First I'd like to say that I'm new to FT (2 months) and have enjoyed reading and learning from the posts. I have never flown using ff miles and I have never flown first class.

I'll be going to europe alone in November to meet a friend and celebrate my birthday.

I have enough LH miles for a coach seat but thought treating myself to an upgrade would be more fitting for birthday travel, especially on such a long flight (MIA-FRA). This is my 7th trip abroad and that long flight in coach is always the worst part of a great trip.

Here's the problem:

I called Lufthansa miles & more customer service and they told me that I had to book and pay for a 'W' class coach ticket first, THEN use my miles to upgrade which may not be available. I said "how would I know if it's not available before I purchase?" She said "you wouldn't".
If I'm going to end up flying coach anyway, I'd rather do it with all miles but at that point it would be too late.

Does this sound right?