YVR-SYD
 

I need to travel to SYD in mid July, and I have some flexibility. Would anyone with experience in the route tell me what the best days of the week are to maximize my upgrade chances?

Follow up question - what about chances in December around the holidays?

Lol, one its holidays,2 its the Australian peak season.

Midweek is usually best. If I can get Tues/Wed that would be my preference. Having said that, I've never missed an u/g to/from SYD, although many of them have been at the gate

Thanks a lot! It's good to know, as I've been carefully managing my few points to have enough for those two long flights :)

Remember Academic is a SE (and for that matter a AC*MM).

SE will get top priority for upgrades.

YVR-SYD seems very hard to get. I've heard you have to be online at 12:01 355 days in advance the day it releases and book a "fake return" that you change later to get it. I haven't tried for years and this could be just to get Business fares.

If you do find it hard to get, perhaps consider connecting via Auckland or Singapore.

If this was me I would look at YVR-FRA-SIN-SYD.


Good Luck

I traveled last August, upgrade wasn't a problem. Cleared at T-4 days both directions. Outbound and return was on a Tuesday.

Thanks, I think you are answering about award availability, while I'm asking about upgrade availability :)

Thanks a lot!

Last December (traveled from YVR on the 16th, returned on the 28th), I managed an upgrade on both flights at the 2-day window as a P on a Latitude fare. So there is always a chance.

At what point does the extra time spent en route justify an upgrade? A trip via AKL is bearable; a detour through SIN takes more time than you might realize and going east to get west via FRA is simply silly. Flying for twice as long (not including connection times) in a J class seat would leave most folks just as exhausted as spending half the time in the Y cabin.

Good luck scoring three upgrades on busy routes instead of just one.