Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan - Online reservations, MVP upgrades and booking classes

Greetings AS FTers, :)

Here is the scenario, I have recently crossed the MVP threshold and have an itinerary on MyTrips that includes a segment (19 Dec AS188 FAI-ANC) that displays the blue-gold "U" in the online itinerary. Researching about this "U" further, leads me to know that the opportunity to upgrade free of charge to F-class exists. Upon further investigation, I have came across the following quote which can be found by clicking here (http://www.alaskaair.com/as/mileageplan/First-Class-Upgrades.asp):
Anytime on Y or YAS fares (Full Flex Fares); 48 hours prior to departure on other fares

At the time I booked this itinerary, I was your standard, run-of-the-mill Mileage Plan Member with no status. My status upgrade has peaked interest in me about upgrading to F-class using the complimentary upgrade scheme. Problem is this: I do not know what "letter" I booked in (Y,S,B,M etc.) and my online itinerary display does not show the 'letter.' My question is threefold:

1. How can I find out my "letter" of booking class; and
2. How can I upgrade, If possible at this time; and
3. What is the degree of success regarding upgrade probability?

Any help would certainly be appreciated, this is the first time I have attained elite status in ANY air carrier's FF program and so I am new to this -- it feels "foreign" to me and I am glad that my first elite status experience is on AS! :D^

Prosper! :D

~FAI PDX Flyer :)

Greetings AS FTers, :)

Here is the scenario, I have recently crossed the MVP threshold and have an itinerary on MyTrips that includes a segment (19 Dec AS188 FAI-ANC) that displays the blue-gold "U" in the online itinerary. Researching about this "U" further, leads me to know that the opportunity to upgrade free of charge to F-class exists. Upon further investigation, I have came across the following quote which can be found by clicking here (http://www.alaskaair.com/as/mileageplan/First-Class-Upgrades.asp):


At the time I booked this itinerary, I was your standard, run-of-the-mill Mileage Plan Member with no status. My status upgrade has peaked interest in me about upgrading to F-class using the complimentary upgrade scheme. Problem is this: I do not know what "letter" I booked in (Y,S,B,M etc.) and my online itinerary display does not show the 'letter.' My question is threefold:

1. How can I find out my "letter" of booking class; and
2. How can I upgrade, If possible at this time; and
3. What is the degree of success regarding upgrade probability?

Any help would certainly be appreciated, this is the first time I have attained elite status in ANY air carrier's FF program and so I am new to this -- it feels "foreign" to me and I am glad that my first elite status experience is on AS! :D^

Prosper! :D

~FAI PDX Flyer :)

1. How can I find out my "letter" of booking class? It should be noted in the "Itinerary" section of the email that AS sent you after you made the reservation. It's on the same line as your seat assignment. At least that has been my experience.

2. 2. How can I upgrade, If possible at this time? I can snail you a surplus upgrade certificate if you PM me with your address. Merry Xmas!

3. What is the degree of success regarding upgrade probability? That time of year it might be dicey with holiday travel. Also dependent on time of day of your trip.

Congratulations on having achieved status!

Another thing to easily check if you don't have that email handy...

you probably know what you paid for the flight. Since the full flex fare rarely changes much, you can check the price of that flight as it currently lists... and compare to what you paid originally. If they're the same, you should be in the fare class that will get you the upgrade immediately. If you paid less, you're going to have to wait til 48 hours out.

But the easiest thing to do (and you should do this right now anyway) is just log into your mytrips, pull up that itinerary, and make sure you click the link for "request complimentary first class upgrade" which will put you on the wait list, as you probably are not yet on it since you're asking here.

dave1013, i'm in need of a single mvpg cert for a usually full sea-den flight... got a spare?

Greetings AS FTers, :)

Here is the scenario, I have recently crossed the MVP threshold and have an itinerary on MyTrips that includes a segment (19 Dec AS188 FAI-ANC) that displays the blue-gold "U" in the online itinerary. Researching about this "U" further, leads me to know that the opportunity to upgrade free of charge to F-class exists. Upon further investigation, I have came across the following quote which can be found by clicking here (http://www.alaskaair.com/as/mileageplan/First-Class-Upgrades.asp):


At the time I booked this itinerary, I was your standard, run-of-the-mill Mileage Plan Member with no status. My status upgrade has peaked interest in me about upgrading to F-class using the complimentary upgrade scheme. Problem is this: I do not know what "letter" I booked in (Y,S,B,M etc.) and my online itinerary display does not show the 'letter.' My question is threefold:

1. How can I find out my "letter" of booking class; and
2. How can I upgrade, If possible at this time; and
3. What is the degree of success regarding upgrade probability?

Any help would certainly be appreciated, this is the first time I have attained elite status in ANY air carrier's FF program and so I am new to this -- it feels "foreign" to me and I am glad that my first elite status experience is on AS! :D^

Prosper! :D

~FAI PDX Flyer :)If you see the blue/gold symbol on your online itinerary you can upgrade it as an MVP. Call mileage plan and ask what you have though if you arent sure. They can look up and see if you are indeed MVP and upgrade you if its a U fare. It will take 2 + weeks for your itinerary to show you as an MVP so when you call reservations to get the upgrade you will have to be adamant that they look up your account to see that you are indeed MVP because they might just look at the reservation and argue with you. Happened recently with me when I went from mvp to gold. Even when the itinerary shows you as MVP you will not be able to waitlist or upgrade online with any existing itinerary. You will have to call. Also the other non upgradable leg of the trip you will have to call at 48 hours. I dont think they can override you to the waitlist

