Wasn't aware of it before but there seems to be a USE2 mileage upgrade for N.America-Europe trips. 20k one way for M, H, K and Q fares.


http://www.usair.com/dividendmiles/redeemingmiles/howtoredeem/upgrades.htm

terenz

You win 'eyeballs of the year' for this one. I can't believe it, finally what we've all been asking for.

Now this is something that makes US the best in the business. People have been complaining about how AA can upgrade basically any fare for enough miles, but US needed B or above. Now we have SWUs AND almost all fares upgradeable to Europe.

One thing to note - it says 'preferred level T&C apply' - so it might be the 7/3/1 rule. For sure, the question of how far in advance you can upgrade with miles is not answered very well on this new page. They unfortunately used the old page to make this new one, and some of the language is now mixed.

Anyway, thanks USAirways!

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by terenz:
Wasn't aware of it before but there seems to be a USE2 mileage upgrade for N.America-Europe trips. 20k one way for M, H, K and Q fares.


http://www.usair.com/dividendmiles/redeemingmiles/howtoredeem/upgrades.htm</font>

Was somebody reading my posts on rec.travel.air???? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

I've been informed that anything above a V class ticket is upgradeable now for trans-atlantic flight.

I bet Beckles is giggling like a little schoolgirl now!

I guess I can take that question off my list for the 2/7 chat!

40,000 points for a roundtrip upgrade to Europe is fantastic, considering AA is 25K each way between NA and Europe.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by chexfan:
I've been informed that anything above a V class ticket is upgradeable now for trans-atlantic flight.

I bet Beckles is giggling like a little schoolgirl now!</font>

It's really true! Note, as chexie refers to, I thought that's what the new policy said in this post:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum51/HTML/002060.html

So with US, us Golds and Silvers now get two free upgrades + 20K oneway upgrades across the Atlantic. The only program that can even come close to this is AA's now since they allow upgrades on any fare and at any time in advance with miles (but no freebies for Golds and Platinums like US for equivalent levels). In other words, this blows every other US airline besides AA out of the water across the Atlantic for upgrades for lower level elites.

There is a god !!!!!
Finally Xmas and my birthday are on the same day.
The best move for the hard core transatlantic travellers with 5 to 10 trips over the big lake every year since I joined the programm. For Gold and higher it basiclly means you can upgrade one way each time you go for the miles you will get for the trip. That can basicly mean good by to coach for me on the tripps to the US.
I can only guess the competition at the airport for upgrades will be more intense soon.
I can only agree that the programm at least on paper is better for upgrading than any other FT programm in the transatlantic market.
Go US !!!!

You can bet that if too many people use these, the company will squeeze the available inventory. There are 9 330's, and I think 10 767's (one of which is on loan to the military, currently). With roughly 36 premium seats in each aircraft, that's about 700 seats a day in each direction. With most people wanting London, Paris, and Rome, it narrows even more. Just do the math.

I'm not sure about "squeezing availability" ... maybe there will be more waitlisting and sweating ...

Considering there were only 10 people in Envoy on my last trip on a B767, there's definitely some room to try and get folks to upgrade (and there were definitely elites in coach I saw boarding).

BTW, another question that needs to be asked is can you upgrade a companion?

This brings up an age old question for me regaring 'class fares.' How can I tell what is j, c, y, b, m, h, k, q, v and so on?

If I buy a plain old fully restricted fare to London, for example, what type of fare is that?

If you're buying through a website, there is usually a link to look at the fare rules. The first letter in the fare rule is usually the booking code (V, K, Q, B, Y, C, etc.). If you're buying at a ticket counter or over the phone, just ask them and they can tell you.

Here's a thread from a few weeks ago that shows a few ways to see fare/booking codes on the website (scroll to the bottom of the thread):

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum51/HTML/002059.html

I am pretty excited about this new award, it is great if you have 1 swu and want to upgrade the whole trip. I learned some interesting information in a call to USAIR last night.

I learned that the inventory for this award is pulled from the same inventory as SWU's. The 1/3/7 days applies for elites and that USAIR will be printing a certificate at the airport that you use for the award. You can waitlist with the USE2 award and if you don't get it they will redeposit the miles for you without a charge. I wasn't real clear on what happens for people using last years SWU that are already waitlisted, then someone adds their name to the waitlist when the window opens up. Who has priority? Any thoughts?

[This message has been edited by catwood (edited 01-22-2002).]

It seems that 'squeezing' wont be much of an issue given the 1/3/7 day windows. Certainly they wont clear everyone on the waitlist at 7,3, or 1 - but they also wont sell all of those uncleared seats..