Hey, I have used my staff travel on Emirates many times, I work for Virgin Atlantic, I travelled GLA/DXB/PER rtn and had no problems, I doubt if you will be upgraded tho, They check your bags in at your initial departure point and then tag them as standby, when they get to DXB the onload them if seats are available and you are issued with your boarding card at the dep gate for your onward connection from DXB, as I said I found it very easy and on the rtn sector I only had 1hour 45mins between connections...have fun!