Emirates question

[MUFC_fan]

I am travelling with EK next month to Shanghai (via DXB obviously!:p) and was wondering how they work upgrades?

Is it possible to ask for upgrades at check-in from Y to Business at MAN, if so, does it cost? Also, is it available for all four sectors?

Cheers.

[RAPC]

Free upgrades are very rare unless they are oversold in a cabin, in which case you may do well if you have status with them.

Passengers with status may use miles to upgrade. Skywards Blue can use miles up to 6 hours before checkin, Silver and Gold up to checkin or on board.

Depending upon the cabin crew, you may be able to do a paid upgrade on board. Not sure on the exact price, but I would suspect that you would be looking at £400+ for the MAN - DXB sector.

[MrSoft]

Give it a go at MAN but it's very unlikely. By the way, you may well be disappointed if you actually get in there :uhoh: Big pink velour easy chairs straight out of an Old People's home (great food though).

Lucky upgrades on sectors to South Asia or Far East are a little more possible. It's worth a try once on the ground at DXB. Sometimes they will operate a barely concealed "upgrade all the Europeans" policy if economy is full of what they deem inferior passengers. This has happened to me, but I suspect they might not perceive your route in quite this way. As you may be able to tell I am not a big EK fan and never use them despite working in their backyard!

[Monkeytoo]

I am also not a great EK fan anymore :*. Despite being a Gold card holder for a number of years never had a free upgrade from them at any stage of the flight. I have however used points to upgrade when buying the ticket and never had any problem with going that route - my advice (if you haven't got 'points' and want to fly in business class) buy a seat, and if the flight is on a 777 that hasn't had the cabin interior 'upgraded' - save your money!!

[TSR2]

If your a big lad, it is worth remembering that the economy seating on EK B777's is 3-4-3 as opposed to 3-3-3 on most airlines. A noticeable difference if you are used to flying B777's.

[MrSoft]

The 3-4-3 is just an inconceivable blunder by EK. I did it once, and vowed never, ever again. I got a window rammed up against the sloping plastic, and started to feel suicidal before we'd even finished taxiing. Someone evidently persuaded Emirates that legroom is what people want, so they squeezed the width but traded us a couple of inches extra legroom. But the effect is horrible believe me. I can't understand why 2 x flights per day go out of MAN full to bursting when you could sit in Etihad or Qatar instead.

7 or 8 years ago, Emirates' economy was almost seen as a mini business class; how things have changed.

The business product is laughably inconsistent and total pot luck with (it seems) 4 or 5 different variations across the fleet ranging from acceptable to a total joke.

So cramped econ, and bran-dip business class? No thanks!

Of course you can sit in comfort 3-3-3 on a brand new 777, and enjoy seat-back on-demand IFE to the Middle East if you want. It's called KLM!

[asianflyer2]

Try the twin seats at the back of the Emirates B777.

Disadvantage is if only the front doors are open it is a long way when you get on and off.

Advantages are a bit of space between the seat and the window, easy to get to the loo and you can stretch your legs in the galley/chat with the crew/have a drink.

The last rows are sometimes reserved for the crew and as they don't sit there all the time you get a feeling of a bit of open space.

If you are a Skywards member you can pre-book the seats on line