Do Emirates upgrade gold members much?
 

Hi,

Having reached Skywards Gold this year, I was wondering how generous Emirates are with upgrades from Business to First. On routes like Dubai-Melbourne for example the one I usually fly).

What's their policy, will they only upgrade if they need to free up a seat, or do they regularly upgrade their gold flyers if space is available?

thanks for any insights anyone can offer?

In my experience, they'll only upgrade if they are oversold in J, and have a spare seat in F. Or Y to J.

They won't just upgrade you because you're gold.

I got 2 upgrades when I was a Gold - BKK-HKG (big deal!) and JFK-DXB (yes!).

Cheers,
Rick

Usually only happens when the class you are in is oversold; I have heard some stories of double-upgrades (ie: Y to F) but don`t really know all the details of the individual`s op-up.

I am Silver and have consistently hit 36,000 miles in the last three years. In the past 8 months of so, I have completed 12 sectors within the DAC-DXB-YYZ route in both directions.

I have always purchased tickets in Y (most usually in W or B), either from DAC or YYZ.

(Touch wood) The last time I traveled in Y in EK was March 2007; Except for one YYZ-DXB and DXB-DAC sector which I upgraded to J using Skywards points, all others were op-ups. I guess I have gotten quite lucky, but yes, the loads have been near 100% on most of the flights I have been upgraded on.

Now, mind you, sometimes you can give yourself an edge, say, by using kvs. It won`t work all the time, but it has proven to be successful for me. DAC-DXB operates 2x daily; checking availability on KVS can help you determine which flight may have a better chance of an upgrade.

From what I understand, some American FFP for domestic flights offer automatic, unlimited upgrades based on availability (even in advance - ie: up to 5 days before the flight, etc). I also hear that CX FFP offers upgrades based on status, not just op-ups.

-t.

I have been a Gold member since 2006 and I have only once had an upgrade from J to F. My luck has been really bad since I travel about 4-5 times from JFK-DXB-KHI and have never had an upgrade. I too buy a Y ticket and try to get an upgrade. I must say that I have all but given up on getting upgraded!
Like I mentioned earlier, I was traveling from DXB-FRA and was bumped up from J to F.
Has anyone had more luck with Qatar or Etihad as far as getting upgraded more frequently? I am seriously thinking of flying with Qatar from now on.
Thanks.

I am a Gold member and in my 2½ years with EK, I've only been upgraded once J-F on a 3hr flight. Then again, I normally fly in J class on sectors with only 2-class configurations.

I can't get a J seat (redemption) on my planned DXB-JFK flight in July so in case I have to redeem a Y ticket, what are the odds of getting upgraded to J? July is a pretty busy period so flights will be full in all classes.

They will upgrade anyone if they get a call from Abu Dhabi ;) (or from HQ in Dubai)

Only ever been upgraded from business to first twice in all the years i have flown with them and that was DXB - BOM and BOM - DXB. 28 flights with them this year and no upgrades even when first was half empty and business was sold out on one flight.

I recently got op-upped from J to F after using miles to upgrade from Y to J -- on the 17-hour DXB-IAH leg! The flight was 100% full. Does that count as a double upgrade? I don't think any U.S. or Euro carrier would upgrade someone who has already redeemed miles for an upgrade, especially over revenue passengers (of which there was presumably at least one in J on my flight).

No complaints :D Much of the unstructured character of EK that often leads to complaints in the forum also allows my experience to happen occasionally.

No other upgrades in the past 15 months or so. I've flown Y once JFK-DXB and once IAH-DXB, on very full flights, but no upgrade despite intense mental wishing.

In my 3 years of Gold, I have never had an upgrade.

Although, flying constant J from MAN, theres nothing to upgrade to..

I may go Y and see what happens....

Ya, when you're flying J in a high-density a/c, the upgrade I guess would be to the captain's lap.. haha :-)

I would surmise that Y->J is a LOT more common than J->F. In hindsight, this just appears to be intuitive but I have no idea why?!? LOL

-t.

I have been on flights, where gold members were downgraded from F to J, and from J to Y (I know cos it happened to me once- techincally speaking I had two paid tickets, one in J, one in Y, and they refused issueing me boarding passes on the J one althoguh I had checked in online!).

By the way, never got upgraded (partly because the last few flightswere in F :D )

Upgraded once from Y to J on DAC-DXB route last year as Y was overbooked!

checking availability on KVS can help you determine which flight may have a better chance of an upgrade.

how does one join kvs to use it to check flights? pray tell.

From what I understand, some American FFP for domestic flights offer automatic, unlimited upgrades based on availability (even in advance - ie: up to 5 days before the flight, etc).

gee I hope ek does that in the future! I was once op uped two tiers on a packed ek 530 dxb-cok flight from Y to F.