optiontown or star alliance upgrade ? options ?
 

We are flying EWR - OSL and then ARN - EWR on SAS in April. We used Merrill Lynch points to book our tickets, but the points paid were based on fares and dollars (so it isn't like a ff ticket from a booking perspective).

I've looked at the optiontown upgrades and it is $221/pp (we are 5) to go from E to E+. (fyi - it is $491/pp for B - while I like that option, it isn't realistic).

I was also told that we can request Star Alliance upgrade coupons for these and it would be 10k miles. However, when I try to do it online at USAirways and SAS doesn't show up as a *A member.

I'm trying to understand options here. One of the five of us is Platinum, the rest are not. We would have enough miles if it was 10k/segment for both directions.

=> How do I get upgrade certificates ?

=> Is either option more 'guaranteed' or 'likely' than the other ?

=> How do I find out if there will be any op-up's on the flight ? Are there any historical tools ? I'm not a member of expert flyer - should I join to figure this out ?

thanks : )

per the SAS website you can't do it online from to/from the US.

Optiontown is NOT guaranteed but they will at least give you an indication on how likely it is that you will be upgraded..W/ a group of 5 it may be tougher.

And i don't believe it would be 10K miles each for a ROUNDTRIP upgrade...mileage is always given as one way

Re op-ups...you are seriously asking if they will be so oversold they will offer 5 of you free upgrades? Pardon my laughing but I have honestly NEVER heard of a group of 5 being upgraded to E+ or Biz because a flight was oversold..even if ALL members were top tier. They would offer op ups one at a time to top tier folks way before that happened...or offer comp for taking a later flight.

Star Alliance upgrades are only available from the top fare classes and this will vary depending upon which FF program you are redeeming from. Moreover, not all of the *A carriers participate and not all partners can be upgraded with every other partner's miles. In the case of US Airways, I don't believe that they allow you to redeem for SAS upgrades.

Even were you able to redeem for SAS with US miles, I would think that you would have to be in E+ to upgrade to biz, as this is what is required with SAS miles. Upgrading from E to E+ would probably require that you were booked in an E fare class so high that you would have probably booked E+ to begin with.

Bottom line: I think OptionTown is your only option.

<i>Pardon my laughing but I have honestly NEVER heard of a group of 5 being upgraded to E+ or Biz because a flight was oversold..even if ALL members were top tier.</i>

Happens to a friend of mine with amazing regularity. He is Gold with Delta and has had his family of 4 upgraded on at least 4 flights to/from CPH that I know of. My wife and I are often upgraded together, as well, though we typically have similar status, so are probably not a good test case.

Agree that, without some sort of status, the likelihood of anyone in the party getting upgraded is slim to none.

With regards to SAS, in particular, I would note that they allow Eurobonus members (any level) to ugprade from any fare class, at the gate. From many out-stations (i.e. not CPH), they also allow paid upgrades, or at least did in the past. Given this, I would think that op-ups would be more rare on SAS than on some other carriers, as they would seek to solve the dilemma by encouraging folks to pay for upgrades.

To clarify, the Eurobonus members must redeem miles to upgrade at the gate.

guys, great info - thanks.

I'll have to check my fare class - can I see that anywhere from my itinerary ? It used to be easier before e-tickets!

mztery, you're right - getting 5 upgraded will be more difficult - we've had strange things happen though!

We have lots of Amex points - after typing this last night, I realized that we have more options transferring those points somewhere and trying to get an upgrade - it looks like we could use either Continental or United. I guess I should call them first and see if upgrades are available and then transfer points/miles for them ?

I think those upgrades are available at reservation - as opposed to the upgrades at standby (or checkin) like the Eurobonus. I don't think I can transfer points to Eurobonus from AmEx anyway.

good info - I need to do some calling - thanks for the info!

Used this scam in July 2011 on SAS. The daY before the flight we were notified that our upgrade had been approved. SAS did not have the seats. Optiontown says that if the upgrade is not delivered your money will be refunded within 5 days. I have written Optiontown repeatedly and received silly form letters not addressing the refund. Now, over 30 days later I am still awaiting the refund which AMEX is processing for me. Not worth the hassle. Do not use these guys.

Well, we used optiontown in April of this year flying SAS from Dulles to CPH and again from CPH to O'Hare. We were indeed upgraded to Business class both times and loved being able to do so for such a reasonable amount.

Water under the bridge at this point, but did you show SAS gate agents the email from optiontown? Where were you departing from and flying to? We did not get our upgrade notifications until several hours before departure, not day before.

"SAS did not have the seats"? Did you opt for Economy Extra or Business or both [we opted for both]. Does that mean there were no Business/EE class seats available or they didn't have the info from optiontown?

Hopefully, AMEX will get you your refund.

http://www.continental.com/web/en-US...onditions.aspx

expect the same T&Cs from UA - a Y or B fare class.

OP has already come and gone on this trip, mrwnurfl. Thread was topped by someone to post complaint, which is ok but your link to Continental is kind of moot for OP.

we had a great trip - and I would fly SAS again.

We did not try for optiontown upgrades on the way over (EWR-OSL) - we hoped that everyone would just sleep so they wouldn't be necessary. Everyone slept *some* ... However, our flight screens wouldn't work, our overhead lights wouldn't work. The FA's attempted to reset, restart, and reboot ours, but no luck. They were very nice about it, but we were disappointed.

I wrote an email to the CEO of SAS. He responded and we were bumped (for free) to E+ on the return (ARN-EWR). It was great! The section had empty rows, so we were able to move about and my kids moved into empty seats for a change of pace when a sibling was being annoying. The FA's were very kind and greeted us personally as we checked in at the gate and apologized for the problem on the way over.

Obviously, we didn't need the optiontown upgrade on the way home, although I don't know if it would have cleared or not.

One of the really nice bonuses about E+ was that it wasn't packed like sardines like the rest of the E rows.