I'm looking to book a oneway flight home LHR-PER travelling week 12/11 -> 15/11 and was wondering if anyone knew what flight(s) would give me the best chance for an upgraded to Business from Econ? Specifically the leg from DXB - PER?
I'm skywards silver and have enough points, but I've spoken to the customer service team and they confirmed there are no upgrade seats available - so my best bet would be to request an upgrade a couple of days before and hope for the best - they couldn't advise which DXB-PER flight(s) would give me the best chance of having it accepted.
From what I can gather looking at seat availability on expertflyer.com it's the leg from DXB-PER which has 0 seats available out of the afternoon arrival of EK420 on a A380 or EK424 on a 777 arriving just after midnight.
Am I clutching at straws or do I have a chance? I'll be packing everything into a container a couple of days beforehand so will be maxing out my baggage allowance.
Only other option I came across was flying business with GA - similar in price to econ with EK but with a 15h stopover in CGK - the bike travels outside the normal luggage allowance which is a bonus too.
Emirates is very stingy in terms of upgrades - my friend is a Skywards Platinum (highest tier), have enough miles to upgrade from "Y" (full-price economy) to business, called customer services and said theres no upgrades available even 48 hours prior, despite the fact there's 25 out of 76 business seats empty (expertflyer) and 6 seat was even redeemable through Alaska.
Garuda business and 15 hour in Jakarta wasn't much a problem.
They're 5-star airline according to Skytrax, and I have flown Garuda first class LHR-SIN via CGK for just $1,900, and that ended up become one of top 5 first class in the world, in my opinion. I bet their business class is pretty good as well.
Luxury 5-star hotels in Jakarta (Four Seasons, Kempinski, etc.) is around $220-270 (Australian dollar) per night, plus Jakarta and surrounding areas has lots of sightseeing spots as well. But one thing I have to warn you, Jakarta's traffic can be very bad (like 5km drive ended up taking 90 minutes) and you have to bargain with basically everything there.
The other option is to fly out of another airport after taking a short flight from LHR to wherever you’re flying from. This will often be a cheap way of flying on a paid business ticket, or finding availability on a quieter leg for a reward booking. I am flying from LHR to OSL to catch my flight from OSL to SYD, flying Qatar. Saved me a fortune compared to leaving from LHR.
Last week we used EK424 Dubai to Perth in economy. We had stopped a few days in Dubai so were well rested and knew we'd get a good sleep on arrival in Perth. So there was no stress at either end.The flight left at about 10 am and arrived in Perth about 1am. By our body clock, it meant we didn't need to sleep during the flight. We were fed lamb and salmon and plenty to drink. It was a full flight, I guess because Emirates is good at getting prices right and attracting customers. During our other flights (to and from Malta from Australia) we were sometimes offered upgrade, but not on this sector. Emirates charge high prices for upgrades so we never took them up on that. If you were planning to fly through from Europe to Perth and just changing planes in Dubai.... that would be awful. That's when looking at another alternative might be good. Check out the prices of Saudi airlines in business from either Rome or Milan to Jakarta one way.(approx 450 Euros) or Sri Lankan from London to Kuala Lumpur business class one way. You'll get a very good surprise if you can book far enough ahead and flexible. and Ok about using Air Asia/Jetstar down to Perth at the end. By the way, Garuda, Malaysian and Sri Lankan all have a bid for upgrade offer
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Best chance of upgrade LHR > PER | EK420/424?
stu__
stu__
Member since 26 Oct 2017
Total posts 2
Hi All,
I'm looking to book a oneway flight home LHR-PER travelling week 12/11 -> 15/11 and was wondering if anyone knew what flight(s) would give me the best chance for an upgraded to Business from Econ? Specifically the leg from DXB - PER?
I'm skywards silver and have enough points, but I've spoken to the customer service team and they confirmed there are no upgrade seats available - so my best bet would be to request an upgrade a couple of days before and hope for the best - they couldn't advise which DXB-PER flight(s) would give me the best chance of having it accepted.
From what I can gather looking at seat availability on expertflyer.com it's the leg from DXB-PER which has 0 seats available out of the afternoon arrival of EK420 on a A380 or EK424 on a 777 arriving just after midnight.
Am I clutching at straws or do I have a chance? I'll be packing everything into a container a couple of days beforehand so will be maxing out my baggage allowance.
Only other option I came across was flying business with GA - similar in price to econ with EK but with a 15h stopover in CGK - the bike travels outside the normal luggage allowance which is a bonus too.
Any tips would be appreciated.
Ta
btaus
btaus
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
Member since 15 Dec 2016
Total posts 171
Emirates is very stingy in terms of upgrades - my friend is a Skywards Platinum (highest tier), have enough miles to upgrade from "Y" (full-price economy) to business, called customer services and said theres no upgrades available even 48 hours prior, despite the fact there's 25 out of 76 business seats empty (expertflyer) and 6 seat was even redeemable through Alaska.
Garuda business and 15 hour in Jakarta wasn't much a problem.
They're 5-star airline according to Skytrax, and I have flown Garuda first class LHR-SIN via CGK for just $1,900, and that ended up become one of top 5 first class in the world, in my opinion. I bet their business class is pretty good as well.
Luxury 5-star hotels in Jakarta (Four Seasons, Kempinski, etc.) is around $220-270 (Australian dollar) per night, plus Jakarta and surrounding areas has lots of sightseeing spots as well. But one thing I have to warn you, Jakarta's traffic can be very bad (like 5km drive ended up taking 90 minutes) and you have to bargain with basically everything there.
mannej
mannej
QF
Member since 21 May 2014
Total posts 176
Using a seat map isn't always indicative of load, as not everyone selects a seat prior to arriving at the airport.
stu__
stu__
Member since 26 Oct 2017
Total posts 2
<snip>
Very helpful, thanks. It sounds like it will be to much of a punt in getting a upgrade so will probably bite the bullet and book with GA.
adygry
adygry
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
Member since 04 Jul 2015
Total posts 21
The other option is to fly out of another airport after taking a short flight from LHR to wherever you’re flying from. This will often be a cheap way of flying on a paid business ticket, or finding availability on a quieter leg for a reward booking. I am flying from LHR to OSL to catch my flight from OSL to SYD, flying Qatar. Saved me a fortune compared to leaving from LHR.
philelltt
philelltt
Member since 27 Oct 2017
Total posts 2
Last week we used EK424 Dubai to Perth in economy. We had stopped a few days in Dubai so were well rested and knew we'd get a good sleep on arrival in Perth. So there was no stress at either end.The flight left at about 10 am and arrived in Perth about 1am. By our body clock, it meant we didn't need to sleep during the flight. We were fed lamb and salmon and plenty to drink. It was a full flight, I guess because Emirates is good at getting prices right and attracting customers. During our other flights (to and from Malta from Australia) we were sometimes offered upgrade, but not on this sector. Emirates charge high prices for upgrades so we never took them up on that. If you were planning to fly through from Europe to Perth and just changing planes in Dubai.... that would be awful. That's when looking at another alternative might be good. Check out the prices of Saudi airlines in business from either Rome or Milan to Jakarta one way.(approx 450 Euros) or Sri Lankan from London to Kuala Lumpur business class one way. You'll get a very good surprise if you can book far enough ahead and flexible. and Ok about using Air Asia/Jetstar down to Perth at the end. By the way, Garuda, Malaysian and Sri Lankan all have a bid for upgrade offer