Getting an upgrade: sometimes you have to be a nudnick
Jan 6, 2015, 6:20 pm
#1
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Los Angeles
Programs: UA Plat 2MM. DL Plat, AS MVP
Posts: 12,751
Getting an upgrade: sometimes you have to be a nudnick
I have a flight from Zürich to Singapore booked in D (rtw: LH stock). Even though Singapore Air.com shows save her first class availability, there was no upgrade space at the saver level available over the phone. I called a number of times, and the agent would tell me that the waitlist is closed and I can only upgrade at the standard level.
I spoke to many agents and a supervisor. They each told me it was impossible, and that the waitlist would not open.
I called again today, and the agent saw the saver award available, if you manually put it through for the upgrade at the savor level.
Persistence pays.
I spoke to many agents and a supervisor. They each told me it was impossible, and that the waitlist would not open.
I called again today, and the agent saw the saver award available, if you manually put it through for the upgrade at the savor level.
Persistence pays.
Jan 12, 2015, 11:25 pm
#3
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: SEA
Programs: UA Platinum, Alaska, SPG Gold, Marriott Silver
Posts: 54
Did you call UA or SQ for the upgrade? Using UA miles?
I am trying to get an upgrade for the SQ 12 flight from SIN to LAX and the UA site says there is nothing available, but ExpertFlyer says there are lots of empty seats in Business.
Any recommendations?
I am trying to get an upgrade for the SQ 12 flight from SIN to LAX and the UA site says there is nothing available, but ExpertFlyer says there are lots of empty seats in Business.
Any recommendations?
Jan 17, 2015, 4:02 am
#4
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: SIN
Programs: SQ, UA, Delta, BMI(RIP), Marriott Lifetime Titanium, Hilton Diamond (Thanks Amex) Hyatt Discov
Posts: 1,942
You have to call the airline whose miles you are going to use to upgrade, not the airline you are travelling on.
SQ releases awards space on their flights to their own SQ KF members. At one stage, BMI (RIP) and then Lifemiles were the only two * Alliance carriers who could fairly easily book SQ flights. Now difficult to find long haul flights on SQ using Lifemiles, although inter-Asia, to/from AUZ you can still find SQ award seats using Lifemiles. albeit usually at higher levels after the Lifemiles devaluation.
Jan 18, 2015, 8:35 am
#5
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2000
Location: Little dot in Asia
Programs: AA-EP, TK-*G, HL-DM, HY-GLO, MR-LTP
Posts: 25,929
AFAIK, you cannot use UA miles to upgrade on SQ flights on their 77W, A380 aircrafts.
Jan 18, 2015, 6:55 pm
#6
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Singapore
Programs: QF LTG, SQ EGTP, Bonvoy LTG
Posts: 4,844
OAt one stage, BMI (RIP) and then Lifemiles were the only two * Alliance carriers who could fairly easily book SQ flights. Now difficult to find long haul flights on SQ using Lifemiles, although inter-Asia, to/from AUZ you can still find SQ award seats using Lifemiles. albeit usually at higher levels after the Lifemiles devaluation.
) availability for J cabins on SQ mirrored Miles & More (LH) availability. Certainly about 6 months ago when I last checked it was strongly correlated, LH could see everything Lifemiles could, but on ANA online booking engine (as proxy for the rest of star alliance carriers) I didn't see any availability on long haul 77W & 380 flights (as expected). ANA certainly didn't correlate with LH/Lifemiles.Also, has anyone been able to secure longhaul 77W & A380 awards in the F cabin (either as award or upgrade award) using star alliance partners (other than at times when there were temporary system glitches)? I thought these type of awards/upgrades are simply not available for any star alliance partners.
Feb 7, 2015, 7:02 am
#9
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Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: YYZ
Programs: A3&O6 Gold,IC AMB & HH Diamond
Posts: 14,132
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Feb 7, 2015, 5:52 pm
#12
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: SIN
Programs: UA 1K MM, SQ PPS, CX Silver, Accor Platinum, Marriott Gold, SPG Silver
Posts: 679
Too bad, as I have a ton of UA miles to burn and would happily use them in large chunks on SQ upgrades.
Feb 7, 2015, 6:28 pm
#13
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Join Date: May 2000
Location: Little dot in Asia
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IANAL (I am not a lawyer), but you are sadly correct. I'm not sure if it's just UA, or any *A upgrades (UA and KF are my only *A program's so I never checked).
Too bad, as I have a ton of UA miles to burn and would happily use them in large chunks on SQ upgrades.
Too bad, as I have a ton of UA miles to burn and would happily use them in large chunks on SQ upgrades.
For your UA miles, you can use them on LH flights.
