FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Consolidated "Can I Upgrade an Award Ticket?" Discussion Thread [Merged]
Old May 26, 2007, 5:12 pm
  #8  
ajc1970
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: xLAS
Posts: 1,362
Originally Posted by wimpypipsqueak
Why would you want to upgrade an award ticket rather than book the award in the preferred class in the first place.

Well I know the answer is "I want to use my upgrades" or "I don't have enough miles" or something similar. And I know UAs answer - "Tough"!
on intl itineraries, it's much easier to find NF availability than XF... so one reason might be that it's the easier way to get into the premium cabin, even if it ends up costing more miles.

another might be that you've taken 1/2 of an XY award on a 10+ hour flight and decided that you don't want to suffer through Y on a long flight again... you can't cancel the award and book it in a higher class once you've flown 1/2 of it.

i made the latter mistake, once. after i suffered through 17 hours in the Y cabin, there was nothing i could do to get into C on the return flight... except for what i did: i basically threw away the return ticket and bought a ticket in business class, then upgraded to F.

i'll never fly XY again. you have no options once you begin travel.
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