sydmusic

Hi everyone,

Longtime reader, first time caller.

Work is flying me economy to Europe for 3 weeks in October from LAX - CDG.

I’m returning via Boston to see some friends and then flying myself home. So the approx itin in question is:

Oct 13 - LAX -> CDG
Nov 2 - CDG -> BOS

Here are my mileage/points balances:

133K AA
42K USAir
27K BA Avios
23K United
17K Delta
—
60K Chase UR

I’m considering closing that chase card soon and would like to x-fer those points somewhere useful.

You’ll notice I didn’t specify which airline we’re flying — they’re leaving that up to me. Just has to be economy ticket commensurate with general pricing at the time of purchase. Buying it in a couple of weeks.

I have no status on any of these airlines, this mileage balances are mostly from cards, although the status I’m closest to is Gold on AA.

SO. With that mileage balance and approximate itinerary would you book and how -- for ex. an AA flight through BA or vice versa - to have the best chance at an upgrade? I know it can’t be a sure bet, but since I have the flexibility to book an economy ticket on any airline I figured I'd ask the experts.

I’d consider opening another card if that needed to happen for some reason. I have a couple of weeks to put this into action.

Thanks!

S

mikelat

I'd book whatever can clear an upgrade at time of booking. if you have to waitlist and have no status at all then the chance of an upgrade greatly diminish. Any status flyer requesting after you would have priority on the upgrade waitlist (barring you paying a full Y fare that is likely more then discount business).

You might also look at outright purchasing Premium Economy or Business. Some time you can find decent fares that are not that much more than Coach. You could see if your employer would let you purchase Business and have them reimburse you for Coach or if you could have them purchase business and you reimburse them the cost difference. Just an idea...

sydmusic

Good points @mikelat, I'll definitely price shop against buying outright and I know work would pay for it -- I'd have to call the airline to confirm upgrade clearance before booking, correct? You usually can't see that on web booking I don't think.

Still interested to see what folks think about best use of those chase points as it relates to this situation.

DC777Fan

BA has reasonable options to purchase with cash and upgrade with avios at booking, but you'd need to buy premium economy to upgrade to business.... is that an option?

LondonElite

BA upgrade options ex-LAX are very rare these days. I wouldn't buy the WT+ ticket unless you knew you had award seats in CW.

howtofreetravel

I would say almost no chance...

MSPeconomist

Note that for DL and SkyTeam flights, you must purchase a very expensive coach fare (M or higher) to be eligible to upgrade TATL flights with miles.

LondonElite

It's the same with BA (Y/B/H), and that gets you a (upgrade space-available) seat in WT+, not business.

MSPeconomist

Within SkyTeam, on AF coach upgrades into Premium Economy, while the more expensive Premium Economy fares can upgrade into Affaires (business class), but IIRC this can't be done as a regular DL FF program upgrade but only as a SkyTeam upgrade (or VV) or with the right DL upgrade certs.

You also definitely cannot get an AF Premium Economy award ticket with DL miles. Since DL doesn't offer Premium Economy, only EC (Y+ special seats that some passengers pay for, but not a separate cabin or class or service), Premium Economy doesn't appear on DL award charts.