At the exorbitant ratios of transfer, any points transfer is likely to cost you more than just using your points to book a full reward ticket.

See:

http://www.miles-and-more.com/cdauti...dia_648254.pdf

for examples of how much it costs to upgrade B and Y fares (basically full econo), see Europe to North America--equals 70000 LH miles round trip for upgrade on UA or LH flights.

With the same airline for 15,000 more you can book a reward ticket in business class.

True, if you are not SuperElite, you might have to pay more points (or even if you are, you might have to fork out 30% for guaranteed availability on non-oversold flights). The point is the upgrades are inordinately expensive on already expensive fares.

For an example of discount to B and Y fares on YYZ-VIE, here is LH/OS chart:

NONUPGRADEABLE WITH POINTS
WSS6AT OS W Round-Trip 500.00(CAD) E SU / 12M

WLNN94W LH W Round-Trip 557.00(CAD) E SU / 1M 07

WLRCATW LH W Round-Trip 771.00(CAD) E SU / 12M 14

VLRCATW LH V Round-Trip 883.00(CAD) E SU / 12M 14

VJFLYOS OS V Round-Trip 980.00(CAD) E V / 12M 14

QLRCATW LH Q Round-Trip 1028.00(CAD) E SU / 12M 07

QJFLYOS OS Q Round-Trip 1092.00(CAD) E V / 12M 07

HLRCATW LH H Round-Trip 1221.00(CAD) E SU / 12M

HJFLYOS OS H Round-Trip 1269.00(CAD) E V / 12M

MLRCATW LH M Round-Trip 1462.00(CAD) E SU / 12M

MJFLYOS OS M Round-Trip 1495.00(CAD) E V / 12M

UPGRADEABLE
BLRCATW LH B Round-Trip 1752.00(CAD) E V / 12M

BR2OS OS B Round-Trip 2717.00(CAD) E -- / 12M

BFFATW LH B Round-Trip 2766.00(CAD) E -- / 12M

YRT OS Y Round-Trip 4407.00(CAD) E -- / 12M

YR LH Y Round-Trip 4455.00(CAD) E