Are Emirates A380 First Class awards for two people available using Alaska Airlines miles?
A TravelSort reader writes: “We are trying to book two Emirates tickets (using Alaska Airlines miles) first class one way JFK to Dubai. Our dates in late June, early July, 2015 and departure/arrival cities are very flexible. Is there ever more than ONE first class seat available on the A380?!?”
Emirates Has Become VERY Stingy With First Class Award Space
The bad news is that Emirates has gotten very stingy with releasing first class award seats. In fact, you'll be hard pressed to find Emirates first class award availability for even one person on most dates, using Alaska Airlines miles.
With two people, the best you'll be able to book in advance are Emirates Business Class awards.
So Are There Any Dates with Two Emirates First Class Award Seats?
A few, mostly released within about 2 weeks of the departure date. Here's an example of availability (at the time of publishing this post) of 2 Emirates First Class award seats on the A380.
What's the Best Way to Search for Emirates Award Availability?
The best way is with Expert Flyer (paid subscription)–look for Z inventory. The problem is that sometimes the Alaska Web site doesn't reflect the Emirates award space that is open to partners, and is out of sync with what Emirates itself is releasing.
Is It Even Worth Going Through the Hassle of Getting 2 Emirates First Class Award Seats?
I'd say no, based on my Emirates First Class experience, albeit on the short Hong Kong to Bangkok flight. Sure, the in-flight shower was novel and the food was better than average, but service was noticeably poorer than Singapore Suites, Cathay First Class and Etihad First Class.
More importantly, I just didn't find the bed comfortable, when the seat was made into a bed. It wasn't perfectly flat and I would have needed some powerful pharmaceuticals to get any sleep on it (although it did have a more powerful massage function than I've experienced on other seats that ostensibly have a massage function, if that matters to you).
Alternatives?
I'd recommend Etihad First Class to Abu Dhabi any day over Emirates First Class. Sure, it's a narrow bed, but at least, thanks to the ottoman, it's fully flat. And it's a good use of AAdvantage miles, for which I expect an award chart devaluation later this year.
You could gain access to more award space by booking with Emirates Skywards. You can transfer to Emirates Skywards from SPG with a 25% bonus when transferring in increments of 20,000 points, or 1:1 from AMEX Membership Rewards points. That said, the Emirates Skywards award chart is very expensive when using Skywards Flex Fare awards: 136,250 Skywards miles for the one way from NYC JFK to Dubai DXB.
Have you successfully booked one or two Emirates First Class A380 award seats using Alaska Airlines miles?
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