Originally Posted by
747jetter
Thank you, I am doing the math right now and it looks like it is better to refund, buy biz and upgrade to F with these miles for the whole journey (it is available). The difference between eco flex and biz is something like 30k ZAR so I think it it a little bit better value (I would have to buy the miles for upgrade the leg from J to F anyway since we are far away from FF on EK and we dont have any CC that has partnership with EK but traveling with my father so F for fun would be nice).
JNB-VIE is 57500 from Flex and 50000 from Flex+. Flex+ is usually significantly more expensive than Flex, so you need to offset that against 7500 extra miles you need to buy.
But beware! To get the 'through rate', you need availability on BOTH legs. What you can do, is upgrade one leg first (you mentioned JNB/DXB is available) but to then upgrade DXB/VIE you need to speak to an agent (or do it via direct chat) and tell them that you want the through rate. They will then cancel the existing upgrade and simultaneously upgrade you at the better rate. You CANNOT do this via Manage My Booking and also not at the airport or on board, in that case you will be charged the miles for DXB/VIE on top of what you have already paid! And upgrades starting or ending in DXB are much more expensive than 'through bookings' (85800 from Flex+ if I'm not mistaken) . There are even routes (not in South Africa, I think) where you would get the second leg 'free'! My usual route is between CPT and London (preferably LGW) and I have done this 'through booking in two steps' multiple times.