Originally Posted by
Mark42
I am only a lowly base member because I'm only a leisure flyer.
I have 30,000 miles(NW credit card & some flights) and I am thinking of using them to upgrade my wife and myself on the return flight from SJU-MSP 6+ hr non-stop flight.
Is this a wise use of miles in your estimation?
At some point we will be taking a 10+ day trip to SIN to visit my brothers family (We've never been to Asia) should I save all miles for this trip?
I'm kinda new to using miles.
Greetings! Let me try to deal with your second question first which as to whether this is a good use of miles for your proposed upgrade only you can decide that. Many FTers would say don't use your miles to upgrade domestic tickets and especially domestic tickets on NW and will give you ratios of what a RDM (redeemable mile) is worth. Take all of that with a grain of salt and remember this, miles are constantly devaluing currency, and you cannot take 'em with you to the great beyond, so I am of the opinion if ya got 'em use 'em.
Now here are some facts you need to be aware of in playing the upgrade with miles game on NW. First, I am not sure what fare bucket you're flying on your SJU trip, but please be advised that if you did purchase a "T" or "K" fare, as a non-elite on a domestic flight (SJU is domestic for those playing along at home), you cannot use your miles to upgrade the flight. Second, if your fare is not a "Y" or a "B" fare, the cost of the one way upgrade will be 15k for you and 15K for your wife and will wipe take your balance down to zero, so if you're saving miles for last minute emergency type travel, you won't have enough for a domestic saver ticket at 25K (assuming of course no other travel on NW, no credit card spends, etc, etc, etc).
Now as to your proposal on the Asian trip, please be advised that using miles to upgrade a flight to Asia will require you to purchase a "Y" or "B" fare which are the "full fare" buckets and can be quite expensive. One way upgrade for most "B" fares is 30K and one way upgrade for the "Y" fare is 15K. Note that be careful with "B" fares if you go that route because some are not upgradeable (read them fare rules) In either case, it very likely will will not be cheap.
Finally, please remember that upgrade space needs to be available, and that surely is not guaranteed especially with international flights. If you have Expert Flyer and/or the KVS availability tool, please look for the "R" bucket for your SJU trip, and look for the "U" bucket for "B" fare upgrades to Asia and "Z" bucket for "Y" fare upgrades.
In any event, good luck let us know how it goes, and stop by here on the NW forum anytime, we are of good cheer (well we used to be anyhow)
!
Safe travels!