hungarianhc

Hey there!

I'm all matched up as a VX gold now. My wife and I are going to fly together soon to LAS. How do things like Main Cabin Extra, Select, etc work with a companion? Or do they just not work? Thanks!

bayhouse

The status member plus one companion can benefit from the advanced upgrade window (T-24 to First for Gold). If booked on the same PNR, they also receive priority screening/boarding.

Even if booked on the same reservation, companions don't receive complementary MCS upgrades or free Main Cabin Extra seats. If booked on the same PNR, your upgrade to MCS isn't automatic, either; you have to call and they divide non-status members off your PNR and process your upgrade individually.

Since the PNR has to be divided to receive your upgrade, you might be wondering why you should book the companion on the same ticket in the first place. The benefit to doing this is that their priority security/boarding status stays with them even after it was split. If that's important to you, then book it together and split it when you request the upgrade.

hungarianhc

Well,

That was basically super concise and super clear. THANKS!

bayhouse

No problem!

One thing I forgot to mention: if you're looking for an MCS upgrade for yourself (complimentary) and your companion (paid, unfortunately, but usually a reasonable price), I strongly advise waiting until the T-24 mark to do anything. At T-24, or as soon as possible after, call the Gold Desk and ask the same agent to process (1) your comp upgrade, which entails dividing the PNRs and (2) your companions cash upgrade.

The main benefits of this is as follows: if you call in advance to ask to request/opt-in for the space available upgrade, they'll divide your PNR right then. If there's only 1 MCS seat available at the auto-upgrade mark (T-24), you'll get it, but your companion won't be able to get upgraded due to a lack of space.