Emirates upgrade never had one.

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Crocket
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Emirates upgrade never had one.

Post by Crocket »

Hi all

Been out to Hua Hin several times now and returning again this October.

We have always flown with Emirates out of Birmingham and are doing the same again into Suvarnabhumi.

Up to yet we never had an upgrade, has anyone ever been bump up on Emirates, or am I expecting too much.

Tips and advice weclome.

King regards

Crocket


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Re: Emirates upgrade never had one.

Post by Big Boy »

We've had a couple of upgrades on the return journey with Emirates. We arrived at check-in early, and my (Thai) wife talked nicely to the check-in clerk.
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Re: Emirates upgrade never had one.

Post by BaaBaa. »

I've had 4 or 5 but fly alone and was Emirates Silver at the time, I was getting 1 on nearly every return journey after becoming Silver.

I'm Qatar silver now and got an upgrade on my first ever flight with them. 8)
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Re: Emirates upgrade never had one.

Post by STEVE G »

....or am I expecting too much.
Yes I'm afraid, I've flown to Thailand at least forty times with a variety of airlines and have been upgraded once.
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Re: Emirates upgrade never had one.

Post by Crocket »

Hi Again

Was a Silver grade last year but now back down to Bronze, well you never know, as BaaBaa said flying alone may help.

Regards

Crocket
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Re: Emirates upgrade never had one.

Post by PET »

STEVE G wrote:
....or am I expecting too much.
Yes I'm afraid, I've flown to Thailand at least forty times with a variety of airlines and have been upgraded once.

The best tip I can give if you hope to get an upgrade, is to be smartly dressed at check in and have a frequent flyer card.
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Re: Emirates upgrade never had one.

Post by JimmyGreaves »

PET wrote:
STEVE G wrote:
....or am I expecting too much.
Yes I'm afraid, I've flown to Thailand at least forty times with a variety of airlines and have been upgraded once.

The best tip I can give if you hope to get an upgrade, is to be smartly dressed at check in and have a frequent flyer card.
and be as big as an elephant!
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Re: Emirates upgrade never had one.

Post by Big Boy »

JimmyGreaves wrote:and be as big as an elephant!
I think that does help :oops: It is usually the foundation of my wife's discussion with the check-in clerk.
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STEVE G
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Re: Emirates upgrade never had one.

Post by STEVE G »

PET wrote:
STEVE G wrote:
....or am I expecting too much.
Yes I'm afraid, I've flown to Thailand at least forty times with a variety of airlines and have been upgraded once.

The best tip I can give if you hope to get an upgrade, is to be smartly dressed at check in and have a frequent flyer card.
I think the problem is that for the majority of the flights I've made in the last ten years, I've flown from Luxembourg, transiting through a variety of European hubs.
When you check-in for the code-shared Luxair flight, there're not going to give you an upgrade for the other carrier.
To be honest I work in aviation and I don't blame them; you wouldn't walk into a restaurant and expect a three course meal when you've paid for a sandwich would you?
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Re: Emirates upgrade never had one.

Post by chopsticks »

STEVE G wrote:
To be honest I work in aviation and I don't blame them; you wouldn't walk into a restaurant and expect a three course meal when you've paid for a sandwich would you?

No, but if they've already cooked the meal and it's going to be wasted anyway if they don't give it to the sandwich buyer............. :wink: who may then continue to use that restaurant in future.

I assume you have more chance to get an upgrade if they are underbooked in the higher class seats and have no further likelihood of selling them ?
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Re: Emirates upgrade never had one.

Post by STEVE G »

No, but if they've already cooked the meal and it's going to be wasted anyway if they don't give it to the sandwich buyer............. :wink: who may then continue to use that restaurant in future.
It's never happened to me in a restaurant!
The only logical reason for an airline to give you an upgrade is because they've overbooked economy class or they think that they can sell standby tickets to economy. The airline itself doesn't like doing it as it reduces the value of the product for those that have paid a lot of money for it.
There are also different classes of economy ticket based on what you've paid for it and where you bought it and in the days of paper tickets it was possible to work them out from all those code letters, now with electronic tickets that is not possible. You've far more chance of an upgrade if you have a full price ticket rather than the ones that I buy off internet booking sites.
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Re: Emirates upgrade never had one.

Post by chopsticks »

Yes, I've noticed that the cheapest fares have the most restrictions and also you only get half or none of the frequent flyer miles awarded.
I've never been able to get cheap standby tickets for long haul flights though as they seem to charge the full economy fare if you need to book a flight urgently at the airport booking desk :(
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Re: Emirates upgrade never had one.

Post by lomuamart »

A few years ago with Emirates - I think, but certainly one of the Gulf airlines - I was sort of stranded back in the UK on my open return ticket and would have had to wait another 10 days or so to get back here.
So, paid another 50 GBP and upgraded in economy. At check-in they were still overbooked so I got uped again to business - FOC.
Brilliant, but only an economy service. On the second leg of the journey I was cattle class again but did enjoy the leg room on the first stage.
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Re: Emirates upgrade never had one.

Post by BaaBaa. »

I must be lucky then. 8)

I've only being flying regularly to Thailand for 5-6 years and I've had around 6 free upgrades, I've had a free flight with my airmiles and having only flown twice with Qatar I had an upgrade on my 1st ever flight and 2 weeks ago got an email saying I'd received a complimentary silver card (This year I've done BKK-MAN twice and done the return leg once) and the card is valid until 2013. :neener:
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Re: Emirates upgrade never had one.

Post by BaaBaa. »

My upgrades have mainly been given at the final desk before boarding too, possibly once or twice at checkin.

I recall doing a fist pump on the Qatar one in December as I didn't expect it at all. :dance:
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