Witchdoc & Bus429:
It's not about being treated like royalty... It's about being treated with dignity. This wasn't exactly the case at Emirates, neither at the check-in counters when on an ID ticket nor the following day as a normal fare paying pax.
Most professionals get reciprocal concessions related to their own trade and this is considered part of their benefit package (travel agents, doctors, cars salesmen...) and please note that I'm not asking for any special privileges, just a presentable degree of respect and courtesy, if only a fraction of what I've granted to fellow aviators from many airlines (EK included).
FaPoGai:
Thank you for your advise. I've done quite a lot of travelling both professionally and privately, in all sort of tickets, aircraft and in more airlines than I care to remember, but I do not feel that my personal finances are worth commenting about.
Cb:
That's what I thought about EK and you may be right, may be my experience was the odd one out, but I can assure that it was real.
411A:
I agree ID50s are usually the minimum and in fact I reserved one confirmed seat ZED ticket on LH but was put on WL.
Obtaining ID50s is often a lengthy process and you end up paying
50% of a Y full fare ticket which is often a great deal more than the guy seated next to you on a "benefic" fare, and you're still an ID!
I'm sure you must have experienced countless times the sort of wicked enjoyment that (many) ground staff find in making flight crew's life a misery whenever they have a chance. What have we done?