Originally Posted by
intub8r
2. Do I have to have sufficient Asia Miles in my account prior to the upgrade(s) being cleared, or can I transfer them from Citi after the upgrade is issued? If so, how long of a window do I have to do that? My reading of the award chart seems to indicate I would need 85,000 x 2 pax or 170,000 asia miles to upgrade both outbound and inbound. Is that right?
I would like to add a worse case scenario - segments are upgraded one at a time and one person at a time after you waitlist. That will become 4 x 50,000 = 200000 AM. It is not a corner case. It happens very often especially if your travel dates are inflexible. If that happens, you have to pay 200000 AM first, and when you finish flying all segments, you can ask Asia Miles to return 200000 - 170000 = 30000 AM back.
You don't need all AM to be in your account when ticket. You can top up your account if you have 70% of the AM in your account:
* If you can redeem all segments together, you need 85000 + 85000x70% = 144500 for redemption and top up the rest.
* If you redeem 85000 for one person and 85000 later, you need 85000x70% = 59500 AM and top up the rest to redeem for the first person. Then you can transfer 59500 AM and top up the rest to redeem for the other person.
Notes:
* You have to be careful about the expiration date for the upgrade booking.
* Top up is too expensive IMHO.