US Airways Dividend Miles (Pre-FlightFund Merger) - Flying Miami to Montreal on FF ticket - is there any way to upgrade?

I am flying from Miami to Montreal July 28--switching planes in Phillie, and returning on Sunday, Aug. 31. I was not able to book a first class ticket because of course all of the first class FF seats were all sold, but I still I had to use 50K miles for a coach seat. That being said, is there any way to purchase upgrade my ticket? And do I purchase those ahead of time or at the gate? I normally have no qualms about coach, but it's a heck of a long flight from Miami! Thanks for any advice.

If you had to purchase a 50k coach award for MIA-YUL then it's a premium award. If you have Preferred status with US you can use your E-upgrades to upgrade this ANY TIME between ticketing and departure. If not, it will cost you 20k more miles for a "Upgrade award".

-JC

If you had to purchase a 50k coach award for MIA-YUL then it's a premium award. If you have Preferred status with US you can use your E-upgrades to upgrade this ANY TIME between ticketing and departure. If not, it will cost you 20k more miles for a "Upgrade award".

-JC

I don't think that you can upgrade a premium Y award with miles. If that were possible, one could have a premium F award for 70k (50K + 20k) instead of the normal 90k that it costs. I believe that SA or SP certs can be used.

Since the OP is not flying until August, they might want to keep an eye on fares and see if they drop. 50k are a lot of miles to just get a Y seat a month in advance.

I don't think that you can upgrade a premium Y award with miles. If that were possible, one could have a premium F award for 70k (50K + 20k) instead of the normal 90k that it costs. I believe that SA or SP certs can be used.

Since the OP is not flying until August, they might want to keep an eye on fares and see if they drop. 50k are a lot of miles to just get a Y seat a month in advance.
I agree it doesn't make much sense but according to some people it looks like it may indeed be possible to do. For sure, it doesn't make MUCH sense to allow someone to get a FC seat for 70k when the 90k premium FC awards exist but in some ways it does. Look at it like this:

- Doing the 70k two-step requires TWO buckets to be available to get into FC - Y and P. You first have to get the premium award (which *shouldn't* be a problem) and THEN make sure P bucket's got availability to get the bump up to FC.

- Doing the 90k one-step requires only one bucket to be available - F. If US is foolish enough to zero some of their highest revenue-generating buckets out early then there's bigger issues.

-JC

I agree it doesn't make much sense but according to some people it looks like it may indeed be possible to do. For sure, it doesn't make MUCH sense to allow someone to get a FC seat for 70k but in some ways it does as the bump from Y-F is indeed capacity controlled based on P bucket avail; the 90k award is based on F bucket availability.

That may be the case. One can't upgrade a premium Y transatlantic award with miles (need a cert), so I assumed the same would be true with the domestic awards.

If you had to purchase a 50k coach award for MIA-YUL then it's a premium award. If you have Preferred status with US you can use your E-upgrades to upgrade this ANY TIME between ticketing and departure. If not, it will cost you 20k more miles for a "Upgrade award".

-JC

Okay, did as you advised and that was so easy--I'm almost embarassed. Thanks for helping out this newbie and I look forward to a much more comfortable trip. Plus I didn't understand all of the other stuff about "baskets" that came below this reply.

No problem, glad you got the upgrades.

Fare buckets is a whole 'nuther story. Do some searching on FT and there's overwhelming amounts of information.

-JC