The Best Way to Book Emirates First Class: How to Upgrade Using Miles

Booking a flight and then using miles to upgrade is rarely a winning strategy to score a seat up front. But to fly Emirates first class – one of the world’s best and a bucket list item for many travelers – upgrading might just be one of the best and easiest ways to make it happen.

With an onboard shower, a bar at 40,000 feet, and incredible food and service, first class on Emirates has earned its reputation as one of the best ways to fly. But all that luxury can make it hard to book: Even with all the points and miles in the world, finding the award availability can be a tall task – especially for more than one seat. Worst of all, the restrictions the airline put in place last year now mean you’ll need airline status to book it with miles, period.

But Emirates offers a little-known option to upgrade by one cabin using miles … including at the check-in desk on the day of your flight. That means booking a business class ticket from the get-go could be the easiest path if you want to fly first class to Dubai (DXB), over to Europe, or even down to Bogotá (BOG). Emirates’ recent changes to booking first class awards have left this option untouched, making this by far the best way to make it happen now.

We’ve done it ourselves repeatedly. Here’s how it works and why the best way to fly Emirates first class often involves asking to upgrade at the airport.

Read our full review of Emirates First Class flying from Los Angeles (LAX) to Dubai (DXB)!
 

The Basics of Upgrading to First Class

Emirates allows you to upgrade your ticket by one class of service, subject to availability in that cabin. And that’s true whether you booked your initial ticket with cash or using miles.

That means if you booked an economy ticket (using cash or miles), you would be able to upgrade it to business class. If you booked a business class ticket, you are eligible to upgrade to first class. That’s pretty rare, especially for award tickets: Few airlines allow you to upgrade with miles if you booked using miles in the first place. Generally, upgrading any ticket using miles is rarely a good deal. But Emirates might be the exception.

To be clear, you’ll wind up using more miles to book a business class award and then upgrading to first class than you would by booking a first class award outright. But the upgrade route is often much easier, as it can be tough to find first class award availability. And considering Emirates now blocks flyers from redeeming miles for first class unless they have status, it’s one of the few ways to make it a reality.

In addition to booking using Emirates’ own Skywards miles, you can also book Emirates award tickets via Aeroplan and Qantas, too. However, these tickets are not eligible for upgrades. You’ll need to book directly through Emirates – either paying cash or redeeming Emirates Skywards miles – to have this option.

Once you’re booked, there are two ways to upgrade:

• You can waitlist a business class or first class upgrade in advance – more on this in a bit. But if no more award seats open up (and they often don’t), the request will be denied 48 hours before departure, and your upgrade request will be canceled.
• But on the day of departure, it’s a (possible) free-for-all: So long as there are still seats open in the first class cabin, you can use miles to upgrade at check-in, at the gate, or even after you board the plane!

How Many Miles Does it Cost to Upgrade to First Class?

It depends on the route you are flying – and what kind of fare you purchased. But it’s often reasonable(ish).

Thankfully, Emirates makes it pretty easy to determine with the Emirates miles calculator on its website. Just search for a one-way business class fare on your route and click the option to upgrade.

One thing has changed recently: Emirates now lets you book a Business Saver fare as a one-way ticket, something that used to require a round-trip commitment on many routes. That matters because Saver fares are the only ones you can upgrade at check-in or at the gate. Business Flex Plus fares can request an upgrade anytime before departure, subject to availability, and usually cost fewer miles.

If you search in business class in the calculator tool, the upgrade tab will show you the price in miles to upgrade to first for both fare types. Book a one-way Business Saver fare, and you’ll pay more miles to upgrade, but keep the check-in and at-the-gate option open. 

Here’s a quick list of the upgrade mileage rates for first class after booking a one-way business class award on a few popular routes:

• New York City (JFK) to/from Milan (MXP): 56,000 miles from a Saver fare, or 45,000 miles from a Flex Plus fare
• Newark (EWR) to/from Athens (ATH):56,000 miles from a Saver fare, or 45,000 miles from a Flex Plus fare
• Miami (MIA) to Bogotá (BOG): 22,750 miles from a Saver fare, or 17,500 miles from a Flex Plus fare
• New York City (JFK) to/from Dubai (DXB): 100,000 miles from a Saver fare, or 81,000 miles from a Flex Plus fare
• Washington, D.C.-Dulles (IAD) to/from Dubai (DXB): 100,000 miles from a Saver fare, or 81,000 miles from a Flex Plus fare
• Chicago-O’Hare (ORD) to/from Dubai (DXB): 100,000 miles from a Saver fare, or 81,000 miles from a Flex Plus fare
• Los Angeles (LAX) to/from Dubai (DXB): 117,000 miles from a Saver fare, or 94,000 miles from a Flex Plus fare
• San Francisco (SFO) to/from Dubai (DXB): 117,000 miles from a Saver fare, or 94,000 miles from a Flex Plus fare

Skip the Emirates’ Auto Upgrade Feature

After you book, you’ll have the option to set up an auto upgrade for your reservation by logging in to your Emirates account and clicking the “Upgrade with Miles” button. It may not be worth it.

For my Dubai to Frankfurt flight, the airline confirmed that my business class itinerary was eligible for the auto upgrade feature to first class. However, since there was no first class award space, no upgrades were immediately available.

I transferred points from my American Express Membership Rewards account into my Emirates account. Once those miles were available in my account, I clicked the “Auto upgrade” button to join the waitlist. At this point, you can enter your phone number so that, if your auto upgrade clears, you’ll receive a text message with the good news.

