I happen to have 55,000 skywards miles and have an 6 upcoming flights over the next 9 months. I have contacted Emirates and unfortunatly i cannot attain an upgrade seat for ANY flight even though i am flexible 2 weeks either way of any of the 6 flights that i have booked.

The one particular flight i want to get an upgrade from buinsess class to First Class for is Melbourne to Dubai due to it being such a long flight. My flight is on 31st may 2010. However emirates cannot offer me any kind of upgrade for the ENTIRE month of May or June (even though they have a minimum of 3 flights per day for this particular route).

This would amount to a total of 180 flights and therefore mean there is not a single reward seat available to anyone on this planet for that entire period. Is it just me or does anyone else think that is a bit crazy?!

Does anyone have any advice on how i can get one of these upgrade seats that does not involve ringing up the skywards department every day for the next 9 months on the off chance that i may manage to stumble upon a cancellation?!

Any advice would be much appreciated. thanks, James

from what i can tell.. i seems emirates isn't opening up seats very far inthe future like they used to.. now they are opening them up slowly 1-2 months in advance.. whereas before.. they were available on almost every flight which you could purchase a ticket.

my recommendation.. go to expertflyer.com pay for the service.. set up notifications and you will receive an email should a flight ever open up and then you can immediately upgrade yourself.

not much else you can do i'm afraid.

Thanks for the advice jumanji. Yes i have a colleague who uses that service, but i don't feel like i should have to pay for the liberty of knowing when such tickets are available. Emirates should be encouraging people to earn miles, not the other way around. To be honest my job is very easy, so calling skywards every few days might actually fill in the hours at work!!! So i will get there, eventually, it will just take a few (hundred) phone calls thats all!

well if you live in the uae.. it might be cheaper to use the service than to pay etisalat

i just subscribed to the service since i'm having such a difficult time getting award tickets also.. and have found it to be great.. small price to pay for me.. as i get annoyed with calling the agents.

Never even heard of this, just checked out the site and seems a really good service. Will try the 5 day trial and if it is any good will sign up for a month to try the service in full. What package do you have, standard or premium?

i plan to do it on a month to month basis.

right now, i have premium.. since i will be buying my ticket within the next month and check constantly as i adjust my travel plans. after this, i will let the package expire or go to standard.. and subscribe as needed.

its truly a great service.. and it looks like its going to be a must with the way emirates/skywards is doing things now.

initially i was on it constantly.. but as i familiarized myself with the system.. i have found its easier to setup flight alerts for flights i'm seriously considering.

A couple of questions?
1. Where are you located?
2. What Skywards status are you?

I'm assuming you're out of Melbourne. If thats the case, it might be worth trying to contact Emirates Melbourne and seeing what they can do. In my experience, making friends with the local airline reps is priceless. Find out who the station manager is at Melb Airport.

I would have thought if you held Gold status - you'll be fine. I've never seen the F cabin full anytime out of Melb over the last 6-months.

And given that you'll be on a 777 aircraft, I think the J and F product is very similar. If it was me, I'd save the miles and use them on the A380 or long-haul Airbus (with the F Suites).

Hope this helps...

Have just managed to upgrade from J to F on DXB-CHC, only a week before I was due to fly; previously been told over the phone that the flight was full by Skywards staff.
Seems EK upgrades only available nearer to time of travel rather than months in advance?

I think they are releasing them on a dripfeed basis.
I got 2 Y to J upgrades from Dubai to Melbourne for February in late October.
The Skywards guy said there were 3 available when I rang.
So, I think they are available but you have to call at the right time.

Dave

truth.

and z class fares are by far the toughest with the least availability.

i was thinking of going to del on J ticket with upgrade to F.. however.. only one trip opened for a day or two..

I class is much easier to get.. but even that is difficult.