Flying Blue (Air France, KLM, and Other Partners) - Upgrade with miles

Dear friends,


I cannot figure out what booking class may be upgraded from PV to Biz when the first segment is an european one but not french (I mean FCO/CDG, for instance).

Dear friends,


I cannot figure out what booking class may be upgraded from PV to Biz when the first segment is an european one but not french (I mean FCO/CDG, for instance).

I believe S and W (and not A) but would prefer someone to confirm!

All your questions answered

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Akr7RzYEPHrtdEZRT1hwd1hTOEVtdm5kX1JfR3N1V Hc&hl=en_US#gid=0

All your questions answered

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Akr7RzYEPHrtdEZRT1hwd1hTOEVtdm5kX1JfR3N1V Hc&hl=en_US#gid=0

Actually if I read it correctly, not really - it only mentions which economy buckets can be upgraded but not which Premium Economy or Affaires ones can be (some are excluded too: I'm sure about A for PE but wanted to double check it is the only one. Similarly Z and I are not upgradeable business fares).

I believe S and W (and not A) but would prefer someone to confirm!
You are correct

I can confirm, too,

I did manage to upgrade from A to biz for 19500 miles jnb cdg three weeks ago.
Was done at the counter manually as flight was about to close.

I did manage to upgrade from A to biz for 19500 miles jnb cdg three weeks ago.
Was done at the counter manually as flight was about to close.

Do they now have last-minute upgrades from lower fare classes similar to KL or was it a mistake?

Do they now have last-minute upgrades from lower fare classes similar to KL or was it a mistake?

Not sure. Maybe the computer saw the w connection to Casablanca and thought the entire trip was in w. don't know. Was all done with a smile.
J

Mrs. Redtop and I are flying separately to Europe on DL awards on AF; she is flying JFK-CDG on August 6; I am flying IAD-CDG on August 22.

Her flight is a week away, and I just got an offer to upgrade to PV for 139 euros and to Affaires for 329. A few questions:

1) From what I see on the various websites, it looks like PV is about the equivalent of domestic F. Is that true?
2) My flight is on an A380. Does that make it less likely/impossible that I would get an upgrade opportunity?
3) Her email says "There are a limited number of seats available for this offer... we will contact you within 5 days of departure to inform you whether we were able to fill your request." With her flight being 6 days away - does this hint that if we ask, we'll get it? (Not that it matters much, since we'd find out by tomorrow.) I'd most likely upgrade her to PV.

Mrs. Redtop and I are flying separately to Europe on DL awards on AF; she is flying JFK-CDG on August 6; I am flying IAD-CDG on August 22.

Her flight is a week away, and I just got an offer to upgrade to PV for 139 euros and to Affaires for 329. A few questions:

1) From what I see on the various websites, it looks like PV is about the equivalent of domestic F. Is that true?
2) My flight is on an A380. Does that make it less likely/impossible that I would get an upgrade opportunity?
3) Her email says "There are a limited number of seats available for this offer... we will contact you within 5 days of departure to inform you whether we were able to fill your request." With her flight being 6 days away - does this hint that if we ask, we'll get it? (Not that it matters much, since we'd find out by tomorrow.) I'd most likely upgrade her to PV.
1 pv is wider seat in static shell which I think is fine for westbound transatlantic but unless you plan on watching movies all night on eastbound, forget it. Impossible to sleep in and Eco is just as good.
2 if you want to pamper swambo then get the biz seat on the a380. Worth it.

Jg

Mrs. Redtop and I are flying separately to Europe on DL awards on AF; she is flying JFK-CDG on August 6; I am flying IAD-CDG on August 22.

Her flight is a week away, and I just got an offer to upgrade to PV for 139 euros and to Affaires for 329. A few questions:

1) From what I see on the various websites, it looks like PV is about the equivalent of domestic F. Is that true?
2) My flight is on an A380. Does that make it less likely/impossible that I would get an upgrade opportunity?
3) Her email says "There are a limited number of seats available for this offer... we will contact you within 5 days of departure to inform you whether we were able to fill your request." With her flight being 6 days away - does this hint that if we ask, we'll get it? (Not that it matters much, since we'd find out by tomorrow.) I'd most likely upgrade her to PV.
1 pv is wider seat in static shell which I think is fine for westbound transatlantic but unless you plan on watching movies all night on eastbound, forget it. Impossible to sleep in and Eco is just as good.
2 if you want to pamper swambo then get the biz seat on the a380. Worth it.

