Emirates is of course known for its excellent passenger experience, including a great first class and business class product. Understandably, many people are interested in upgrading their Emirates flights to a premium cabin, so on this post, I’d like to talk a bit about how that works.
While I don’t think Emirates Skywards overall is the most compelling frequent flyer program, I do think the program has the most widely useful opportunity to upgrade flights with miles. So let’s talk about that — which types of tickets are upgradable, how much will you pay for an upgrade, and is it worth it?
In this post:
Furthermore, upgrades are generally valid for up to one cabin, except economy passengers can also skip premium economy and upgrade to business class.
One other thing worth mentioning is that while you need Skywards elite status in order to be able to outright redeem miles for Emirates first class, non-elite members can upgrade to first class, so it’s not that upgrades aren’t possible.

How many Skywards miles are needed for upgrades?
Emirates Skywards has a mileage calculator on its website, where you can search a specific route and find out how many miles you’d need for an upgrade, award ticket, etc. So to figure out how many miles you’ll need to upgrade, you’ll first want to figure out the type of ticket you’ve booked, and then plug that information to the calculator.
A great solo travel tip spotted this week on One Mile at a Time.