Emirates booking seats charges and FF points

[WWTFC]

Now that Emirates charge up to $90 to prebook seat for certain codes - it will cost Mrs D and me an extra $360 to do so for trip to Europe later this year or we wait til 48hrs before flight to do for free on line. Leaving from Adelaide not QF codeshare but on an emirates ticket. We have Qantas FFpoints, Velocity points and Krisflyer points - can any be used to pay to book a seat?

Any other ideas?
Thanks in advance
Colin D

PS apology for spelling error in title

 

[JohnK]

Sorry but you cannot use any of the miles/points from other frequent flyer programs to pay to allocate sests on EK flights.

In my experience most people do not bother preallocating seats and waiting until T-48 hours can still yield ok seats.

 

[JessicaTam]

PS apology for spelling error in title

Title fixed - and moved to EK sub-forum.

 

[WWTFC]

Thanks for your help.
Another query though If you have points with airlines in an alliance eg Velocity and Kris Flyer can you combine points and use? Also if i join Emirates scheme can i transfer Qantas points to them given they have an alliance?

Cheers
Colin D - hopefully spelling better in this post.

 

[TheRealTMA]

Thanks for your help.
Another query though If you have points with airlines in an alliance eg Velocity and Kris Flyer can you combine points and use? Also if i join Emirates scheme can i transfer Qantas points to them given they have an alliance?

Cheers
Colin D - hopefully spelling better in this post.

In short, no and no. Definitely can't interchange QF and EK points.

 

[JessicaTam]

Thanks for your help.
Another query though If you have points with airlines in an alliance eg Velocity and Kris Flyer can you combine points and use? Also if i join Emirates scheme can i transfer Qantas points to them given they have an alliance?

Cheers
Colin D - hopefully spelling better in this post.

In short, no and no. Definitely can't interchange QF and EK points.

Almost correct - You can transfer KF to VA or vice versa.

I am not aware of any other pairing where that can be done.

 

[JohnK]

Thanks for your help.
Another query though If you have points with airlines in an alliance eg Velocity and Kris Flyer can you combine points and use? Also if i join Emirates scheme can i transfer Qantas points to them given they have an alliance?

You can't with Oneworld but from what I understand you can use KrisFlyer miles to upgrade other Star Alliance sectors but points use is very poor.

 

[WWTFC]

Thank you all so much. Any recommendations re joining Emirates FF scheme given we are taking return trip to Europe - direct Adel - Heathrow then Glasgow to Adel. or do we get qantas points on this trip. Emirates were $200 per person cheaper than Qantas at time of booking thus on Emirates ticket even though QF tickets on same flight.

Colin D

 

[Infrequent]

Thank you all so much. Any recommendations re joining Emirates FF scheme given we are taking return trip to Europe - direct Adel - Heathrow then Glasgow to Adel. or do we get qantas points on this trip. Emirates were $200 per person cheaper than Qantas at time of booking thus on Emirates ticket even though QF tickets on same flight.

Colin D

Firstly ... I'm sure you know this, but you're not going direct ... there's that little stop and change of aircraft at Dubai!

Second ... my recommendation (with limited experience!) is to give your QFF number, and get some points into that. QFF points can then be used for plenty of other airlines (and EK), whereas EK can be used for practically nothing else ... AND THEY EXPIRE VERY QUICKLY!!! (QFF wont expire if they's any "activity" in your account, including connected credit card spend, etc)

 

[Infrequent]

(Oh, and on the subject of EK points expiry... they don't just expire if you don't have account "activity" - they always expire a set (short) time from earning ... and to rub EVEN more salt into the wound, if I recall correctly, its also based on when your birthday is - so someone born at the end of December gets around a year longer than someone born at the start of January!)

 

[WWTFC]

Thank you to everyone for your help - very much appreciated.

Colin D