Emirates Seat Selection

[buffett]

Hi guys,
Im a first time flyer on Emirates over the xmas period and need to get some advice on seat selection.

I am an economy traveller and have been very lucky in the past on long haule flights by snagging whole rows (usually 4 spare seats) to make those long flights a little more enjoyable.

I have had a look at the emirates website and it appears there are a great number of seats available on my flights but have also had a look at flightstats dotcom and it appears there are approx only 7 left in economy...

Do you think i should take the gamble and book a seat at the back of the plane in anticipation of getting a whole empty row or should i play safe and book a nice aisle seat closer to the front of the plane??

Any thoughts or suggestions would be a great help.

Flight details are
Departing 18th dec
LHR - DXB EK004
19th dec
DXB-MEL EK404

Jan 2
MEL- DXB - EK405
DXB-LHR - EK001

p.s. ive got a visa for the UK which means i am eligable for the IRIS. Im going to register on the way out and update you guys on the process.

 

[Mal]

p.s. ive got a visa for the UK which means i am eligable for the IRIS. Im going to register on the way out and update you guys on the process.

Can't comment on the EK Seat selection, but can comment on IRIS.

Regardless of you having a UK Visa, or even a UK Passport, it is up to the immigration officer in the IRIS registration room to allow or disallow you joining IRIS. Certainly I was denied the first time I tried to enroll as the officer felt that my travel wasn't sufficient to warrant IRIS. (BTW, the IRIS registration instructions do actually state that they should enroll anyone with certain visas or a UK passports, but ultimately it's up to the officer to decide). - The Registration manual is here: http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/s...rs/irisdownloads/schemedefinitiondocument.pdf

IRIS is great (although fiddly!). Also, check the enrollment times carefully, as some of the offices aren't open when flights to Australia are occurring - and as they are airside, you don't have much choice to try again later if they are closed.

 

[Maca44]

Expert flyer for your flight LHR-DXB shows the following fare buckets available,
PC AC JL CC IC Y7 O9 ER RC WC MC BC UC KC QC HL LC TC XC VC

and your flight DXB-MEL shows
P9 A7 J4 C4 I9 Y7 O9 E9 R9 WL ML BL UC KC QC HL LC TC XC VC

Other will correct me if I am wrong, but with there being so many fares closed I don't know if EK only Y, O, E, R for economy seats. You might want to check with www.seatcounter.com .

 

[Mal]

Expert flyer for your flight LHR-DXB shows the following fare buckets available,
PC AC JL CC IC Y7 O9 ER RC WC MC BC UC KC QC HL LC TC XC VC

and your flight DXB-MEL shows
P9 A7 J4 C4 I9 Y7 O9 E9 R9 WL ML BL UC KC QC HL LC TC XC VC

Other will correct me if I am wrong, but with there being so many fares closed I don't know if EK only Y, O, E, R for economy seats. You might want to check with www.seatcounter.com .

EK do use most of those fare classes for Economy (ie Everything Y and below in the listing ) - so to me the flight looks pretty packed. The "L" means that the waitlist is open for certain buckets, the "C" of course means that the waitlist is closed.

So certainly, it looks that things are pretty full.

 

[serfty]

Going by those loading I would reccomend the OP get an Aisle seat as far forward as possible. I would not be surprised if the LHR-DXB was already oversold and EK are expecting(/hoping for) a few no shows - hence Y7/O9.

Given the time of year I would not expect many seats to be free.