Originally Posted by
AlwaysSunnyInPHL
Hi all. Brand new here, and new to flying anything other than Coach, so please bear with me!
I have a solo trip coming up in a few weeks from PHL to SFO. I already booked it as Coach, but the more I'm thinking about it, it would be real nice to be able to fly first class (for the first time!) since the flight is over 6 hours. But never having upgraded at all before, I'm not positive how it all works.
From what I've gathered, these are my options:
- Upgrade using Dividend Miles: According to the site, I can upgrade at the cost of 10,000 miles plus $150. (The flight is ~2300 miles)
- Wait until check-in to see if an upgrade is available: But I have no idea what that $$ fee would be at the time of purchase. (Any ideas?)
- A third option that I'm unaware of?
Any advice on what to do would be greatly appreciated!
Welcome to Flyertalk!
Your best option would be to upgrade with miles + copay if you have enough in your account, given there are seats available for upgrade. What's your status on US? If you're CP you may have a chance at a complimentary upgrade, although based on our post I assume you don't have high-level status with US.
PHL-SFO will almost certainly be filled with preferred upgrades before you'd even have a chance at purchasing a last-minute upgrade on that route. Many folks (myself included) also flat-out pay for F on that leg, as it is long and rolling the dice on an upgrade is risky. F fares are often not a whole lot more than Y depending on when you book.