Originally Posted by
pattermj
Ok, sadly no luck on first question being answered, here is second and third. Why does Alaska offer the First Class Upgrade option when looking to book a ticket (for $50 more) and then it has the empty box F showing no first class is available? What is, if anything, the benefit of selecting this booking option? Can I use an MVP gold upgrade to still get the first class after booking?
thanks
Sometimes questions get overlooked, so if you don't get an answer within a reasonable amount of time, feel free to bump it!
The First Class Upgrade box is merely the lowest coach fare class required for the type of upgrade you've selected, it's not an upgrade in itself.
The first part of a First Class upgrade is the minimum fare class (K for a Gold Guest Upgrade (GGU), M on a instant upgrade). The second part is there needs to be U available to book into. This can be seen by either a white F in a blue box (U space available) or blue F in a white box (no U space available, no upgrade available at this time). U space is dependent on having actual F seats available so if F is sold out, there won't be U space and you won't be able to upgrade (*).
If U is unavailable at booking, you either have a more expensive ticket than otherwise, possibly a class of service bonus (if you purchased a Y, S, B, M coach fare), a chance to upgrade if U opens before your flight (instant upgrades and GGUs are handled differently here, GGUs can't be waitlisted) without needing to upfare then which could trigger a change fee for a non-Gold/75K companion, and higher upgrade priority within your elite level in the complimentary window and on the gate upgrade list.
For more see
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/alask...ades-work.html
https://www.alaskaair.com/content/mi...ntary-upgrades
(*) there seems to be some weirdness where AlaskaAir.com won't sell mixed F/coach fares with Skywest operated flights. Has anyone else seen this? Note that there's U space available on AS680 so there are F seats available. AS3389 is a OO operated CRJ with no F seats. Mixed fares appear for QX/AS combinations.