Desert Shaikh

They say no business class seats available for the upgrade.

Heres how the story goes:

Checked online for the Business Class seat availability for the Dubai to Birmingham leg and many seats available.

Booked my Riyadh to Birminham flight via Dubai online.

Went to upgrade the Dubai to Birmingham sector online, but nothing available.

Called Skywards and was told the same thing. I asked why there are many Business Class seats available and yet they cannot upgrade me.

Was told there are only a selection of Business Class seats set for Skywards upgrades.

What a load of tosh.

Has anyone experienced this before.

Euc-

Yep, the rewards are dramatically decreasing!

And from the 1st of January there are a lot of changes in the program, not for the better IMHO.

NorthernLad

Yeah it's normal. Playing devils advocate, why give away a business class ticket when there is a small chance someone will pay outright for the seat? It is annoying though.

Just about used up our Emirates Airmiles, after that it will be Etihad wherever possible.

coffindodger

Many years ago i used to swear by EK i thought there the best thing since sliced bread.
but over the last 5-6 years i have found the service getting worse.
Recently i flew with EY to MNL and back again what a difference they have rapidly pulled up there socks, i used EY a few years ago and they were poor, but now they are turning into a not bad airline. Shame about the internal politics within the etihad company itself, but EY will certainly now give EK a run for there money.

glynster

wtf translation please cd!!

Bonny Boy

In common with most airline programmes these days - they are giving less and less.

With KLM/AF you will also struggle to get a Business class upgrade, and when you want to claim a reward flight, seats are often unavailable for the standard miles, but if you 'pay' double miles, seats are available.

I take the view that the card is worth it for the check-in desk, lounge access and baggage allowances, but increasingly not as good for upgrades/award flights.

Hello.Kitty

Mr Kitty has been upgraded to Skywards Silver which entitles him to stay in the business class lounge before the flight. The courtesy does not, however, extend to us, his family when we travel with him.

Now that's what I call stingey! (sp?)

Saying that, they are really good with kids travelling.

Desert Shaikh

Hmmm.

From the replied I am getting, I feel I am not the only one who have experienced this.

I think it might be time to ditch Emirates. I would rather now take BA or Saudia to LHR direct then travel back to the midlands via train. Miles dont seem worth the value now.

Euc-

Try Etihad

Desert Shaikh

They dont fly to Birmingham :-(

If I fly them to London, I may as well take a direct flight.

NorthernLad

They fly to Manchester...is that not better than London for you?

coffindodger

Simple airline / airport codes for those in the business.
EK = EMIRATES
EY = Etihad.
MNL = Manila.

I use the lounge all the time and i fly cattle class as well
Its a web site called http://www.prioritypass.com/
Its based in the Uk.
You have certain levels of memberships and this allows you into the lounges world wide over 800 i think.
and all for less than 250 USA funny money.

Cry haddock

If you ring Skywards they will tell you how many seats are available for upgrading, not every un-sold seat is available for upgrade so availability of J class to book on-line is not a good guide. I tend to keep them on the phone while i book the economy seat online then do it straight away.
Never done it, buit i am sure EY have similar yield managemet/reward redemption limits - it's very much the norm.
What pisses me off more is that you can't book one way reward flights.

princeo

Soon, try to get rid of all the miles you have, as they will be worthless, from the 1st of Jan when they apply the new rules.

you will then need 1,000,000 miles to have a free return ticket back home!

I know this for sure...

Be careful...

....

Desert Shaikh

Ba*****ds