Originally Posted by
moe8555
I've been trying to understand a nuance about the upgrade feature without success: if I book an award ticket and there is already award space available for the next cabin at the time of booking, is it possible to immediately upgrade with miles to the next cabin? Or is still only within the 30 day-72 hour window (and hope that the space remains)? I ask because the total miles required via the aforementioned method would be lower than booking straight into the desired cabin...
From my experience, the process of booking a lower class award ticket and upgrading later is a much higher cost of miles than booking straight into the higher class award if that inventory is available. I am currently waiting for incremental inventory to become available, and the premium to upgrade (vs. miles if booked directly into the higher class) is about 40% more miles. I don't think my situation has altered the equation, but I do have a two segment trip, and the added miles to upgrade both segments individually (J to F) is 40% higher than if I were able to book the flights in the higher class as a single "through fare" ticket.