EK staff travel on load priority
 

Hi. I have a quick question regarding on load priority as a EK staff passenger.

lets say there is only 1 spare seat left on the aircraft.
2 staff pax are at the gate, myself in a CAT A business, have been in EK around 5 years.
another PAX. CAT A in Eco, has been in EK about 15 years.

who will get the seat?

Thanks....

My guess. If the seat is Y class, it goes based on seniority. If J you get it. But... they could upgrade an economy fare paying pax and then you are stuffed.

In theory there would be an upgrade of an Y class pax and the more senior staff get the seat

Onload is done first by class then by DOJ. So in this case if the seat available is in business, the more junior business class passenger would get the seat. There will be no upgrade of Y pax as long as there is someone eligible for travel in J on standby.

This has been confirmed by various staff travel sources in writing several times.

If the available seat is in economy probably the more senior would get it, but this I do not know for sure.

LosP. - is correct.

However not all station staff are aware of this. The port I regularly fly out of and who’s staff I’m friendly with told me they were surprised during their recurrent training test in Dubai on how many outstation colleagues are not aware of this and thought it was pure seniority. One would have thought that the system catches it - not always.

That’s why FABS can help you in a tight spot - if there are 10 on stby and one seat going & you are most junior but it shows you as the only one booked First - that’s your seat - regardless of class of seat available.

Had a situation where this occurred at my home port but the seat was not awarded to me - quickly went to ask and sought clarification- new staff member requested help and I got the last and only ECON seat.

If the station Senior is not aware - politely ask them to call Dubai & clarify if you are not put on.

This happened in summer 2016 - im not aware of any policy change since.

That why it’s always better to book highest class on tight loads.

Thanks for the info guys

Another important thing to remember. EMACS that does the upgrade at DXB does not always do what they supposed to do. Empty First and/or Business needs to be upgraded to make space for up-gradable staff as the ticket is revenue for the company. I had numerous occasions where First-class had empty seats and business was full. They forgot to upgrade to make space for me in business. You need to be on-top of the staff at checking with FABS and point out these things. Leaving it to late will result in not enough time for additional First-class meals to be loaded for the upgrade from Business to first.

I'm not sure about EK but I know in Qatar Airways. they will upgrade regular passenger to Bussiness class and then most senior staff will be on loaded.

This happens to me several times traveling in Qatar Airways.

Afirm. Know your rights. Monitor FABS. Only board after the flight closed at T-50min. That way you can demand your business class seat if they "forgot" to upgrade you!

Sorry to say, but I think you are living in cloud cookoo land, as if you can stand in staff travel and demand a seat.... like that's gonna happen !

Oops corrected ...and agreed ‘demanding’ not advisable...polite clarification should do it