dinbangkok

Hi all,

Is it my imagination or has it become much more difficult to find GUP availability? (I'm focusing ex-LHR). I've tried on 3 separate occasions this year and have recently been told again that there is no availability ex- LHR until the end of November! (By the office in Jakarta).

Intrigued to hear from anyone else who's tried.

DD

kinchai

Depends how far in advance you plan. I just booked a LHR-BKK-SYD today 15/11-21/11. There are still some J buckets available for Nov ex-LHR. E.g. 24/11

happy flying.

yosithezet

Try TG 911 on October 11

ChampagneSocialist

My understanding is that GUP (only) books into J fare basis, is this (still) correct?

Thai-Kiwi

Yes, as far as I know. It was what I used in June.

Yoshi DUS

Yes, J is correct. Had no problem to get a seat from FRA in December. I was on the phone only for 3 minutes to confirm.

1786771

My understanding is, that it can be checked in the ROP website, right?
If an air award is available, then GUP will also work. (Assuming you have booked booked into Y or B) Correct?

ChampagneSocialist

No I don't think this is correct, as mile redemption and mile upgrade awards book into I class. You want to look for paid J class for GUP awards.

This you could do by searching for paid business class tickets on Thai website, if you don't have ExpertFlyer.

kinchai

ChampagneSocialist is correct. Also to add, you only need to be booked into K (minimum) for 75% or Q for 100% mileage accrual (if you are doing Y to C class).

I went for Q because for 100GBP more, the 25% difference on a LHR-BKK-SYD return is worth it in my view.

mono

My experience is that two conditions need to be met to get a GUP.
1. Availability in Booking Class J
2. An Economy ticket in a Booking Class valid for an upgrade (U / Y / B / M / Q / H ?)
This is confirmed by my local ROP/Thai office.
YMMV however, so better check before you book the ticket you want to upgrade.
Good luck!

Thai-Kiwi

In Jun the THAI office in Bangkok told me that the 75% mileage earning classes of K and T can also be used to GUP, as Kinchai notes above

dinbangkok

Hi everyone thanks for all of your useful contributions as always. After a pretty useless email exchange with the local TG office in Jakarta (they'd answer 'no' but wouldn't think to offer an alternative), I phoned up the always helpful London office who indeed confirmed that there was minimal availability for GUP BUT who (after booking an eligible fare), were able to put me onto waiting lists for the BKK-LHR leg without even a whisper of 'it can't be done', rather, 'usually the team in Bangkok are quite good with waitlists for GUP'.

So we shall see what the outcome is, fingers crossed. I guess my lesson is that I should keep booking fares through London regardless of the origin!

On the earlier point about mileage earning yes I agree that usually there's a very small price difference between partial and lowest full mileage accrual and I always go for the latter. As for me changing dates, alas because of client commitments my dates are fairly immovable.

Finally (OT), I recently took BA via HKG to LHR because TG were fully booked and I thought that the BA experience was nowhere near as good as TG (although with one caveat that the CX lounges in HKG are out of this world in terms of quality - especially 'The Pier').

dinbangkok

...it appears that some offices are much better at dealing with ROP than others. My GUP has been confirmed thanks to the help of the TG London office!