Originally Posted by
beyounged
I did skim through the thread, but I was not clear on the upgrade part, and I will write it into the post. If you can buy the cheapest promo Y and upgrade using miles with no copay whatsoever, it can be an okay use of miles, but since TK usually charges pretty high prices for economy, and a lot of niche locations have very high costs in Y to begin with, I still think it is not super valuable. Not to mention you are literally just paying the saver price on top of the Y fare, so the more flexibility you have the less valuable the upgrade is. I think using miles on upgrade still yields less than 0.8cpm near universally if one has good degree of flexibility and free time. (like the case for anyone who can leave their job to go fly TK for 100 hours.)
Another main thing is also how easy it is to apply the upgrade: can it be done online? if only by phone, how competent are the phone agents?
so I get a eco-roundtrip fare Europe to HKG for 710€ - I upgrade both longhaul sectors with 65.000 miles - I pay 710€ plus 130.000 miles (European feeder flights in economy are bearable, you even get a hot meal and AVOD)
If I happen to find an I class promo award - I pay around 800€ taxes & fees + 130.000 miles (longhaul roundtrip) + 50.000 miles (shorthaul roundtrip) = 180.000 miles for the roundtrip
what is the better deal? very good availability with the upgraded economy ticket or very sparse availability with more expensive copay for buying a promo biz award?
for everyone who does fly TK frequently that 1Mio miles challenge is a very good investment. For US or Asian passengers who prefer to book *A awards - it's not that valuable.