BusinessFirst mileage upgrades

Overview

A quick overview of the BusinessFirst (BF) upgrade policies can be found on the Continental website here by scrolling halfway down the page.

Eligibility

Anyone with a OnePass account may upgrade to BusinessFirst (or equivalent) on Continental, Northwest, KLM and Copa using your OnePass miles. You can locate the amount of miles necessary on the Continental website here.

Please note that Skyteam elites are not eligible to waitlist for BF mileage upgrades, only Continental elites.

Miles & Fees

Currently BusinessFirst upgrades can only be requested by calling the Continental Rewards desk at 800.621.7467 between 7:00 a.m. - 8:30 p.m. Central Time. As of 2/18/07 online booking ability is being worked on by Continental per this post.

If an upgrade seat is available at the time of your call you can immediately upgrade by paying the miles and fee (depending on your fare class). A list of fees can be found at the Continental website here.

Waitlist

If no seats are available you can be placed on the waitlist for an upgrade seat. You can only waitlist as a Continental elite so you will never be competing against other Skyteam elites on a BF waitlist. Waitlists are no longer closed. If you are eligible (i.e. Continental elite) you can waitlist for any flight. At the time that you request the upgrade, the miles will be deducted from your OnePass account. You will also need to provide the credit card that you plan to use to pay the service fee if necessary. This fee will only be charged to your card once a seat is available and you have accepted the upgrade and must be paid for each separate BF leg that you wish to upgrade.

Upgrade availability comes from the F fare bucket (prior R which is now discount BF). This is different from the award BF seat bucket. This fare bucket may be viewed using the KVS availability tool(Platinum subscription required).

Upgrade priority

Upgrades from the waitlist are processed first by Elite status (Platinum, Gold then Silver) and then by time of upgrade request. It is not common to be told over the phone what number you are on the waitlist so please do not be surprised if this happens to you.

Redepositing miles

If your BF upgrade does not clear by 24 hours before the flight you will be notified by email and removed from the waitlist. This will allow you to check-in online or via a kiosk at the airport (which was not possible while you were on the waitlist). Miles should be automatically re-deposited to your OnePass account. Continental recommends that you keep your boarding passes until the mileage has been credited.

If only your domestic legs clear but your BF upgrade does not you are entitled to have all of the miles for the upgrade redeposited. This policy has been in place since December 2006. See this thread for more details.

Why does the waitlist disappear 24 hours before the flight?

This has been detailed by Continental in this post. There had previously been problems with phantom bookings in BF (fully refundable J tickets) that were cancelled within 24 hours of the flight and would have freed a potentially upgradeable BF seat as a result. Continental will not risk their ability to sell BF seats at their intended retail value.

Note that policy only applies for mileage upgrade BF seats. If you have redeemed miles for a BF award seat and have been assigned an economy seat because no BF seats are available you may stand-by for a BF seat at the airport.