I followed this discussion with disbelief. Some FD helpdesk agent don't know what an upgrade costs? That is ridiculous.
There are several reports that KLM says you need miles for upgrades on a segment base especially when you fly different airlines.
However IMO this is not true. The only thing I can rely on is the miles-table in the booklet and the wording on klm.com.
On KLM.com in the section 'Upgrades' it's very precise, clear and simple:
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">
Upgrades
Upgrades to a higher class can be booked on KLM, Northwest Airlines, and Kenya Airways flights.
The same number of Miles is needed for an upgrade award as for a flight award in Economy Class on the same route.
</font>
And the points table only lists region to region awards and in the same line/column the points needed for an upgrade.
So even the information that flying KL AMS-DTW and connecting to NW DTW-XXX costs an addtl. inner-american upgrade I can't understand from those clear and precise rules.
And anything other is not logical, too. But this hasn't anything to say at KLM I guess...
