Hi dream,
As stupefying as this sounds, there are different levels of "firm" economy as was explained by someone at staff travel FZ. I'm probably going to repeat this incorrectly but here is what I remember. If you book at the right time, you can actually purchase a firm seat at an ID 50 price on EK. This is what most of us think of as a firm seat, meaning it's your seat and you will be on that flight. If that category of seat is fully booked or not available (usually the case
), then you travel at a lower status of "firm" seat, meaning a higher priority than standby economy, but still wait listed. If someone knows better please chime in, however I just buy firm tickets 90% of the time I travel as I don't want to be bothered any more with the waiting for the last seat and then running from the staff travel office at T3 to the last gate in the A concourse
As you suggested though, EK staff will find ways to help other EK staff before they even consider putting an FZ employee on the plane
