I have 22,000 miles (still starting out) and my wife has about the same. We're about to fly from Fayetteville, NC to Las Vegas. By my estimate, we can upgrade our seats to First Class and back. Correct? I'm new the upgrading but we would like to have a nice trip..and this is a good way to start it off. I believe this will cost us 20,000 miles and we both just make it. I plan on booking my flights online. Then what? Should I call and request an upgrade or get certificates? I'm so confused and I dont want to waste my miles away.

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Thanks!

Sean

[This message has been edited by JetTroop (edited 06-20-2000).]

Check if the upgrade award is from any fare or is restricted to certain fares (it may be if you're not an elite). If yuou do upgrade, try to do it on a meal flight otherwise it will just be for the seat comfort.

FWIW, you have (or almost have) a free domestic ticket. You might as well travel free.

USAirways requires 20,000 miles PER person for a roundtrip upgrade from a restricted fare (non full fare coach). Since I doubt you purchased a Y it looks like you are out of luck.

Here's a direct link to more information: http://www.usairways.com/dividendmiles/redeemingmiles/howtoredeem/upgrades.htm

dg1, unless I'm reading it wrong, I think JetTroop and his wife have about 22K miles EACH, not together. Therefore, they could indeed get the 20K r/t upgrades from restricted coach fares. Correct me if I'm wrong, though.

JetTroop, here's what I would do.

1) Call reservations and ask them which flights are available for upgrades using the 20K mile upgrade award. Make sure they have room to upgrade TWO people on the flights you want.

2) Then, go to usairways.com to book the flights online and get the online booking bonus.

3) After booking online, call reservations again immediately and confirm the upgrades. They should be able to deduct the 20K miles from each of your accounts and reference in your reservation that you'll be using the upgrades, etc.

As terenz mentioned above, I'd go for flights with meal service to get the most bang for your upgrades, so to speak. Good luck! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif



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Yes, that is correct. We each have 22,000 miles. So we should qualify. I've already bought some tickets (great price too) online. So we'll have my wife do it so she can get her mega bonus. Or perhaps...she get hers...the 4,000 plus the 1,000 and then I do mine for 1,000. Hmm...she will only get 5,000 total if she books them both. So we each do one. Right?

I'll call right before we book the flights to confirm and then right after wards I'll call and link the flights (I'm guessing) and then do the upgrade.

Do I call US Air's customer service number or the DM center? Who do I tell to link? Sounds like the best bang for my buck.

We're not going till December, I'm hoping fares drop. We flew from Raleigh to Las Vegas for $170 each RT and I thought that was a great deal. I'll pay more to sit in the nice seats...we'll see.

One flight is a meal flight but the return flights..well..US Air flys at 11:30pm and 1:00am from Vegas. Or so I can tell. Really, really odd. I need look into that somemore.

Thanks for all the advice!!

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Thanks!

Sean

This Flight No Fuel's advice is right on... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

My apologies for misunderstading... you should be set. If there is a flight you REALLY like, just go ahead and put the reservation on hold and THEN call them. If you have two lines, you can click the 'Ticket' Button as soon as they say 'yes that flight is upgradeable'.

I don't think an upgrade is worth 20,000 miles. Save the miles and have free trip to SFO, LAX or else. I fly Delta first class in the USA when I arrive from an business class trip from overseas; (first class-) service (in the US) is not much better than in the "wood class".

Next: I booked a flight for me and my wife at the same time. We both got the 5,000 miles!