Question: Aeroplan miles to upgrade star alliance flight?
Feb 15, 2016, 7:02 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 3
Aeroplan miles to upgrade star alliance flight?
Sorry if this question is basic but I'm booking a flight on Swiss and was wondering if I would be able to use aeroplan miles to upgrade or would that only work on an Air Canada flight? Thanks!
Feb 15, 2016, 8:12 pm
#2
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: Spatially speaking or metaphysically speaking?
Programs: Aeropain: Zirconia Status; Altitude: Marianas Trench Status; UA MP: 1 Kick to the curb status
Posts: 623
https://www4.aeroplan.com/saua/Chart.do
https://www4.aeroplan.com/saua/Guidelines.do
In your case: "SWISS (LX) Economy class: U, M booking classes and Business class: J booking class"
Having said all this, there are numerous reports of it not working and calls to Aeroplan resulting in a shrug from the agents of "well, yeah, we know it's not working but we don't when it will work." I was lucky and managed to do an upgrade without any issues on EVA Air but others have not been so lucky. Can't find the link for that at the moment...
Feb 15, 2016, 8:50 pm
#3
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: YVR
Programs: AC*SE-MM, BA Bronze, Marriott Titanium & lifetime Plat
Posts: 1,820
Generally it's only the most expensive flexible booking classes it works for. So U and M for Swiss are probably full fare economy. Equivalent of Y and B for Air Canada.
Likely cheaper to buy a restricted business class ticket than the full fare economy.
The scenario when it works tends to be when work is buying your ticket and they buy flexible ones.
Likely cheaper to buy a restricted business class ticket than the full fare economy.
The scenario when it works tends to be when work is buying your ticket and they buy flexible ones.
Feb 15, 2016, 9:03 pm
#4
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: YLW
Programs: AC- SE100 1MM, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Platinum, National Executive, Nexus/GE
Posts: 4,307
I tried twice, YUL-ZRH & ZRH-LAX and both failed. I had U fares on both and it failed so I quit trying and simply bought cheaper fares and picked good seats.
Feb 16, 2016, 12:20 am
#5
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: SFO
Programs: AC SE MM, BA Gold, SQ Silver, Bonvoy Tit LTG, Hyatt Glob, HH Diamond
Posts: 44,323
Generally it's only the most expensive flexible booking classes it works for. So U and M for Swiss are probably full fare economy. Equivalent of Y and B for Air Canada.
Likely cheaper to buy a restricted business class ticket than the full fare economy.
The scenario when it works tends to be when work is buying your ticket and they buy flexible ones.
Likely cheaper to buy a restricted business class ticket than the full fare economy.
The scenario when it works tends to be when work is buying your ticket and they buy flexible ones.
I had a friend who booked SFO-ZRH-SFO on LX without a Saturday night stay, and I think U was the lowest fare that allowed that.
He had a very nice flight home from ZRH for just 20k miles
Feb 16, 2016, 7:10 am
#7
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: YOW/YUL/YYZ
Posts: 270
Did upgrade space come out of J award award inventory?
Feb 16, 2016, 10:40 am
#9
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: SFO
Programs: AC SE MM, BA Gold, SQ Silver, Bonvoy Tit LTG, Hyatt Glob, HH Diamond
Posts: 44,323
Feb 16, 2016, 2:01 pm
#10
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: AC SE, SPG Lifetime Plat, ACMM
Posts: 3,535
Don't hold your breath on the upgrades. I am the one who has been having problems with "General Technical Failure" since Nov 2013. The site is willing to give me the upgrade and once I agree to their terms and conditions the dreaded message comes up. I know the upgrade can be done using UA miles. I have done this. I can get the award using Aeroplan points as the seat is available but cannot get the upgrade. Agents cannot do anything about it. I am really extremely impressed by Aeroplan's inability to fix their technical problem. ( Yes I tried again today for my wife's flight)
Feb 16, 2016, 3:30 pm
#11
Join Date: Mar 2013
Posts: 107
Back in 2014 when the LX-operated legs of the YYZ --> JNB business class deal still booked into D, I was able to upgrade JNB-->ZRH from Business (D) into First (A). Was able to do it using the online tool -- no hassle. It was a great experience, even though I am quite confident Swiss was probably very unhappy that the upgrade was made available.
Feb 18, 2016, 9:15 am
#13
Suspended
Join Date: Sep 2014
Programs: AC SE100K-1MM, NH, DL, AA, BA, Global Entry/Nexus, APEC..
Posts: 18,877
