I have read that it is possible to fly AS in First with a Companion Certificate if you buy an upgrade class at booking. Is this only available for MVPs? Or should I be able to do it by choosing “upgrade with miles”? The latter does not seem to work, but maybe I am not doing it right.

I am looking at a flight from SEA to SFO in November. The main cabin fare for the flight I want is $89 per person; First is $259.. If I log in and choose “shop” with my Companion Certificate, of course First does not show up. And of course I could not use my Companion Certificate for an $89 flight. But if I choose the “upgrade with miles” (my only option as neither of us is MVP) then it shows the Main Cabin fare with upgrade as $249, and says it is available (the “F” block is dark blue). So far so good. But if I chose that option and proceed to seat selection, the First seats are listed as “not available” even though I know they are not already booked (they are grey rather than X’ed out). And the Premium seats still show the $59 (or whatever it is) extra price.

If I continue to the “pay” page I am not offered an opportunity to pay miles for the upgrade. So what are we getting with that extra $160 that we paid over the regular (non-upgrade) main cabin fare, apart from the chance to book it with the Companion Fare voucher? Is it simply a request for an upgrade and a place on the waitlist?

Thanks for your help. We don’t normally fly domestic in First, but it seems to be the only way to avoid having another person close to us in the same seating row, now that Alaska is not leaving middle seats empty. So that is the source of our quest.