Emirates Upgrade?

[ben170292]

Hi, in about 2.5 weeks I am flying back to Melbourne with emirates from HYD, I am flying HYD-DXB-SIN-MEL I didn't like the economy seats on the B777-300ER so want to upgrade my ticket, I only have 6500 skyward miles so that's out of the question I would think. How would I pay to upgrade to business? And how much would it cost?. Are there any other ways to go about getting an upgrade?

 

Thanks for any advice given.

 

 

[Guest David C]

Ben , I wish I could throw a bit of light on the best way to get an upgrade . I can only refer to a similar situation I had last year . After spending over a week in hospital in Europe after unexpected surgery , I thought how nice it would be to fly back from BHX to SYD via AUH in Business Class . I rang the Etihad service number and explained the situation and as I had around 40000 miles FF points I thought it would be easy .. Wrong !! .. I couldn't use my FF points as I didn't have enough , a cash top up wasn't an option either because of my ticket rules , and I couldn't pay for a partial Business Class from AUH to SYD either . My only option would be to pay for a full Business Class fare from BHX to SYD , and my economy ticket was worth zilch as part payment . The ticket was going to cost me $7000 , one way from BHX to SYD !, ...It would have been cheaper to dump my ticket in the bin and buy a discounted Business Class ticket from a localagent in Birmingham .. I flew back economy , and put up with it for 24 hrs ... Let us know how you go .. I'd love to know the "secrets " ..

 

Dave C

 

 

[bas]

If you are flying on a discount economy ticket, you can pretty much forget about doing that, as per David's experience.

 

Only upgrades I ever got were operational; i.e.: they overbooked economy and were moving people with some status up a cabin.

 

The best way to get an operational upgrade without a lot of status points is being a young woman traveling solo. Seriously. The idea being they are least likely to offend paying business class passengers.

 

 

[winsor68]

It seems the airlines are right onto this sort of thing in the current market... with the more widespread use of loyalty programs it would be very rare these days to find yourself in the queue for a free (or even economical) upgrade without at least a history and some status with that (or a competitor) airline.

 

 

[Pete777]

Only upgrades I ever got were operational; i.e.: they overbooked economy and were moving people with some status up a cabin. - as Bas ( I don't know how to quote)- Me too, and don't show up shabby, dress like you wouldn't look out of place up the front, with those people looking down there nose.

 

 

[ben170292]

so i just got back from India and was given a free upgrade to business from SIN to MEL as well as my friend, best experience ever haha

 

 

[Lusair]

Well, lucky I was on may way here. From Lisbon to Frankfurt I flew on the cockpit, on TAP Portugal. And from Abu Dhabi to Melbourne, on Etihad, I was upgraded. And to add to it, didn't paid excess baggage. But in my case I worked for an airline (Air Transat) and have family and friends working in TAP Portugal, and one of them knows people in Etihad. And I can tell you, flying 14 hours lying down is completely another thing.

 

Cheers

 

Lusair