Originally Posted by
missamo80
I don't see any situation where using an MVP Gold Guest Upgrade certificate would, at time of booking, get you a guaranteed first class seat that you couldn't get via instant upgrade. The
required purchase fares for instant and guest upgrade are the same: Y, S, B, M, or H, and both methods of upgrade require U space availability.
Edit: Oops, I screwed up. There are slightly more fare buckets available for guest upgrade than there are for instant. The only buckets excluded for guest are G, R, or T. So the advantage of the gold upgrade cert is it lets you book into a cheaper fare class to get the upgrade.
Neil
It is quite nice that Alaska gives mvp gold members the guest upgrades. However, it is extremely difficult to try to use them. Has any Alaska Airlines employee actually gone through the process of trying to research and book a flight where you might be able to use the gold guest upgrade? I don't think so but if so then you really must be a glutton for punishment. Seriously, you need to try to book a flight where you can use a gold guest upgrade. When you are looking for the flights, you select the button that says you want to use the gold guest upgrade. You when receive the results back you get a mix of flights and fares. It will show fares are not upgradeable and that are upgradeable. But then you have to look for a bold U not a U with a line through it next to the flight information. This is stupid. You are giving the customer mixed information. On the one hand you are telling them the flight has this upgradeable fare but you are also telling them they can not use the upgrade. Re-read that sentence and take 5 seconds to let it soak in. Doesn't that sound silly to you? If I am searching for flights where I can use the gold guest upgrade, that is what I want to see, the flights where I can use the upgrade. I really don't want to have to have to hunt and peck through multiple flights which show the information I do not want to see.