Originally Posted by
jswong
Perhaps but i've looked into this from a predominantly UA FF perspective. B fares from NZ to the US via SYD costs much less. I have one in May which cost $3070 NZD (almost $700 cheaper). Once one reaches 1P or greater on UA then the 100% bonus miles kicks in. Mileage upgrades on UA to the US cost 15K each way. Therefore, without using any SWU's, and if booking far enough ahead one can confirm upgrades (on the SYD-US segment) for less than the amount of miles accrued
Jeff,
What you suggest makes a lot of sense. The only reason it doesn't work for me is:
1. I'd have to get the corporate TA to specifically book a B-fare, which would be flagged as an exception if there were other fares available. Amusingly, NZ PE doesn't do this.
2. If I can't confirm that upgrade, I'm stuck in UA Economy
3. My travel plans are often made at short notice, which means that upgrade availability would be tricky. The whole 'PE isn't so bad, but biz on the day might work out' approach works well for my needs on this particular fare.
Given that I was heading on through to Ottawa, the airfare was reasonable.
The other thing is that you have to fly sort of 6 hours out of your way (WLG-SYD + longer SYD-LAX sector) in each direction which isn't so appealing.
Point taken though and I will have a look at it in the future - maybe for personal travel rather than business.