Upgrades using Miles
 

Wondering whether or not you count on getting upgraded when you use your miles on international flights. Continental says they will release the upgrade info a month out - for those of you who book Business/First this way, does it usually happen that you end up up front, or not?

If you're a premier customer of theirs, you could probably count on it but not 100%. Airlines have ranked their cutomers - at least AA does. I could be on a wait list for an hour but if a Platinum showed up after me, she goes first.

Totally dependent on the airline, the particular flights, your status in your FF plan, phase of the moon...

Go to the particular forum for your plan(s) at www.flyertalk.com - all the true experts are there...

I have done it on US Airways.
The requirements for miles jumped drastically last year and you are required to buy a refundable ticket rather than a non refundable one, which costs considerably more.

Also I had to reserve well ahead of time because the number of seats released for upgrades is highly limited.

Continental can confirm an international upgrade with miles more than a month out, if they have inventory.

Also, you don't need to buy an expensive ticket to be eligible for upgrade on CO. You just need to pay up. Depending on the fare class of your original ticket, you may have to pay NOTHING to $400 EACH WAY plus the miles to get the upgrade.

What you SHOULDN'T DO is to buy an expensive coach ticket without confirmed upgrade, because you could end up in coach and paying more than you should have.

If you want to get BusinessFirst seats for sure, buy a BF ticket. Or find a flight or date that you can get confirmed upgrade upon booking. If you want to take a chance, then buy a cheap (but eligible) coach ticket, and request to upgrade with the appropriate fees. They will not take the fees until you're confirmed.

The above applies to CO only.

Hi, SwimChick,

Hope I understand your question correctly.

If I am flying international and hoping to upgrade, I won't purchase a tcicket unless/until the agent can confirm that an upgrade using miles is available. I usually do this 9-11 months before my trips. As others have said, inventory for upgraded seats in business and first class is limited. So, best to start looking early and keep checking back. As I understand it, at least on United, so long as you have the miles available, your frequent flyer status has nothing to do with getting these upgrades. If, however, you buy a ticket and are on a waitlist to get upgraded, your status will matter.

Also, you should always ask the airline to quote you the cheapest economy fare that can be upgraded. Often, the cheapest fares are NOT upgradable (at least on United). That said, unlike in past years, when I have paid roughly $1400 for economy flights to the Continent that are upgradable, this year I got a fare under $800 to London that was upgradable. I'll fly a short intra-European fare to Italy and save the $400.

John H.

With CO, you can be wait listed for an upgrade if you are an elite member. Especially in peak times, reward seats may not be released until just a few days prior to flight date. As rkkwan notes, you can purchase one of the "lowest upgradable" fares, or buy the cheaper ones and and pay an additional few hundred dollars plus miles to upgrade if/when upgrade seats become available. Do keep in mind that if your flight is at a particularly busy time, priority is given to the the higher fares over the lower ones, regardless of the date of purchase. In such a situation your best shot may be to buy the higher fare and wait list for the upgrade, knowing that you may or may not get it.

Let's look at a specific example on CO. Say you're flying EWR-AMS in October. Here are your choices for flying BF, prices roundtrip:

Normal BF fares (J or D): about $5,000+
Discount BF fares (Z): $2,000
Full Economy (Y): $3,700 + 20,000 miles
Discount Economy (H or K): from $800 + $400 + 40,000 miles
Discount Economy (N, B, V or U): from $500 + $600 + 40,000 miles
Deep Discount Economy (Q, I, S, W, T, X, L): from ~$450 + $800 + 40,000 miles

So, in this case, a full "Y" fare makes no sense, while a discount BF fare "Z" looks pretty good for $2,000 to Europe (and you earn 150% FF miles + 150% EQM). Alternatively, a "U" fare for about $500, and then try to get an upgrade for $600 + 40,000 miles is also a good deal, if an upgrade is not a MUST. [Each upgrade leg is cleared seperately, so you can upgrade one-way for $300 + 20,000 miles.] The cheaper fares ("Q" or lower) makes absolutely no sense, and in my opinion, the $800 "K" fare isn't a good deal either. You will get cleared before those with "N", "B", "V" or "U", but if you don't get upgraded, you ended up paying $300 more for nothing in coach.

Keep in mind that the fare structure is different on each route and specific dates, so you have to understand clearly what's out there. Study the UPGRADE chart on continental.com, and check the different fare classes available using this page on Travelocity.com:

http://dps1.travelocity.com/lognlogi...tr_module=FARE

A correction. "H" and "K" class are different. I should have listed them differently:

H: ~$1,000 + 40,000 miles
K: ~$800 + $400 + 40,000 miles

Since H is a higher class than K, in this EWR-AMS example, a "H" fare makes more sense than "K" to get an upgrade. Problem is that if you don't get cleared, then you'll be paying $500 more than a "U" fare for nothing, doubling your ticket price.

My husband who is a premier member gets upgrades all the time. In fact I have never flown to Europe in coach.I know one thing he doesn't fly Air France over because he says they don't give out the upgrades. Sometimes we may have to fly a connection through another city in the US but it is worth it to fly business class.