Confused
 

I want to piggyback on this thread as my question is directly related

I am trying to weigh odds of a miles upgrade on paid Y NBO-JFK one way. I've read other threads and I purchase a Flex+ r/t ticket. In MMB I can upgrade the NBO-DXB leg, the long haul to IAD unavailable. This means there is no D bucket J seats (saver), correct? I cancelled the ticket immediately (24 hours rule) for a full refund

Is this the only sure way to find out if an upgrade is available?

No. There's no need to make a booking and cancel, just do a dummy booking for J Saver Rewards and if one is available so is a Y-J upgrade.

Correct, just make sure you add a return leg as J saver awards are only available for return trips. That does not apply to upgrades by the way.

Ok, so this seems to be in-line with what I'm reading. My trip is September NBO-IAD. I can find J saver on the NBO-DXB segment, but not onwards to IAD. Emirates releases ex-USA saver about a month out? But the only way I can see these in segments is to break dummy booking into NBO-DXB and then DXB-IAD. This is the way?

I have a question. Can you please tell me how to make a dummy booking? Should there be a payment?

No - just do a search. You don’t have to go through the payment process.

But how do you know if an upgrade will be available?

It's all in the previous posts.

Open the EK website, select "Classic Rewards" and enter your origin, destination, dates, class of service (Business if looking to upgrade Economy to Business) and do the search.

You will then see if an upgrade is available and the miles and charges required. Check the miles shown are for a Saver Reward and if so then an upgrade is available on that itinerary. If the miles shown are equivalent to a Flex Plus reward then no upgrade is available. Likewise if no reward flight is available.

As mentioned above, always do a return enquiry even if you're only looking to upgrade one way.

You can also do the +/- 3 days search if you haven't yet booked your economy flight and have flexibility on dates.

Hi All,
Not sure if this has been asked already, so apologies.
But how do you all value your Emirates points redemptions whether for an upgrade or reward ticket?

Question for those more familiar with Emirates. I rarely fly them but have some miles that are due to expire in a few months so decided to book my next trip to DXB on EK & try to use up the miles.

There was no upgrade availability when I booked the ticket so I set up the auto upgrade feature & just decided to wait. Online check-in opened up about an hour ago & the message on the upgrade page changed to 'sorry this flight cannot be upgraded'.

They still have 4 tickets available in business class & the flight is a little over 48 hours away. What would be my chances of upgrading now? Should I go ahead & check-in online & then ask for an upgrade when I get to the airport or should I not check-in & keep checking the upgrade page in case something opens up?

My suggestion is to check in on line and use the chat function to ask if upgraded are available. If not, ask at the airport or failing that, ask on board. Not checking in won’t help

How do you know they are still selling 4 tickets? Expert Flyer? If the flight is indeed J4, my guess is that they’ll wait until the flight closes (an hour before departure) before releasing them. In that case, asking at the airport will get you on a list of interested passengers and if the stars align you’ll get a new BP at the gate.

Got it. Will check-in & try using the chat feature.

4 seats were showing on EF as well as remained available for purchase. That number is now down to 3.

I'll use the chat function first & then ask both at check-in & the gate on the day of departure.

I have my 1st EK flight coming soon, a 5th freedom one from SIN to KTI (the new Phnom Penh airport replacing PNH), booked in Y. When OLCI opened, there was the option to upgrade to J with cash for a decent price (about 170 EUR). This is a 2hr flight, but I thought why not as it's a way to discover the airline. But at the last step, you have several boxes to tick and one is to acknowledge you are aware that, with this paid upgrade, there will be no J benefits unless you already had them with the original booking thanks to FFP status for instance. So, it means for someone like me (and it was clearly written), no priority check-in, no priority boarding, no lounge access, no priority bag and no additional bag allowance. So I decided to not take it as this is really a complete joke. I have purchased paid upgrades on many airlines before and they always come with all the J benefits. Is that really something normal with EK ? Big disappointment.

Yes. The fare difference on a single trip between SIN and KTI would normally be ~ 450 Euro so this is deeply discounted. If it included all the ancillaries then too many people would refuse to buy J and instead rely on an offer at checkin.

Chat said there are no upgrades against miles but there are cash upgrades available. I'll try my luck at the airport in the evening today.

Open seats have now increased to 8. Both on EF & for sale.