Using miles for upgrades
 

Hi,
I now have enough miles to redeem for an upgrade Y to J on my next trip LGW-DXB.
Does anybody know how the system works.
I know I have to buy a revenue ticket first and then redeem the miles for the upgrade. Assuming J is not fully sold out will I definately be able to upgrade if paying with miles? Or are there only limited seats available in these circumstances. There would be three of us travelling and I would not want to be told after buying Y class tickets I could not upgrade to J. If that did happen, would EK refund the money for the Y class tickets?


Cheers

Emirates seem to have changed the redemption classes recently. I'm pretty sure that you used to be able to upgrade as long as there was room in the cabin you were upgrading to.

However, it now seems that they have a seperate bucket for upgrades.

To book the upgrade you phone the Skywards centre. You have to pay an extra £20 tax for the J class upgrade.

I'd phone Skywards first, and check that there is upgrade availability before you book the Y class. Maybe stay on the line while you book online, and then get them to upgrade straight away.

Cheers,
Rick

£20 tax? I did an upgrade to J class 2 weeks back from Manchester Skywards center and I was not asked any..

They'll probably make you pay at the check-in desk. I got caught out by this last year. I'd paid the £20 by credit card when booked the upgrade, but it wasn't showing on the booking for some reason. I got there as the check-in was opening, but was then sent back to the ticket counter to sort out the payment. I then had to go the back of the check-in queue again :mad: Fortunately, there weren't that many people there, so it didn't take to long.

The check-in agent then tried to make me go back again, as the payment was still not showing. When he saw the angry look on my face, he jumped from behind the counter, ran over to the ticket counter and checked himself. He then checked me in :)

Cheers,
Rick

Make sure there is room in J before you buy your ticket. If you buy a ticket, and there is no availability EK won't refund your ticket (unless the fare rules allow you to.)

Cheers

I booked upgrades for my next flight BHX-BKK Rtn in 3 weeks time, nobody told me anything about extra tax to pay, I booked about 4 months ago by phoning Skywards as I had only enough points for 2 of the 4 sectors and decided that I would use them on the two sectors when I would more appreciate the upgrade service.

BB

I *think* it may be to do with the airports you are flying through. In Karachi, for example, the airport tax is dependent on fare class

Also same in the UK, tax is £X for economy and £X+Y for premium classes.

As far as I'm aware:

Booking class for an upgrade in Business is 'J'. For a full award ticket, it is 'D' . You are likely to see this on KVS or expertflyer.

Basil B
I'm interested in your experiences,how easy was it to get upgrade seats and when you've been how you found the seats etc.
We've just booked BHX>> BKK biz class for Christmas and new year and joined Skywards. We travel to BKK at least once per year and this is our first time EK on this route and first time from BHX. Thanx.

Hi
Thanks for advice so far.
So if I see availibility in J using KVS it would be safe to assume that if I purchased the Y class tickets I would be able to upgrade to business class.
I wouldn't want to be stuck with Y non-refundable tickets.

Cheers

I have had better success with getting J-F upgrades. Only on shorter more frequent segments. Longer, less frequent services are harder to secure upgrades on.