Upgrading at the airport with miles

Posted:
25 Jul 2006, 18:46
by ryans02
Hi V-Flyers,
Can anyone advise me on the following?
I understand that I can upgrade my booking to PE or UC at the airport using my miles but at exactly 1/2 the pre-airport mile cost. Am I correct so far? I know that this is down to the plane load etc but I want to know if anyone has actually managed to do it before?
Also, can I do this on any economy ticket or does it have an upgradeable fare? If so what is the lowest fare class needed?
1000 thank you's in advance...

Posted:
25 Jul 2006, 19:31
by radar
Hi,
I have done this, sometimes free, once for £126 to upgrade from K class ticket to S/W to then upgrade with points to J class. See recent thread
http://www.v-flyer.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=14071. I am sure I am going to get flamed about long links (haven't got a short one to work yet) and maybe some innacuracies...[:I]
Andrew

Posted:
25 Jul 2006, 19:35
by AndyK
It won't be half the cost. It just means they will charge you for that leg of the journey. I.e. in real terms it's exactly the same number of miles do upgrade. If the ticket isn't an upgradeable type then you'd usually need to pay the difference to make it a flexible fare first.

Posted:
25 Jul 2006, 19:54
by mcmbenjamin
You can upgrade at the airport or at anytime following the guidelines below.
First the booking classes eligble for upgrade:
Econony
UK...................Y,B,L
Japan................Y,B,L,M
Caribbean............Y, B, L
USA..................Y,B
Hong Kong............Y, B, L
China................Y, B, L
South Africa.........Y, B, L, M
Nigeria..............Y, B, L
India................Y, B, L, M
United Arab Emirates.Y, B, L
(Basically I get jiped for buying my ticket in the USA)
PE
All countries booked in W and S booking classes
Upgrade from....................Miles
Economy to Premium Economy......20,000
Premium Economy to Upper Class..40,000
Economy to Upper Class..........60,000
Half mile rates for one-way. Doulbe for LHR-(HKG)-SYD.
Also you can pay money to upgrade your ticket. The only sure way to get the upgrade

Posted:
26 Jul 2006, 12:03
by ryans02
Right I get ya....
Thanks for all the advice guys. Looks like my bid to go behind the curtain and into UC on the cheap has been floored! Nevermind, maybe one day I'll save up enough miles or even get a miracle operational upgrade... Not holding my breath!
Thanks again.