FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Chances of Upgrade Clearing and Availability (2018 master thread)
Old Jun 1, 2018 | 5:22 am
  #279  
miadukes
All eyes on you!
5 Years on Site
 
Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: FL, USA
Programs: AA Plat, Hyatt Explorist, Hilton Diamond, IHG Plat, Marriot Gold
Posts: 1,675
Originally Posted by DoctorORD
People almost always outright purchase F seats on these flights due to honeymoon or other similar occasion.

Do you have any date in mind? PHX should be a non starter for you. Only 12 seats, twice a day, on a 757 and they are almost always full.

DFW-HNL is more comfortable since 772, 2 flights a day, 36 x 2 lie-flat seats = 72 seats. However, these flights also have 24 premium econ seats each, which is like domestic F -- maybe less comfortable given a longer duration. I'm not sure how it works to use stickers for Y->W on Hawaii flights. The early ~9:15a DFW-HNL flight is probably much easier to upgrade to F, since probably much fewer connecting passengers connecting to such an early flight.

LAX-HNL has 5 flights a day with 16F regular seats on each flight, and the flight time goes by quickly. You could arrive casually the night before, then get to the airport early -- try for the earliest LAX-HNL flight but then SDFC to a later flight that day if F is really that important to you.

The best compromise proposition for comfort is likely connecting through Dallas.

If you were willing to pay the copay, why not consider buying first class outright? You can connect through DFW on a lieflat for < $1k more than an economy class ticket:

https://www.google.com/flights/?f=0#...-20;sc=b;c=DFW

Buy this with an AMEX Platinum and get ~10000 MR points back. In my mind, the added expense is worth it for an 8 hour flight in each direction in a lie-flat seat.
I don't have a choice as to buying as someone else is picking up the tab for a work event and its cheapest only. They have in the past paid to get me a window seat but definitely not first class. I saw that the amount of stickers needed equaled almost the amount of just getting the first class ticket and I considered paying the difference but there goes a good chunk of my pay that week so my other option that i seriously started to consider after posting was perhaps doing the miles upgrade 15k plus 175 is it? Will that work for both segments? so I would only have to do 30k plus 350 in total?

I'm looking at right now leaving on 8/18 and flying back on 8/26 or 8/27. But most likely 8/26. I initially wanted to connect through DFW so I can use the lounge there but keep reading that that is an elite heavy hub so wasn't sure if only being gold would get me the upgrade. Either way maybe I will wait and they will shift down in price a bit, they normally don't ticket me till right about 2 months before the event so I still have about 3 weeks left.
miadukes is offline