PWM-FCO fares for early January are around $928 right now. My wife (thanks to her nice husband) already has an award Envoy seat. I, of course, want the miles, and will upgrade w/ miles.
I don't want to miss either the flight, or the chance at upgrading...Will fares will go down if I wait? Or should I bite the bullet, buy, get the upgrade, and rest easy until then?
It's one thing to be on separate flights; it may be even worse to sit in steerage with you wife resting in Envoy on your miles...

Is the $900 fare upgradable right now with miles and/or a certificate?

You will probably see that fare drop some but FCO is an odd place fare-wise. Those FCO fares are just not as predictable as say LGW, AMS, and CDG are to drop low in Jan/Feb.

Isn't an envoy award ticket changeable? Perhaps if the fares drop and you can't confirm a mileage upgrade on the original dates you wanted, you can change the dates on her reservation. (Or do what one of the other posters did, and fly into MUC & hope the trains are running in Italy!)

Why not buy the ticket now and lock in the upgrade, and then monitor the fares? If there is a reduction (must still be a fare eligible for upgrade), you can ask for a credit voucher - good for a year, and no fees apply.

I do this fairly often to be sure of a seat and/or an upgrade. I have 3 vouchers (totalling over $400) for each of us right now for flights where we were able to take advantage of later fare reductions. We will just use them for our next tickets.

When you see a lower fare, call and explain what you need - they will transfer you to the reissue desk which can do the entire thing right on the phone. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

PS - just got back from FCO yesterday (we love just wandering around in Rome for a long weekend - actually 5 free nights at the Excelsior for *wood points, but that's for another thread...).

Fare eventually got down to $515, upgraded to Envoy both ways, but I can't predict for January. FCO is a very popular destination, so it goes on sale less often.

Good luck.....

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by PhillyFive:
Why not buy the ticket now and lock in the upgrade, and then monitor the fares? If there is a </font>
I'm smacking my head as I write this (a difficult talent to master). I did this very thing over the summer for my family of five on AA...saved over $1000 eventually, and it came back to my card as a credit.
Thanks for reminding me of what I should have recalled myself, PhillyFive. Duh!

You should take your wife's seat in Envoy and put her on a cheap coach non-upgradable ticket in the back. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif