Originally Posted by sxc

I might be wrong but I don't think there is such a thing as an upgradeable fare. If you buy a ticket in J class, it is for J class. There is no special upgrade mechanism inherent in the ticket to allow it to be upgraded except to cancel the ticket and buy a new ticket in F class (or A class).

So an "upgrade" which is from J to F will be the cancellation and refund of your initial ticket less any cancellation fees in the fare rules, and then a repurchase of a new F ticket.

I don't think that the company can offer discretionary cancellation fees. The reason a fare will have a cancellation fee is that you have bought a discounted ticket so it's a gamble on your behalf - Yes I want the cheaper ticket, but if I don't end up travelling, I need to compensate CX with some amount. The upside to CX is that they know with more certainty that you will travel in that class. If you then decide that you don't want to travel in J class, this creates more uncertainty for CX as they have an additional J seat to sell. I know you will say that they will have benefitted because you are now buying a F seat, but this is the way revenue management works - they don't want people to game the system.