Originally Posted by Thijs Luyt;29656500[b
]I spoke with one of the managers of La Premiere today.[/b]
It was kind of revealing how less they are aware of their own policies and logic.
First important point is that I was not supposed to get that offer at all. It is not possible to get an offer to be upgraded to La Premiere from an Y fare ticket at all, also not if you have used miles to upgrade yourself via the Platinum Service Line or FB help desk with miles (or money)from Y to J. So the agents at the check in made a mistake. They are only allowed and able to offer upgrades to La Premiere for Platinum members that purchased a J fare ticket and he also said that not all J fare classes are eligible for an upgrade offer. Deeply discounted J fares are not. Even though a Gold (or less) FB member had a full fare J ticket, they will not offer an upgrade with money or miles.
Second, the manager was not aware that an one way award ticket from CDG to JFK in La Premiere costs 200.000 miles. He thought it’d cost 440.000 so he wasn’t understanding why I thought that 190.000 was way too much for an upgrade from a paid J fare to La Premiere. I asked him: why pay a J fare and an additional 190.000 miles while it’s possible to get an award ticket for 200.000 and “only” 261 euro in taxes?
His argument was that you don’t get miles on an award ticket and that there is more availability on J to La Premiere upgrades than award tickets. These have a different fare code.
But it he admitted that it wouldn’t be interesting to do so if there is an award ticket available.
So bottom line is that an award ticket is the least expensive way to fly La Premiere except when there is an error fare and you are lucky.
What do you mean by "manager of La Premiere"?