Originally Posted by
searchforfulfillment
Advice for SFO-SYD:
My wife and I are using pluspoints for an upcoming trip applying them to a B fare as 1K travelers. Another couple now wants to join us. Not sure how to advise them; buy the B fare and wait until a few days before the flight for a paid upgrade, or to pay the $600 plus the MUA (30K) on an L fare today. Not sure where both of us will be on the waitlist.
Looks like the B fare is unexpectedly inexpensive on SFO-SYD, probably because they're selling it as an Economy Plus fare.
I see $2200 RT for a B fare and $1400 RT for an L fare on the same dates -- but it's a differential B fare, meaning it could be different on different dates. If they're going to buy a paid upgrade just before travel, there's no need to pay for the B fare -- buy the L fare and do that. If they're going to waitlist using miles, it's a bit of a tough one: if it clears and they're seeing prices in this range, the B fare will have been cheaper; if not, the L fare would have been cheaper because the copay would be refunded.