Originally Posted by
workandski
When Transcon business fares were high, this was a great deal for me because I could get an instant upgrade to business class and use a systemwide upgrade to upgrade to first. I am not so sure that it is a good deal for me anymore. But the big advantage of these fares is that there are no change fees and you can book them at the last minute. They were perfect for me when I was going from LAX to New York for depositions and never knew ahead of time when the deposition was going to end. I doubt they will ever make sense for someone who can plan ahead.
Resurrecting an old quote from this thread, but I'm about to be in this same boat; I generally book ORD-LAX and LAX-ORD so I use "instant upgrade" when available and "Business" instant is not available. I have an LAX-NYC trip upcoming so I'll likely book the instant upgrade. Does anyone know if I can call and apply the SWU to first as soon as I make the Airpass reservation; generally speaking, I usually wait until a reservation is ticketing to apply SWU but these tickets won't get issued until 1-day before the flight and I'm looking at something about 6 weeks out. Appreciate any thoughts or experiences; either way, I'll report back with my experience when I get around to booking in the next week or so.