DaKrisht

I've successfully upgraded from discounted economy (L) into Business at the airport counter from anywhere between $800 - $1000 O/W.

Every flight has been LAX > FRA/MUC and the upgrade is relatively cheap compared to a revenue J ticket. A R/T LAX - MUC flight in (L) is $1400.

Anyone know if this is possible from FRA/MUC back to LAX? Have not tried upgrading LH flights with cash on the way back for various reasons. Will usually just book a O/W award flight back and just let the return portion burn.

But upgrading for $1k each way seems like a great move.

Best way to upgrade to J from FRA/MUC?

fassy

You can try myOffer. I got the option to buy up into C when the flight did not had the PE cabin. Minimum bis was around 995€ up to 1200€.

Other than that, I never got a cash upgrade offer ex-GER. I ask every time (just for the fun of it) and the only thing they offered to me so far was rebooking into full fare J paying the fare difference or using a upgrade voucher/mile upgrade. For the cash upgrade at least they offered waiving the change fee

DaKrisht

myOffer won't take me to Business. Only Premium Economy unfortunately.

Makes sense LH in Ger would make you change to a full fare J ticket and pay the difference. A bad deal compared to the $899 it costs from LAX to get into J from discounted economy (L).

I guess it's probably best to let the return portion burn and book J using M&M vs. paying full fare.

RaSiDa

What fare class in Business Class do you get after upgrading?
More interesting, how much miles post for the flight after you did your cash upgrade?

eefor jfp

You paid $1400 plus $1000 for a one way LAX-MUC and now you are going to pay 55K miles plus about $500 in surcharges for the other direction. That's about $3000 plus the value of the miles which is certainly another $500. And there weren't cheaper biz fares to start with via a consolidator or sale? Ouch. Maybe I'm spoiled starting in Europe but the last biz fare I bought was $3000 all in. And BA often has sales in biz for as little as $2000 starting in Dublin or Amsterdam or other places to CA. It's not the non-stop, for which you definitely pay a premium, but it might be worth checking out options.

WaxComb

You're pretty spoiled. The best deep discounted business class fare (P class - RT) I've seen was about $4500 last year during the *A sale. (LAX->FRA). A normal discounted fare (Z class) was about $7000 to $8000 RT.

Tafflyer

You're not looking very hard then. I'd never pay even $4500 r/t for Lufthansa crappy J.

A quick look on Matrix just turned up $3083 LAX-MUC-LAX on Lufthansa in J on the non stop service, November 25th to December 2nd. P class, of course.

WaxComb

No duh if you choose to fly over thanksgiving.

1 week before: $7912 (11/18 to 11/25)
1 week after: $7912 (12/2 to 12/9)

Z class both ways

AvidFlyer1990

Just my 2 cents:

I usually purchase J for long-haul TATL/TPAC flights, and I have not paid that much, ever **touchwood** ! Maybe I am spoilt as well! However, I do have flexibility on the dates/when I travel and I choose not to fly during the peak seasons. But I do know what you're talking about. Sometimes, with NO flexibility/last minute travel, I have seen a J-class ticket cost that much!

A decent amount of search goes into it, but I have had fares to Europe for sub-$2k and Asia for sub-mid $3k all in, in J. Again, you have to be super-flexible on the dates, but it's possible (I'd like to say, it's like booking a saver level award in a premium cabin).

WaxComb

Good points. And thanks for not cherry picking dates...

A few posters are implying that the OP is crazy for taking these paid upgrade offers for 1000 bucks, but I'm merely pointing out that 90% of the time these offers are a good deal.

htb

They may be a "good deal" in terms of "normal fares" being much more expensive. However, I wonder if some people aren't loosing their perspective over this. We are talking about a larger chair for 6-12 hours. Not a hotel suite for a couple of days.

HTB.

WaxComb

Completely true. It's all about value proposition. I'm buying PE (LAX->FRA or MUC) because $500 to $800 (or $250 to $400 per leg) is worth it over LH economy. I could see 1000 bucks is worth it (per leg) for LH Y to J but holding out may or may not pay off. (Obviously this tradeoff is larger if you're Sen.)

With LH now flying A380s from LAX -> FRA I imagine the probability for unsold J seats increases tremendously (vs 747-8i). I'd hazard a guess buy up offers should go down in price, but I'm not risking a guaranteed PE seat for a chance to upgrade to a J seat. I'm not the OP, so his reasoning is different than mine.

htb

That's exactly what I mean with "loosing their perspective". I'm not exactly bad off financially, but I'm far off from seeing myself paying $1000/per leg for a larger chair for a couple of hours. I just don't see the value compared to several days in a hotel suite or a two week luxury car rental.

Of course, my appreciation of $1000 versus a few hours in a small chair will start to change when there's another zero at the end of my monthly check. That's what I mean with "loosing one's perspective". There is no "value proposition". The value is much smaller than the price.

HTB.

Fabo.sk

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and so is value.
How much would YOU pay for the J seat? Or Y+? Would you pay, say $300 for an upgrade from Y to Y+?

Should I then come and tell you you have lost your perspective, because I, with my income - which is not bad for my age and the place I live, but is a far cry from what most users here make - would not dream to spend on a "better chair"?

So tell me, where is the valuation then? Is it under 300 and you would be an idiot who overpays? Or is it under 300, and I'm a cheapskate who wouldn't know a good deal if it hit me in the face?

htb

There's "value" and "cost". The cost could be calculated by the number of eco seats that could be fit into the space of one business class seat. The "value" is just that: a larger chair.

I don't know why you think someone would be an idiot paying for the larger chair -- I didn't say that, you came up with that. I'm just pointing that a lot of people seem to think 6-10 hours in a larger chair is worth a thousand dollars. That's where the perspective comes in. Objectively (i.e. compared to what you can usually get for $1000) it's not worth a thousand dollars (exceptions apply). Subjectively it may well be worth $1000 for a lot of people. Human nature (psychological needs) probably has to do with it as much as physical needs (comfort) and clever marketing.

HTB.