But the easiest thing to do (and you should do this right now anyway) is just log into your mytrips, pull up that itinerary, and make sure you click the link for "request complimentary first class upgrade" which will put you on the wait list, as you probably are not yet on it since you're asking here.

unfortunately you cant do that on itineraries purchased before you had status or at least I couldnt When I had some value with U available fares in my trips and changed from MVP to gold. Maybe since I had already clicked that link and was waitlisted as mvp. Maybe it will show up for FAIPDXflyer

If you see the blue/gold symbol on your online itinerary you can upgrade it as an MVP. Call mileage plan and ask what you have though if you arent sure. They can look up and see if you are indeed MVP and upgrade you if its a U fare. It will take 2 + weeks for your itinerary to show you as an MVP so when you call reservations to get the upgrade you will have to be adamant that they look up your account to see that you are indeed MVP because they might just look at the reservation and argue with you. Happened recently with me when I went from mvp to gold. Even when the itinerary shows you as MVP you will not be able to waitlist or upgrade online with any existing itinerary. You will have to call. Also the other non upgradable leg of the trip you will have to call at 48 hours. I dont think they can override you to the waitlist

Thank you ANC , and others for your help. Do you or any other FTers know the Mileage Plan and/or MVP phone numbers so I can give them a call? If the MVP phone number is "secret," you can just PM me.

Prosper and fly high! :)

~FAI PDX Flyer :)

Thank you ANC , and others for your help. Do you or any other FTers know the Mileage Plan and/or MVP phone numbers so I can give them a call? If the MVP phone number is "secret," you can just PM me.

Prosper and fly high! :)

~FAI PDX Flyer :)I sent you a PM. The number is somewhat of a secret however you will be prompted to enter your MP number to verify your status before being connected to the MVP desk anyhow

Well I called the MVP hot-line and WOW!:cool::p:cool:^ I felt like King Tut--royalty, aristocracy and the whole nine yards!:D^

Anywhoo, the story goes is that while my profile reflects MVP status, "the system" does not, so I will need to wait a week or so for the system to recognize me as having status. I received some very encouraging news that the FAI-ANC segmeent of my FAI-ANC-PDX route is wide open in terms of availability of F class seats. ANC-PDX in F is sold out right now (they should put a second frequency on that, but I digress).

So the nice and helpful lady on the phone flagged my itinerary for her super to convert my standard reservation to a reservation reflecting my MVP status. Once that is done--its first class on that seggie. Then she wanted to know if I wanted a rental car or hotel; I said no to that, because I have a *COUGH* messy *COUGH* *COUGH* dorm *COUGH*room on one end and my parental units are picking me up on the other end. :D

I love Alaska Airlines! :D

Prosper! :)

~FAI PDX Flyer :)

Well I called the MVP hot-line and WOW!:cool::p:cool:^ I felt like King Tut--royalty, aristocracy and the whole nine yards!:D^

Anywhoo, the story goes is that while my profile reflects MVP status, "the system" does not, so I will need to wait a week or so for the system to recognize me as having status. I received some very encouraging news that the FAI-ANC segmeent of my FAI-ANC-PDX route is wide open in terms of availability of F class seats. ANC-PDX in F is sold out right now (they should put a second frequency on that, but I digress).

So the nice and helpful lady on the phone flagged my itinerary for her super to convert my standard reservation to a reservation reflecting my MVP status. Once that is done--its first class on that seggie. Then she wanted to know if I wanted a rental car or hotel; I said no to that, because I have a *COUGH* messy *COUGH* *COUGH* dorm *COUGH*room on one end and my parental units are picking me up on the other end. :D

I love Alaska Airlines! :D

Prosper! :)

~FAI PDX Flyer :)Well Im hoping I dont have to go to FAI the rest of the year but its hard to tell. Who knows I might see you aboard 188. A lot of Business travelers are on 188 and 190 so there will be a lot of golds and mvp normally getting upgrades. Hardly anyone runs that route in paid F except grandma and grandpa occasionally going on a vacation somewhere further than Anchorage. However so close to the holidays a lot of the golds might be vacationing already so you have a decent shot at an Upgrade. As an mvp I was probably about 70% upgraded on the 12 seaters(400 and 700) and close to 90% on the 16 seat cabins

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Congratulations, FAIPDXFlyer! Your description of your feeling about attaining status reminds me of when I first hit MVP just under a year ago. It's a fun (and, yes, foreign) feeling!

Once your qualifying miles have posted, "the system" will recognize your status on the following Sunday night (the AS system runs status sweeps every Sunday). After that, your ability to request upgrades, receive bonus miles, and do other things MVP-demi-gods do should be automatic. Since that presumably hasn't happened yet, I hope things go well with your upcoming trip.

I did want to note that it seems I've seen on FT that the FAI-ANC runs are very easy to get upgraded on, so you shouldn't have any problems there (assuming your agent's supervisor comes through). On the other hand, I've found Portland easier to get upgraded on than Seattle (presumably because there are fewer high-status flyers making connections there), but it's still no walk in the park, especially given that you're probably now down at the bottom of the upgrade waitlist. But who knows...you might get lucky...

Anyway, welcome to the club...and don't get too spoiled!

I live at the bottom of the upgrade list (MVP buying the cheapest fare I can lay my hands on) and get upgraded a lot. My personal favorite was GEG-SEA for $29 with an upgrade. That was awesome. So there is hope, though I hear ANC-SEA is whole different story.

I hear ANC-SEA is whole different story.
depends what time you are leaving. between 1200am and 230am the chances are pretty darn good. between 8pm and 1200am the chances are......ok. Daytime hours is a crapshoot