Emirates has a lot of Airbus A380s. Those are big planes, with a lot of seats, and they need to send them somewhere. Like Dallas.

Emirates wasn’t selling the bulk of their premium seats when they were flying a Boeing 777 on the route. Now they have even more premium seats.

And they’re facing competition to and through the Middle East from both Eithad (which is an American partner, and that helps a great deal in the Dallas market) and Qatar (which as a oneworld alliance member is an American partner, and that helps a great deal in Dallas).

Unsurprisingly, Emirates A380 first class award space is pretty darned wide open. A booked some seats a couple of weeks ago myself using Alaska Airlines miles.

As a result, Emirates is getting aggressive and generous. Here’s what they are offering folks booking their Dallas flight:

• If you have American AAdvantage elite status, and buy a ticket for their Dallas – Dubai flight, they’ll give you a status match.

  

• If you don’t have elite status with anyone, but buy a premium cabin ticket on their Dallas – Dubai flight, they’ll give you elite status in their Skywards program. (Interesting, it’s not clear that they would take the status away if you refunded the ticket after purchase and tier upgrade.)

  

Here’s How It Works

From the material for travel agents:

Issue an Emirates ticket and register the customer to the Skywards Program
Send the ticket number and the Skywards member number to DFWsales@emirates.com
The passenger will receive the Skywards membership card to the mailing address.
Please contact DFWsales@emirates.com if you have any questions about this promotion.

(HT: Hopwise)

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