Originally Posted by
lawest
AA6091 is a CX code share flight. I gather as an AA platinumn/OW saphire there would not be an automatic upgrade possibility on an H fare?
As a rule with very few exceptions, miles from airline A cannot be used to get an upgrade on a plane flown by airline B. Status does not void this rule. Codeshares are marketing agreements and don't change your ability to upgrade on someone else's flight.
So I can purchase a Delta flight operated by Korean Air and will never be able to upgrade. I can purchase a United ticket operated by Thai airways and will never be able to upgrade. I can purchase an AA ticket operated by
you name it and will never be able to upgrade. Etc....
AA upgrade rules apply to AA planes. UA upgrade rules apply to UA planes. DL upgrade rules apply to DL planes. And so on.
Originally Posted by
lawest
...At least I'd get miles on this, unlike the CX M fare I'd been considering.
Right!
With AA, ALL AA flight #s earn miles the same as if they were operated by AA no matter who the flight is actually on. So with AA, for miles earning purposes, the only thing that matters is that the flight numbers say AA (and are an eligible fare class).
Originally Posted by
lawest
I'm trying to find the best fare/carrier combo for the trip given my AA, UA, DL ff status.
If upgrading is your priority, you want to choose UA.
UA is the only one of these airlines that flies to Bangkok.
On an upgradeable UA ticket, you can upgrade all the way to Bangkok.
Not so with AA or DL since they don't fly there.
I'm assuming you want to use miles to upgrade with?
With UA, you can upgrade all the way to Bangkok for 30,000 UA miles each way, per person. You will also need to make sure the ticket books into an upgradeable fare bucket to be eligible for the upgrade.
If you don't care much about business class, this isn't worth it. If you value a business class ticket anywhere close to the $5000/person you would need to pay to actually buy one, this game is worth playing.