, although some anomalies have been reported. Mts t and myself were once upgraded J to F on a Saver ticket with Silver status (there must have been Flex ticket holders on board).
The first time we were ever upgraded was as Blue with a Flex+ ticket..... That was just after the above policy came into effect.

Will08

My experience this year would suggest this is still the case. Two flights DXB-LHR have resulted in op-ups Y-J from saver tickets and 4 or 5 from BKK-DXB.

Not sure if the same policy applies to waitlist priorities though. Could even be a case of who requested it first.

Kostya

I finally got my Emirates Silver status yesterday (2.5 months after getting the credit card) just in time for my Emirates flight tomorrow.
I can see that my status is updated on the Emirates website and Emirates app, however it still shows Blue status on my booking and my boarding pass.
Does anyone know how to update my status on the boarding pass? I thought it's updated automatically in real time. How hard is it to pull this data from FT system to the reservation system?

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FlyerJZK

Exact same experience for me too. I am planning to sue Barclays and they are cheating us and billing us 499.