Jg

I can sleep on the seat much better than in Economy, but I guess it bery much depends on your typical sleeping position.
That said, I would go for Business.

1) From what I see on the various websites, it looks like PV is about the equivalent of domestic F. Is that true?

No it's quite different (as others mentioned, fixed shell, etc). Quite a few threads available if you need details.


2) My flight is on an A380. Does that make it less likely/impossible that I would get an upgrade opportunity?.

Not really. It's mostly a question of loads, some people received the offer on all aircraft types but you don't receive them every time.

3) Her email says "There are a limited number of seats available for this offer... we will contact you within 5 days of departure to inform you whether we were able to fill your request." With her flight being 6 days away - does this hint that if we ask, we'll get it? (Not that it matters much, since we'd find out by tomorrow.) I'd most likely upgrade her to PV.

Not particularly, the email is always sent at the same time (just after a week from the flight date). This being said, many people who have answered positively ended up getting their paid upgrade.

Do they now have last-minute upgrades from lower fare classes similar to KL or was it a mistake?

Can you explain the criteria for last minute upgrades with miles from lower fare classes on KL? Is it day of departure only or once online checkin opens?

Can you explain the criteria for last minute upgrades with miles from lower fare classes on KL? Is it day of departure only or once online checkin opens?

At the airport on day of departure from AMS only, cash (fixed sliding scale depending on original booking class) + miles (the regular amount).

At the airport on day of departure from AMS only, cash (fixed sliding scale depending on original booking class) + miles (the regular amount).

So if I understand correctly, a miles only upgrade from lower fare classes on day of departure is not possible, there has to be cash transaction also.

Assuming a favorable cash only upgrade is available at OLCI, how would this compare with the miles + cash options? Am trying to get a sense of the sliding scale you mention.

Thanks for the clarification.

So if I understand correctly, a miles only upgrade from lower fare classes on day of departure is not possible, there has to be cash transaction also.

Assuming a favorable cash only upgrade is available at OLCI, how would this compare with the miles + cash options? Am trying to get a sense of the sliding scale you mention.

Thanks for the clarification.

At least 'legally', there is clearly no possibility to upgrade from lower fare classes against miles on departure day (although of course this could always come as AF and KL are interested in increasing upselling routes). So no, even though some people mentioned that they extremely occasionally were allowed to upgrade from ineligible classes (but this really amounts to a few anecdotal - and largely unexplained - cases so that we don't know if they were mistakes etc), in theory and 99% cases in practice no possible upgrade from lower classes on the day.

I don't know the miles and cash option but if you do a search you'll find the full table which has been published in a few threads. Off the top of my mind (but don't quote me as I may well be wrong) I think it was from €50 for the 'nearest' bucket to €400 or so for the cheapest ones + the miles. Moreover, it still implies availability in O. So if you have one of the lowest fares, assuming a 'good' OLCI cash offer and really want to upgrade anyway I would personally go for it.

At the airport on day of departure from AMS only, cash (fixed sliding scale depending on original booking class) + miles (the regular amount).
How does the cash required compare to the difference between the passenger's fare paid versus the money required to buy up to an upgradeable fare from the actual fare? Do these upgrades save much other than the change fee for an up fare?

KL often allows upgrades from lower fares by first doing a buy-up to the proper fare. This is different from the upgrade offers sometimes appearing during OLCI.

If you upgrade by first buying up to the correct fare and then paying miles, it usually is pretty expensive and you have to pay change fees. My worst experience was when I called to book a ticket, specifically asking for a booking class that I could upgrade but got booked in one that wasn't. Turns out there was a €10 difference, but €100 fee for changing the booking. :(

At the airport on day of departure from AMS only, cash (fixed sliding scale depending on original booking class) + miles (the regular amount).

Sorry, never done this before, but I was wondering, to upgrade my booking class to the higher booking class, do I also need to pay the change fee if done in the lounge? [or do I need to do this at the ticket counter first?]

Cheers!

Trying to upgrade (if space becomes available) for AMS-TPE [why so full in business?]