Originally Posted by
ludocdoc
I'm flying EWR-SEA on a Thursday morning in August with the wife and sister in law. We're not listed for complimentary upgrades; I suspect its because I have two others in the PNR. As I understand it, we won't be given premium seats at T-24 either with 3 in the reservation. If I want to sit up front, seems my options would be
-Boot one of the ladies off the PNR and face the consequenses, and then hope for the best from complimentary upgrades. Long haul into SEA, I suspect there will be plenty of competition from AS eltes.
-Acquire some AS miles, perhaps a credit card, and try to use them in advance
-Wait for T-24 and pay for one (are these ever available? The scourge of true AS elites I suspect)
Any advice on which will be most likely to succeed?
Call AS check the web site or app and find the cost of refaring to first class. You are almost certainly not getting first if you don't pay for it.
Mileage upgrades require upgrade (U) space. You are unlikely to find 3 U space on your flight, though you can certainly check. Also, the cheapest economy classes are not eligible for mileage upgrades so you may have to pay to refare to a more expensive economy ticket (depending on what you bought)
Once you are opening your wallet, you may also want to look into the cost of flying a carrier with a real F/J product from JFK to SFO and then connecting to SEA. If it's close, it's almost certainly a better experience despite the connection.