Originally Posted by
craz
What if the IAH-EWR portion cleared but not the EWR-PEK, will CO refund any of the difference between BF & Coach mileage? Could one simply tell them since EWR-PEK hasn't cleared I want to remain in Coach for the whole way, yet leave it stilll in Limbo for the return? I imagine if nothing cleared on the IAH-EWR-PEK routing and one stays in Coach that CO will refund the difference
As I understand it CO bases refunds solely on the BF flights (EWR-PEK in Mom's case) regardless of class of travel for the non BF flights.
If the IAH-EWR protion cleared and the EWR-PEK section did not, CO would refund the mileage difference between the standard F and standard Y reward. A BF reward to Asia (Series 4) is 60,000 miles one-way for F so CO would refund 30,000 in this case. Should Mom have flown in Y for the IAH-EWR and J for EWR-PEK than no refund would be forthcoming.
It will always be in the customers best interests to take the big seat on the 'non-BF' segments as CO does not base the refund qualification of class flown on such segments.
It's the same for mileage upgrades to BF too.
A little more than a year ago I tried to upgrade a DEN-EWR-HKG ticket and the DEN-EWR cleared immediately but the EWR-HKG upgrade never materialized. CO still refunded me the mileage in full, as per their policy, for my outbound upgrade as the BF sector did not clear even though the domestic/non-BF upgrade did clear.