Flex Plus to Business, A380
 

Looking to fly the A380 from JFK to MXP on May 16th or 17th. I can get 4 Flex Plus tickets for Economy. What are chances to upgrade all 4 to business for points? Is cost still 39,000 points? Better to do 2 pair of tickets, 2 each or keep all 4 on one booking? Special occasion so I am looking to enjoy the family trip. I have no emirates status. Plus, I will be rolling the dice on this a bit with a Chase points transfer for the upgrade cost prior to the closure of the portal on Oct. 16th. And IF I go ahead with the Economy purchase, do you select the automatic upgrade and just watch the manage booking section frequently in case it fails?

Thanks for any support.

Good day cards20, welcome to FlyerTak and the Emirates forum.

I do not have personal experience with that route, so I am not sure at all how 'popular' it is for Y-J upgrades. In general though, 4 seats is a big ask. Status and the type of underlying ticket does not generally come into the equation (maybe unless you are Plat..).
Three remarks: yes, the upgrade Y-J is 31000 miles (the mileage calculator on the website shows this and I have never found it to be wrong). That is for a Flex+ ticket and for a Flex ticket the number miles required is obviously higher. If you are 'mile rich' (and as the underlying ticket does not affect your chances), you might consider buying flex tickets instead. The $ price difference between Flex and Flex+ can be substantial (especially *4). Your choice, of course!
Auto-upgrade: Often it works, sometimes it doesn't. My advise is always to keep watching Manage My Booking. Upgrades come to those who 'work' for them.
I would split the people over 2 (or even 4) bookings. Grab upgrade seats if / when they become available. If you are not prepared to 'split' the family in the end if not enough seats become available, you can always 'unupgrade' yourselves. You get the miles back and as long as the original fare bucket is still available, there is no additional cost. If the original fare bucket is sold out at that stage, you will be charged the fare difference. Again, entirely your choice. Maybe others can comment on 4 seats being available for upgrade at the same time on that route. On routes I am familiar with, it's almost impossible. YMMV though.
Good luck!

Thanks for the well written reply. Appreciate the input.