I lost all faith and respect in our staff travel system after a friend from another airline travelled long distance on a sub load ticket with us and after comparing fares, it became apparent that he paid less than we would do to fly on our own aircraft. Also due to the incompetence of our staff travel department, we don't have a reciprocal staff travel agreement with the airline that my friend works for. They are willing to embrace us with open arms and offer us the same (after I contacted them to check) but no Najms for guessing where the trouble is here!
The recent fare rise was nothing short of a farce with clear favouritism being given to a handful of Indian destinations which were re grouped into a lower fare category due to 'extra competition'. That 'excuse' is laughable and quite frankly... that whole episode stinks!
We as staff cannot purchase tickets, but 75000 employees can now give tickets to their friends.
Special Ticket availability is the same for Cat C, so it is not even better. If you can't book a Cat C then you can't book a Special Ticket.
I can't remember the last time I bought a Cat C for my own use. If they make seats available then you are 99.9% assured of getting on using a Cat A anyway.
So now I generally avoid using EK at all costs for staff travel and ideally use airlines that use myIDTravel for reservations, as I know my money goes directly to the airline I fly with and not through TRIPS.