Emirates A388 over Northern Canada on Oct 30th 2014, climbed without clearance, separation not assured

An Emirates Airlines Airbus A380-800, registration A6-EEM performing flight EK-215 from Dubai (United Arab Emirates) to Los Angeles,CA (USA), was enroute at FL360 near N70 W90 when the crew requested a climb to FL380 via CPDLC (controller pilot data link communications), Edmonton Area Control queried when the crew would be able to accept a climb to FL390. The crew took this query as a clearance and climbed to FL390.

Around that time a Lufthansa Airbus A330-300, registration D-AIKC performing flight LH-492 from Frankfurt/Main (Germany) to Vancouver,BC (Canada), crossed N70 W90 at FL380 at 16:30Z.

The Emirates A380 crossed N70 W90 at FL390 at 16:38Z.

Both flights continued to their destinations for safe landings.

The Canadian TSB reported: "A loss of separation occurred when vertical separation between UAE215 and DLH492 was not assured and lateral spacing was 8 minutes in an area where the separation standard was 10 minutes."