dusordua

Today I will fly together with my wife from Düsseldorf to Johannesburg via Dubai, return in 3 weeks.
My wife is skywards silver, I am skywards gold.

Many people do not like the skywards program, because too many miles are required for upgrades and free flights (even more in J or F classes).
But I think the program has other advantages, when traveling with Emirates.
I will report to you what what kind of advantages we received as premium members of this program.

Everybody likes to be upgraded, so I took a look on the seat availability for this flight.
EK 56 DUS-DXB: Until August 31. seats were available in all classes. On Sept. 1. economy was closed, on Aug. 2. J and F were closed too. So I expect a 100% full flight. I do not think that Emirates sold 12 F seats and 42 J seats, so I guess that we have a chance to be upgraded from Y to J.

EK 761 DXB-JNB: In mid August economy was sold out for this flight, but on August 29. they opened economy in all classes again. For J and F class there was always full availability. Today they changed the flight from a 3 class to a 2 class flight (F is not offered any more). I guess they will offer the first class cabin for business class passengers and the business class cabin for economy class passengers with economy class service (which will be fine for us!).

This indicates one more time, that Emirates is very popular with economy class passengers and that they take every paying passenger they can get, not to fly with an empty seat.

dusordua

We arrived at DUS airport early, the check in counters just opened. About 70 people are waiting allready at the 5 economy check in counters. There is one first class and one business class counter. We were third in line at the business class counter (Skywards silver and gold members can use the business class counter) and after 10 minutes all work was done.
The good news at check in: we have upgraded you two to business class on the fligth to Dubai! This is what we had hoped for, knowing that this flight was 100% full.
Other passengers were offered business class flights out of London same night, this was offered to several passengers until about 15 minutes before departure time, so they were really overbooked! All classes were 100% full.

We were invited to the British Airways lounge in DUS. This is a privilage for Gold members, which can use all (Emirates)lounges worldwide and can take a guest with them. The BA lounge witch is used too by Emirates and Swiss is large, quiet and has all basic food and beverages. Good place to wait for departure.

In Dubai we both got our seperate invitaion card for the business class lounge
(silver and gold members can use the lounge).
It is one of the best lounges I have ever been in, with very good selections of food and drinks.
Our flight was 30 minutes early, so when we arrived at the lounge there were enough empty seats. This changed one hour later, when all the other Emirates flights came in: after midnight the lounge is very crowded.

At 3 a.m. we went to the gate for the flight to JNB. 3 agents were working at the gate, so the long lane moved quickly.
When it was our turn, we were happy again: you both are upgraded to business class!
My last information at home was, that they will offer only business and economy class on this flight, but this was not the case: economy was of course 100% full, in business were 3 empty seats out of 42, and first with 2 empty seats out of 12.

So what can I say? I am really happy with Emirates! They honor their top customers in a great way!
I do not care that too many Skywards miles are required for free flights or upgrades, because I know I get the upgrades for free when the flight is full, and this is quite often in economy. I must not ask for an upgrade, I know that my gold status always brings me to the top of the upgrade list.
So together with the seperate ckeck in at the business class couter, the lounge access in DUS and DXB and upgrades on both flights it was a very nice expirience. Let us wait and see what will happen on the way back.

dusordua

For the return flight we checked in early, the counters in JNB just opened. Just one passenger in front of us at the business class/first class counter.
We were given our boarding cards for economy class with our reserved seats
We got an invitation to the Baobab lounge of South African Airways, where we spent the time until 45 minutes before departure.
At the gate we were upgraded both to business class again.
All 3 classes on this A340-300 were 100% full.
In Dubai we spent the waiting time for our connecting flight in the Emirates business class lounge.
To make it short: yes, at the gate we were upgraded again to business class! Again the flight was 100% full, not one empty seat on this A330-200.

So as a gold member I am very happy with the skywards program. I never asked for an upgrade, knowing that my statues puts me on an upgrade list if the flight is full.
Otherwise I have no illusion: if one seat is not sold, they will not upgrade for free!

So on my last two flights from DUS to JNB I was upgraded on 7 out of 8 legs (see also EMIRATES TRIP REPORT) together with my partners (silver and regular member) which were together with me on the booking.

Emirates will try to fill every seat on a flight, upgrading economy passengers to business class and business passengers to first class.
As long as there are not too many gold members (the skywards program has now 1 million members), chances are good for operational upgrades.

My next flight with Emirates will be in November from Düsseldorf to Colombo. This will be an award flight, using skywards miles. It will be interesting to know if my gold statues will help me to an upgrade, even when I fly on a free ticket.

BEYFlyer

...for that detailed report. With the information provided, I might actually join their reward program as well (since the British Airways/Emirates partnership will end soon). I hope your stay in South Africa was enjoyable too

dusordua

Just returned from my award flight to Colombo.
Only the first leg DUS - DXB was overbooked (all other flights were 90 -99% full).
Yes, we (my wife and me) got the upgrade to business class, even that we travelled on a free ticket!

Mogensen

great to hear of another upgrade

Were you in Sri Lanka on holdiay? I was there with my wife two years ago, and despite the terrible roads, and distances of 200 km taking close to a whole day of travelling we really enjoyed it, especially the kandalama hotel and the Tea Factory, two amazingly located hotels.

dusordua

Yes we were on holidays and loved the trip.
Roads are still the same, 30 km/h is all you can go.

John Cogley

dusordua

I note in this thread you refer to checking seat availabilty on EK. What site do you use to see that. I have not been able to access it with the sites I know.

Regards

dusordua

You have to download the availabilty tool, which Matthias from Cologne/Germany has provided for the flyertalkers.
Click on the following link and download the first picture (version 1.64).

http://www.stud.ntnu.no/~hartberg/ft/SabretoolSetup.exe.

The tool works only every five hours for 2 hours (too avoid too much server traffic).

Once the tool is set up, you can put in your flights, let;s say:
DUS to DXB; date 01/05; flight time 14:00; airline ek.
Then the tool will display availibility in all classes (not only F,J and Y, but all different price classes in Y (W,M,B,K etc).
If you will find K9, it means that there are 9 or more seats to sell in this price class.
I hope this helps.
If you need more information, please ask.

John Cogley

Thanks dusordua, very helpful