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What would you do? Worth the miles/$$$ for upgrade.

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What would you do? Worth the miles/$$$ for upgrade.

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Old Apr 16, 2012, 6:33 pm
  #1  
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What would you do? Worth the miles/$$$ for upgrade.

I'm using miles for a SAN-EWR red eye flight. I can do 12,500 for Y and be in Economy plus or fork up 25,000 for first class. For a red eye flight, is it worth the extra miles to burn for first class on a 737? The legroom is the same on an exit row/bulkhead and you don't really get meal service in F. What do ppl think, should I just go E+ or use the extra miles?
COEWR2587 is offline  
Old Apr 16, 2012, 6:38 pm
  #2  
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If you're a sleeper I'd stick to economy. Not worth it IMO for first.
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Old Apr 16, 2012, 6:39 pm
  #3  
 
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Originally Posted by COEWR2587
I'm using miles for a SAN-EWR red eye flight. I can do 12,500 for Y and be in Economy plus or fork up 25,000 for first class. For a red eye flight, is it worth the extra miles to burn for first class on a 737? The legroom is the same on an exit row/bulkhead and you don't really get meal service in F. What do ppl think, should I just go E+ or use the extra miles?
E+ for the reasons you already stated (legroom and lack of a real meal)
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Old Apr 16, 2012, 6:43 pm
  #4  
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Yeah that's what I was thinking. If I can survive LAX-SYD in QF Y then a 5 hour red eye should be fine ha. Does anyone know what the seat pitch is for E+ on the PMCO 737's that have E+. United.com shows the seat map and lists the rows but still only lists 31". Its is as good at PMUA was. I flew a PMUA 757 in E+ once and that was nice.
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Old Apr 16, 2012, 6:46 pm
  #5  
 
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Not unless you have a ton of miles to burn.
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Old Apr 16, 2012, 6:49 pm
  #6  
 
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If you think the extra miles are worth it, then do it.

Don't rely on some stranger's word for it.
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Old Apr 16, 2012, 6:50 pm
  #7  
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
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Originally Posted by COEWR2587
Yeah that's what I was thinking. If I can survive LAX-SYD in QF Y then a 5 hour red eye should be fine ha. Does anyone know what the seat pitch is for E+ on the PMCO 737's that have E+. United.com shows the seat map and lists the rows but still only lists 31". Its is as good at PMUA was. I flew a PMUA 757 in E+ once and that was nice.
Not sure what the official number is, but it's quite generous. Maybe 37".
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Old Apr 16, 2012, 7:02 pm
  #8  
 
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When deciding on using miles to upgrade on a red-eye, there are lots of things to consider:

* How full is the flight? I'd rather be in first than anywhere in a full 3 - 3 row.
* What am I doing the morning I land? If it's important and early, I will upgrade.
* How many miles do I have and what am planning to do with them? If the answer is "lots" and "don't know", I will probably upgrade.

There is really no right or wrong answer, just what works best for you.
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Old Apr 16, 2012, 7:09 pm
  #9  
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Question. If my friend also comes along who doesn't have status and does the economy saver of 15,000, can they still purchase economy plus after? The notes say - "Sorry no upgrades. Economy class travel awards are not eligible for for upgrades of any times." Does economy plus count as an upgrade or do they mean free elite upgrades on award travel?
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Old Apr 16, 2012, 8:09 pm
  #10  
 
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If, for some reason, I found myself burning miles for a domestic flight, I would route SAN-LAX/SFO-JFK and pick up a p.s. seat.
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Old Apr 16, 2012, 8:29 pm
  #11  
 
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As mentioned above, I think an F seat is justified if you need to be "awake" in the morning when you arrive. From West to East, it's a long journey my friend.
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Old Apr 16, 2012, 10:10 pm
  #12  
 
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Originally Posted by COEWR2587
Question. If my friend also comes along who doesn't have status and does the economy saver of 15,000, can they still purchase economy plus after? The notes say - "Sorry no upgrades. Economy class travel awards are not eligible for for upgrades of any times." Does economy plus count as an upgrade or do they mean free elite upgrades on award travel?
I think Economy and E+ are the same in the realm of upgrades. If you are e.g. Premier Gold you can assign yourself an e+ at point of sale. An upgrade from either E or E+ would be to Business /First.
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Old Apr 20, 2012, 3:07 pm
  #13  
 
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Upgrade offer - not worth it?

I have an EWR to Orlando flight coming up, and I pre-selected row 21 and paid the $49 fee for this exit row seat (737-900). Hard to be sure based on Seat Guru because they have a couple of different categories for this model.

As it stands, the middle seat is currently empty, but I learned the hard way that once they begin boarding, all those empty seats online are not really empty in real life.

So at least on the flight down, they are offering an upgrade to first for 20k miles + $75.

While I don't really want to burn the miles on a less then 3 hour flight, I have a phobia being in economy. I also have a problem with $75. The miles should be enough, imo.

But in any case, if I took them up on the offer, they would cancel the old booking and rebook brand new, assuming the net cash would then be only an extra $26 net. But this scares me given that they already have been playing around with flight changes and such.

Would you do it, or just be happy in the "premium" exit row?
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Old Apr 20, 2012, 3:18 pm
  #14  
 
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That is a horrendous 'offer'! Decline decline!
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Old Apr 20, 2012, 3:27 pm
  #15  
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Row 21 is a perfectly decent place to be for 3 hours
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