Originally Posted by
rhzhang
Hello. I'm pretty new to ANA and points in general. I have some AMEX points. Recently booked a class K flight on ANA (YVR-TYO), but just realized that it's not eligible for miles redemption. ANA website says Economy class must be G, E, Y, B, M, U, H in order to upgrade.
Does anyone have advice on how to get upgrades from K class or how to use my AMEX points otherwise? Thanks!
Not sure about ANA, but I know for United you can call them, ask to upgrade your ticket to the minimum fare class needed for upgrade (e.g. H in your case), and then pay the $$ to bump from K to H. From there, use your AMEX points (transfer to ANA) and then submit for an upgrade.
One caveat that United gives (that you may also need to account for) is that points based upgrades are not guaranteed - if you paid $1000 extra to bump from K to H, and then your upgrade via points doesn't go through, you won't get that $1000 back.