But there are some important things to know before you set up an auto upgrade:

• You must have the required mileage in your Emirates account to use the auto upgrade feature.
• To use the auto-upgrade feature, you must set it up at least 72 hours before departure.
• Auto upgrades will clear (assuming there is award space) between 60 days and 48 hours before your scheduled departure.
• The upgrade request will be automatically canceled if your auto upgrade doesn’t clear at least 48 hours before your flight.

Keep in mind: Open seats in first class are not the same as open award availability. That’s why, despite plenty of open first class seats on my flight, my upgrade never cleared. Everyone in our travel group struck out on multiple trips with Emirates with this auto-upgrade function.

Your mileage may vary, but we found this option wasn’t worth the trouble. That’s especially true since it requires you to have Emirates miles in your account to join the upgrade waitlist. If your upgrade doesn’t clear, you might wind up with thousands of miles stranded in your account.

There’s a better way.

The Best Option: Upgrading at Check-In (or at the Gate)

Emirates also allows you to upgrade to first class on the day of departure. In our experience, this is a much safer bet.

On three recent flights, our team has had a 100% success rate of upgrading business class tickets into first class at the check-in counter or at the gate. In fact, you can even upgrade your ticket in an Emirates lounge at the entry desk on your day of departure. That’s what our founder and CEO, Jared, did on a recent Emirates flight from New York City (JFK) to Milan, Italy (MXP). That meant he didn’t have to leave the secured area from his inbound flight to go to the ticketing counter and then later re-clear security, saving time.

But in many cases, asking to upgrade is easiest at the check-in desk. That’s what we did in 2023 when four of us traveled from Washington D.C.-Dulles (IAD) to Dubai (DXB). Two of us were already ticketed in first class, while the other two were ticketed in business class – there were only two first class award seats available at the time we booked.

We made sure to get to the check-in counter at Dulles right when it opened – about three and a half hours before our scheduled departure – to give ourselves the best shot of scoring an upgrade.

The seat map for our flight still showed plenty of open seats in first class: Less than half the 14 first class seats on the Airbus A380 were shown as occupied. I liked our chances.

The two travelers with business class tickets told an agent they’d like to upgrade to first class. The woman at the check-in desk confirmed a few things and told them that it would be possible for 70,200 miles each – the same Business Flex Plus rate listed on the Emirates mileage calculator (these rates have since increased).

Here’s the real beauty of upgrading the day of: Emirates is a transfer partner with American Express, Capital One, Citi, and Bilt Rewards (the only partner with a 1:1 ratio) … and all those points (generally) transfer instantly. That means you can inquire about an upgrade and, if available, transfer your points on the spot. No seats? No need to transfer your points and risk them getting stuck with Emirates.

One of my friends instantly transferred the points he needed from American Express, while the other already had those miles in his Emirates account after a failed waitlist upgrade attempt. Once the gate agent confirmed the miles were in their accounts, she issued the first-class tickets. The entire process took about five minutes.

Our experience in Dubai before flying to Frankfurt was a bit different, yet it ended with the same result: another first-class upgrade.

This time, only two of us were traveling from Dubai (DXB) to Frankfurt (FRA). I was booked in business class while our founder and CEO, Jared, managed to book a first-class award from the outset. This flight was operated on one of the airline’s new Boeing 777 equipped with their Game Changer first class suites, which was good and bad news. On the plus side, I was dying to fly it. On the downside, with just six first class suites onboard, I assumed it might be more difficult to upgrade.

We arrived at Dubai airport at 6 a.m. for a flight departing at 8:40 a.m. There were only two passengers ticketed in first class at the time, which left four empty seats. The agent told me it would cost 39,000 miles to upgrade (again, these rates have since increased). 

But instead of completing an upgrade at check-in, the agent added me to a waitlist. She explained that travelers with Emirates’ Platinum Status – the airline’s top-tier – would be upgraded immediately. Since I had no status with Emirates, I would clear so long as no one purchased a walk-up first class fare or if a passenger with a higher status didn’t request the same upgrade. I was told that the upgrade would occur at the gate before boarding.

We got to the gate about 10 minutes prior to the scheduled boarding time, and sure enough, all four of those first-class suites were still open. I stopped at the desk, and the agent confirmed I was on the waitlist, pushing through my upgrade for 39,000 miles. 

It may simply be harder to get these day-of upgrades when flying out of Emirates’ Dubai mega hub, which is filled with ultra-frequent flyers with status. But in this case, I made it work again.

Thrifty Tip: For the quintessential first class experience on Emirates, opt for Emirates’ funky fifth freedom route from Milan (MXP) to New York (JFK). The airline flies its signature Airbus A380 on this route between the U.S. and Italy, meaning you can head to the back of the upper deck for a drink at the onboard bar and rinse off in the shower before landing. Plus, unlike the overnight flight to Europe, these flights depart Italy in the afternoon and are slightly longer (8 1/2 hours total), giving you plenty of time to soak it all in.

Bottom Line

Emirates makes it shockingly easy to upgrade an existing flight with Skywards miles. Better yet, it’s a pretty incredible deal when you factor in what you get.

And since Emirates business class award seats are much easier to come by, booking one and then later upgrading it to first class can be a great option. Considering Emirates now blocks travelers from booking first class award tickets unless you have status with the airline, this upgrade option is now the best bet by far to fly Emirates first class.