Originally Posted by
mofly
Interesting how many miles do you need for the upgrade? May be a better option than using system wide upgrade .
only 25,000 miles covers both HKG-LAX and LAX-JFK. this fare books HKG-LAX into R (so 2.0x EQM) and LAX-JFK-DCA into full J (so 3.0x EQM). the EQMs and the no copay make it an especially good deal -- CMB-HKG gets 3741 (2494x1.5), HKG-LAX is 14,520, LAX-JFK is 7425, and JFK-DCA is 1500, total 27,186. Works out to under 6.2 cents per EQM, and a little less than a wash on RDMs (5x Amex on $1683 and 11x AA on $1201, against the 25k to upgrade, assuming it all posts as fare-based). And then there's always the chance that HKG-LAX goes whack as it is wont to do, giving us an opportunity to route on CX or JL F instead... one can hope!
definitely better to use miles if you have use for a SWU on another route that would require a copay.