Originally Posted by
OperaLover
First I want to thank all the people who have provided the valuable information in this thread. I am a total newbie to using miles to upgrade across airlines. I have read through all the posts in this thread because I also would like to book an economy ticket on EVA to fly JFK-TPE-JFK and then use MileagePlus miles to upgrade that to business. If I may summarize what I've gathered from this thread:
1. First check the UA website award travel search, and look for desired EVA flights to confirm there are class I or Z availability for using miles to buy business class seats.
2. Go to EVA website to buy class Y or B seats for those exact flights
3. Go to UA SAUA website to request the upgrade with miles
I hope that is correct. I do have a few questions I hope you experts can answer:
1. I can't seem to search for specific fare classes on EVA's website. I can just select Economy and then see a bunch of different economy options. Do I just try to click on every single fare options that pop out to confirm the class code? Or is there an easier way?
2. Is there a consensus on whether I should look for class I or Z when I look on UA's website?
3. There are many references to ExpertFlyer. I checked the website and I think a subscription fee is required to access fare class information. Do most members here subscribe to it because it is worthwhile? Since I don't fly that much I didn't think $5/month seems worth it. But many of you seemed to want to confirm the class I/Z availability on both the UA site and the ExpertFlyer site. I also just read from ThePointsGuy website that UA and *A pulled their award availability data from ExpertFlyer. Any advice?
3. There were some disagreement about how far in advance one can upgrade the ticket. There were several reports that said the award availability is only open 2 weeks before the flight. But the most recent post said 331 days ahead was fine. I suppose early is better?
Thanks in advance for any advice you can provide. This is a great resource.
Hey Randy - usually the Y or B fare is the "Eco Flex" one. You can check by clicking the fare you want and the the Fare Basis/Details button on the right side. After checking on United's website for Business Class Award availability on EVA, I would also follow up with a call to EVA to confirm that they indeed have Z class available on the particular flight you want to book. Having said all that, I will tell you that in my experience it is still not a 100% success even if both those criteria are met. The only way to absolutely know is to buy the ticket and try the upgrade. If it doesn't work, apply for a refund of the ticket on Eva's website within 24 hours and you'll get a full refund. There's a pop up that says it could take 2 months for the refund to go back on your credit card, but in my experience its usually 7-10 days.
I believe "I" Class is United's coding for business class award. "Z" class is Eva's coding for the limited upgrade-able business class seats. If you talk to United, you should ask for I. If you talk to Eva, you should ask for Z.
I subscribed to ExpertFlyer and was disappointed in the functionality. Even worse was their customer service. I emailed them a few times to ask questions around my search results and they were very rude.
As far as I know, there is not a limit on how early you can upgrade the ticket as long as there is an upgradeable seat to take. The minimal time is 24 hours (I tried to upgrade once the day before and got an error message that upgrades need to be completed before 24 hours before departure).