Originally Posted by MSPeconomist

International upgrades can require very expensive fares, although as a general rule it's cheaper to upgrade under your own program's rules than using miles for a SkyTeam upgrade. What carriers and routings would you use for travel between Shanghai and Italy?

For lounge access within China, Priority Pass includes many mainland airports but not all of them--for example, Wuhan is missing from the list. These are not great lounges, but they are a comfortable place to wait for a flight, generally having coffee/tea, small snacks like cookies, Chinese newspapers, and lavatories in the lounges. The international airline lounges in major airports tend to be betteer, but they vary a lot IME. Priority Pass has a cheap membership where you pay about $130 for an annual membership and then about $30 for each lounge visit so that you can almost view it as an insurance policy; more expensive plans allow a number of free visits, a few free guests, or even unlimited use by the member.