Asiana Club - Question on using those 50% off upgrade certs

I called in Asiana to book my multi-city flight this X'mas.
Basically, it is
LAX-(transfer at ICN) - NRT
NRT- (transfer at ICN) - HKG
HKG - (transfer at ICN) - LAX

So I was able to confirm from the phone I have should have enough points for confirmed upgrade from Economy to Business of the whole segment and was able to use my Diamond 50% upgrade cert discount. I was told that 45000 points would be used (after discount) but I am not sure how they come out with that number. It means I would need 90000 points without the cert. Anyone have any insights?

I am using the Asiana US website, but couldn't really get the same number.
LAX-NRT (Japan/North America) 30000 - 1 way
NRT - HKG (Japaan/South East Asia) 17500 - 1 way
HKG - LAX (South East Asia / North America) 37500 - 1 way
Total milage needed: 85000
Total milage needed with the 50% off cert: 42500


Now the 2nd question is this. I got email confirmation of my non-ticketed reservation that all seats in business class is confirmed. I called in Asiana to pay for my ticket. So it is now paid for. For the upgrade discount certificate, do I need to mail it in? Or do I just have to surrender the coupon at the check-in counter? My confirmed upgrade seats won't be given to another flyer if fail to show up very early right? Sorry for silly questions, this is really my first time using a paper cert with Asiana.

Hmm. Since you're diamond, there's no high-season 50% overcharge. I don't see why it's 45000, either. You can call and ask :) I have a feeling that they accidently put you two different ticket than one, for example, NRT-ICN (10000 oneway) and ICN-HKG (12500 oneway), total 22500 instead of NRT-HKG (17500 oneway).

Regarding your 2nd question, I think not many people actually have used the coupon yet (it's been only a year or so since the coupon created), so you must go explore and let us know. I feel you should submit at the check-in. If you were in Korea, I'm pretty sure you should show up one of Asiana office throughout in Korea, which they always ask us to redeem star alliance award ex-Korea. Sorry for not being helpful.

Now the 2nd question is this. I got email confirmation of my non-ticketed reservation that all seats in business class is confirmed. I called in Asiana to pay for my ticket. So it is now paid for. For the upgrade discount certificate, do I need to mail it in? Or do I just have to surrender the coupon at the check-in counter? My confirmed upgrade seats won't be given to another flyer if fail to show up very early right? Sorry for silly questions, this is really my first time using a paper cert with Asiana.

Are you sure that you have coupon? Normally, the coupon from Diamond or Diamond plus is electronic one as I know. So, you don't need any further process.

But, if you have a kind of paper coupon (Bank of America 10,000 miles certificate), the best thing is showing up to hand in your coupon at the airport or local office as I usually do (15mins driving to SFO or SF office). But, if it doesn't work for you, you can send your coupon to LA asianaclub office with traking available delivery (DHL, FEDEX,..). Otherwise, you can just give the coupon them at the airport when you checkin at the day of flight.

BTW, which class ticket do you buy originally? At least you should have Q or H class. It looks quite expensive. right? :)

For this reason, I prefer to use 10,000 mile discount redempetion instead of using 50% upgrade discount. Last month, I used it for my PVG-ICN flight with only 5,000 miles. But, if upgrade is possible, definitely it will be better! :)

Are you sure that you have coupon? Normally, the coupon from Diamond or Diamond plus is electronic one as I know. So, you don't need any further process.



The coupon I got was definately a paper one. It expires in Feb 2010. Gives 50% off upgrade seats. I will call them tomorrow and ask again.

I just got a call from Asiana Airlines. Apparently, they are having problems processing my MBNA credit card because it is from Canada! I will need to fax, both copies of my card, passport and a signed letter to authorize them to charge my card. Surprisingly, my connecting flight from Vancouver to LAX went through expedia no problem.

My previous flights with Asiana booked online (in a dumb move the yielded 70% miles) went through no problem. Strange....

BTW, which class ticket do you buy originally? At least you should have Q or H class. It looks quite expensive. right? :)

For this reason, I prefer to use 10,000 mile discount redempetion instead of using 50% upgrade discount. Last month, I used it for my PVG-ICN flight with only 5,000 miles. But, if upgrade is possible, definitely it will be better! :)

For my whole leg, under the cheapest option from Asiana website, I got a $US 1800 - V class, 70% miles, a no-no.

I called in Customer Service, asked for the same configuration, and requested booking class that earns 100% miles. I was placed with Q (from LAX- NRT, HKG-LAX) and H (from NRT-HKG) class. It was only $100 more + tax. It was close to $2000. It's a no brainer if you're not buying for upgrades.

Then the cheapest upgradable economy class is class E. The whole segment is $2500. So the choice was... do I want to pay $500 and burn a bunch of miles for business.... Yes I can.

This is flying for X'mas... so it is on the higher-end of what I wish I could pay.

This year, I made it from Basic -> Gold -> Diamond. So I got both the 5000 off coupon and 50% off coupon. I read the terms and conditions but there isn't anything saying I can't use both coupons for the same ticket. When I sent in my upgrade certs, I was repeatedly told ONLY ONE UPGRADE DISCOUNT CERT PER TICKET. I guess they realy forgot to put that in the terms. (but that also sounds reasonable so I didn't push and there is also a silver lining in my case - continue reading)

Then the upgrade can only be used per ticket, not per Itinerary. So what's the difference I asked myself.


My up coming itinerary booked directly with Asiana's USA customer Service is follows

LAX - (through ICN) -> NRT (play for a week)
NRT - (through ICN) -> HKG (play for a week)
HKG - (through ICN) -> LAX

I thought the above is one whole ticket, but I was WRONG. Apparently, it is a combintion of two different fare types and two different tickets.

LAX -> NRT
NRT-> LAX is the first pair (with free ICN stop-overs)

ICN -> HKG
HKG - ICN is 2nd pair (considered side trip of ICN)

It was a strategic blunder in my part. So my 50% off upgrade seat coupon can only be used for either the LAX - NRT portion or the ICN-HKG portion. Luckily, I also sent in my 5000 off seat upgrade coupon so it can apply to the ICN-HKG portion.^

Total milage cost for upgrading the above sections after discounts: 50000 Asiana miles (LAX-NRT: 30000- after 50% off discount, ICN-HKG 20000- after 5000 points off discount)

Which fare class did you book into?

Which fare class did you book into?

For LAX-NRT, I was booked into E class - which is the cheapest fare that I can use to get a confirmed upgrade flying out of North America.

For ICN - HKG, I was booked into M I think.