Sam_AE

As a relative newbie to TK M&S Elite, I seem to be learning/stumbling upon new benefits of TK each time I call them.

Here's my latest learning about upgrades. Did you know that you can call and request an upgrade for an existing itinerary and put a J seat upgrade (that you intend to pay for with M&S) on 'hold'. Assuming an upgrade seat is available when you call, they will 'hold' the J seat and you can then spend your time accumulate miles to pay for the upgrade. Once you have the miles to pay for the upgrade, you call back and they will confirm the upgrade. Putting the seat on hold avoids having to risk that all 'upgrade' seats are taken and you are left having to rely on a last minute upgrade at the gate.

As I posted previously, M&S *E and *E+ members are allowed to 'borrow' up to 10,000 M&S points for use on upgrades and reward seats. So, my plan involves combining the 'hold' and the 'borrowing':
The more I discover about TK benefits, the more I am loving TK!!

vincewy

Is there a specific number for us to call to hold the upgrade for Elite? If so, I presume you'll need to call the line in Turkey.

Another question, if I'm about to qualify for E+ and already have tickets for next trip, may I ask TK to hold the upgrade(s) for the next trip until I become E+ so I'll have the upgrade vouchers?

Sam_AE

You can call the main US toll free line -- just tell them you would like to check on the availability of an upgrade. Once they find it (or if they have to put you on the 'waiting list') they'll put it on hold. I'm not E+ but I would suspect that there's no need to wait until you get your E+, put the upgrade on hold now, then when you're E+ you can call back and use your free voucher.

vincewy

Recently my flight TK01 IST-JFK, Comfort Class gone (equipment downgrade), called and requested upgrade using miles. Confirmed upgrades not available and put me on the waiting list (HL) at the moment, sooner on the list the better I suppose. Now, questions regarding this:

1. If I'm later confirmed, they will email/call me, will this be the time to request to hold confirmed upgrade (until I have enough miles)?
2. My ticket still shows fare class A, so will the upgrade miles requirement be from Comfort - Business as opposed to Economy (low/high paid) to Business?

What are criteria for upgrade waiting list priorities? Officially TK says

1. Date entered on the list.
2. Fare class (I'll lose out to O and U)

What are other criteria, will status help a bit (I'll be E+ by Sept)?

Any hints/tips will be appreciated.

LH4116

How does this borrowing miles "business" work? I'm guessing you have to re-earn them again in some way, but does it specify any time limit until one has to earn those miles back. Also what happens if you don't, will they charge you for the miles like Lufthansa do for their Senator Overdraw?

Sam_AE

Good questions ... I recall when I borrowed my miles that they said I had a year to "earn" them. There was no discussion of what would happen if I didn't. It happens to be that I now only owe 600 miles but at one point my negative balance exceeded the amount of miles I was eligible to purchase in the year. I mention this because if they do force you to buy the miles after a year, maybe they deduct them from your eligible miles for purchase for the subsequent year. Clearly, they are not monitoring it within the same year.

None of this is written down anywhere so I'm not sure there will ever be clarity on your questions. You could call TK customer service but buyer beware when calling TK -- I'm not sure any of the agents know their own policies.

Sam_AE

Hey Vincewy,

I'm not sure if your post is still relevant. I was on a waiting list for an upgrade once -- it literally cleared the list within a few hours. Hopefully you had the same issue.

When they email you after clearing the list, yes, you should ask to either hold the seat or borrow the miles you need (if you can) to confirm the upgrade and worry about earning the miles later.

I can't help you with the priority questions -- I'm not sure but I think your E status should count for something.

Having flown in J class on TK -- I would sooner pay for the upgrade to J versus staying in Y. The experience in J is far superior. Huge shame that they nixed Y+.

LH4116

I can confirm that the overdraft for Elite also works when booking your award online. I was 5000 miles short of a Business Class award the other day, but the booking went through and was ticketed right away. Logged in to my account and saw the balance at -5000.

Great award rates, great benefits, great program. Love TK Miles&Smiles! ^^

gilbertaue

That's what we all say when things go well with TK then next week you see a charge on your cc for the 5000 points
Just kidding.. Good to know it works well!

iamaho

HA! With TK, anything is possible!!
Be prepared for some frustrating calls to Istanbul if it happens to be true!

vincewy

Anyone know what happen if the borrowed miles aren't earned by the end of membership year. Will they just charge your credit card so your balance goes back to 0?

LH4116

I did my overdraft in December 2013. Membership year ended at January 31st 2014. Account balance still remained at minus and my credit card didn't get charged. Balance was at plus again in March 2014.

vincewy

Thanks for the tip, I need my award reservations ticketed and I simply can't wait until next membership year.

Interesting, did you earn those miles in March so they became plus again or they just went away naturally?

NW-A332

I tried to overdraft an upgrade and was told that it isn't possible. I hung up and called back and got the same line. Is this still happening? Do you have to explicitly ask to "borrow" miles?

vincewy

I have upgraded over the phone and did overdraft the miles, but I told the agent I've just flown and would have more miles to bring back above 0. These days I am scared of having TK doing any expensive ticket revisions over the phone, I have been to ticket offices and all it takes is 1 mistake of the agent to pushing a button to wipe out your entire itinerary, this has happened to someone here before. Certain tickets you would have no way bringing back (ie: promo J fares).

Online award tickets though, you can overdraft below 10000 miles.

BTW, does anyone know how long they will allow you to "hold" the upgrades? In my case I want to wait until the next membership year so 2 new upgrade vouchers can be used. I suppose right before the departure of the segment?