US Airways Dividend Miles (Pre-FlightFund Merger) - Going to Europe? How will you upgrade?

So with the new rules on the SWUs only being confirmed on the 7/3/1 day window AND the reduction in the rules to use miles to upgrade to Europe, how will you go about upgrading your trips to Europe???

Will you stick it out until your window opens to use the SWU? Or will you just use mileage to upgrade way in advance? A combination of the two?

Personally, a major benefit of the SWU is the ability to confirm in advance. This is pretty much eliminated w/ the new '02 SWU (nearly rendering them useless to me). The last thing I want to do is to be in a bar in AMS and realise that my flight is 3 days out and I should call to upgrade w/ my SWU. Part of my pleasure of going to Europe is to know that my comfy seat is all set, both ways, before I even leave the Emerald City.

I'd probably weigh the options with respect to the dates I'd be travelling and how many miles I have to use for an upgrade.

I'll probably just use miles ... unless I have reason to believe the loads will be extremely light.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Beckles:
I'll probably just use miles ... unless I have reason to believe the loads will be extremely light.</font>

Ditto. Summer trip to Europe? You can bet I'm using miles before I take off.

On an off-peak trip in the low season? Roll the dice with the SWU's.... but you can bet I'll ONLY roll the SWU dice if I'm booked on an A330.... coach on those is acceptable.... the 767 in coach is, IMO, not an option.

ditto

As merely Gold flyers with the boatload of miles that my wife and I have between us, we will just use the miles rather than take the risk. The system-wide upgrade will probably get used domestically (or maybe to the Caribean) if at all.

Personally, I think that most all US FFs are willing to part with miles. Given US's uncertain financial position, and the concern first raised in the sunset days of the UA-US merger, I believe that folks are more willing to part with some of their miles - regardless of whether or not this action is rationale.

Moreover, I don't see a reason why folks want to bank up millions of miles - often, they go unused. I've racked up about 375,000 miles since I started flying US back in '94 (most of those miles accrued since '97). My current balance is around 225,000 as I've chosen to use miles often as I see fit.

[This message has been edited by ITRADE (edited 02-21-2002).]

I agree with ITRADE. I am Gold with 200,000 miles. I will use miles instead of risking the 3 day window, especially knowing that so many more are now going to use miles in advance too. I will use the SWU on a transcon or Caribbean trip. That may be just what US is hoping for, a reduction in banked miles by many of us.