Originally Posted by
st530
Indeed, but just so I follow: you are finding r/t saver with one-segment PN available at booking, or you find one PN at booking and then you call GS and GS gives your companion the r/t saver rate? Big difference. The former sounds like hitting the lottery; the latter sounds different from the experience of at least some recent posters (but not all).
I am referring to the former. Not really hitting the lottery. I am booking a flight to Japan for early December and there is PN availability IAD to HND on 12/6 (48K miles), which I found in 2-3 minutes of looking. Flight home is where I use the forced upgrade because I am flying paid business class. So I buy my ticket roundtrip - $5600, spouse comes along for 105K miles and is upgraded both ways using my PP. Since I am earning a bunch of miles on my ticket price. to essentially cover her travel, it is really good value for my spouse to come along. I am sure there are other ways to justify/think about this, but this how I have been approaching things. Love to hear how others handle it. I have never tried the second way referred in your message, though now that I think of it, seems like something I need to think through.