Originally Posted by
yyztozag
But Latitude and O class don't upgrade into R, and there have been reports on FT of people almost instantly upgrading from those fares when it was showing as unavailable at time of booking.
On the R-Space (even if not from R-bucket). I am in the same boat. Tried looking for latitude upgrades for long ranges of dates next summer. I am on a Lat fare and needed to pick a flight. Finally just chose one . . that worked for me - It was a real pain firstly to get flight segments to be booked an confirmed properly (took 13 days of calls to AMEX / AC to get the flights changed on a fully flexible ticket - 16 hours on the phone). Now - since I cannot see the availability, then you just don't know what will happen. Also I then have to decide what will I do with eUps . benefit package (also the package for the Mrs. . . ) but while "flying blind" on availability.
So - once segments were confirmed - I wrote to concierge to ask if it was available - even though the EUp site says I will be waitlisted -and was told my eUp will clear. There is no visibility on this and once I request - who knows . . (it is for July 21). The thing is - - without this visibility - I would never book - and ultimately, if this does not get confirmed - we will just take the refund and not travel (rather than risk being squashed in the back). I redeemed my benefit package and now wait for the credits to post (likely tomorrow). Then - let's see - - either they confirm it or we will refund it and take the cash.
Very true that J-demand is very good. What I would do is just book a refundable fare - - make the request - and then beg if it does not clear right away - - then refund if it does not clear.