I still glow thinking about the epic upgrade where seven of us partied it up for New Years in the glorious Emirates A380 Upper Deck. The champagne, the bartender, the “dance” floor, the dessert all seemingly free flowing 40,000 ft in the sky — any hour is party hour on the Emirates A380!
Today I just like to share briefly in how this became a reality through a relatively unknown sweet spot on the Emirates Skywards program.
Upgrade with Miles
disclaimer, this trick requires a little bit of luck
With Emirates recent devaluation, a LAX-DXB flight now costs a whopping 157,500 miles. On top of that, you have to pay over 800+ USD in fuel and surcharges. That’s a pretty pricey premium to pay in the awards market.
While this is a safe way to lock in that awesome flight, there’s a mini loophole to get Emirates Business at a steep discount. The key is to find a good Emirates Economy Flex Plus fare.
In our case, the Emirates Flex Plus fare turned out to be $1000 USD one-way, which is just a tad more than the $838 USD fuel surcharges. But as you can see, the cost to upgrade is only 81,900 miles instead of 157,500 miles.
| Emirates Business Award | Emirates Eco Flex Plus |
| 157,500 miles | 81,900 miles (upgrade to business) |
| 838 USD (taxes) | 1000 USD (avg cost of eco flex fare) |
| pros: flexibility / cons: expensive | pros: value / cons: gamble |
As you can see, the cost of the flight is a 48% difference for almost the same amount of cash. The only catch is that you have to gamble 😉 If you’re lucky and there’s space upon check-in, you can UPGRADE to baller class. Here’s the instagram video in what the experience was like.
To make your flight even more sweet, you can use the same technique and use your miles to upgrade to Emirates First Class. If you have status with Emirates Skywards loyalty program, your chances of upgrade increases dramatically.
Overall, booking Emirates Business and/or First Class can be an expensive affair. Regardless if you do it through a Skywards program or with its airline partners, the miles you redeem tends to be higher than other airlines. With this snazzy trick, this can help you save some miles… if you’re willing to roll the dice.
Chai Bear World 