amimac

Hi all, question about companion fares and upgrades.

I know that if I'm MVP Gold and I buy a Value fare with U availability, I will get the instant upgrade and so will my companion (since the companion fare rules say we have to fly in the same cabin).

And then I assume that if I buy a Bargain fare and then 72 hrs prior to the flight, there is U availability, that both my companion and I would get upgraded.

What if I'm just regular MVP? I could buy the Full Flex fare with U availability and get the instant upgrade for both passengers.

But if I buy a Bargain fare and then 48 hrs prior to the flight, there is U availability, do both my companion and I get upgraded? (It makes sense that it would work if I'm Gold since Gold can upgrade a friend. But does it work if I'm MVP?)

Thanks!

golfingboy

You are right on the MVPG aspect... This is one of the benefits of being a Gold, however, I would call Reservations before booking, because there could only be 1 "U" seat and that means you won't be able to upgrade. If you buy a value fare or higher, and there is at least 2 openings in the U bucket, then you and your companion will get upgraded. If you purchase bargain fare and there is at least 2 U seats open then both of you will get upgraded, if only 1 opening in the U bucket your party will be skipped since both of you must get the upgrade.

For MVPs, and if you fly with a companion on the same PNR then your upgrade chances is nil. The companion upgrade benefit is for Golds only. Even if you purchase full flex fare. The only way you can get upgraded is at the airport...

amimac

Sigh. So if I'm MVP and I buy a First Class fare, then my companion also flies first class.

But if I'm MVP and I buy a Full Flex fare which has upgrade ability into first class, then no one gets it? So the way they would enforce this rule is to deny the upgrade instead of upgrade both passengers?

beckoa

Correct they would deny the upgrade, as the companion certificate PNR can not be split. (unless the other pax pays for the upgrade @ gate perhaps... but then its usually as cheap to pay for F...)

What's the diff for your fare between Full Flex and F? We might be able to make it worthwhile for F

amimac

No convincing necessary, I'm totally on board. Just trying to understand the rules so I can share them with others.

Makes me like Gold waaaaay more than MVP.

Thanks for the info!

PDXPremier

One more twist...if you AND the companion on the companion certificate are MVP, you still get the upgrade (if space is available) at the upgrade window, correct? The companion cert doesn't affect upgrade opportunities for the MVP on the certificate, correct?

beckoa

Both should get the seat if there are 2U open... but there needs to be 2U open at the time the upgrade processor is run.

Westcoaster

One additional note: With two regular MVPs on an itinerary my experience is that you need to call to be put on the upgrade waitlist. Others have reported being able to do the request online but I've always had to call. No big deal, just something to be aware of.

PDXPremier

Gotcha...thanks for the tip!

PDXPremier

Just wondering if this is still the case...do two MVPs on the same PNR (such as with the companion certificate) have to call to be put on the upgrade waitlist or is this done automatically?

Westcoaster

Things have changed for the better. Now the system automatically puts the two of us (both regular MVPs) on the F waitlist soon after purchase -- say within 30 minutes or so. The only time I've had to call was when I used the online price guarantee function to get a credit for a decrease in fare on an existing reservation. It warns you during that process that you will lose your place in line on the waitlist. After the repricing occurs I have noticed that the system hasn't put us back on the waitlist, at least not promptly. So I have called in to have it done.

PDXPremier

Interesting...if only one of you was MVP, would the system not add the MVP to the waitlist since they were traveling with a non-status passenger on the same PNR?

beckoa

Correct- if on the same PNR with someone without status, neither the MVP member nor other pax will be on the WL. If not on a companion cert they could split the reservation, but the statusless pax will lose their baggage allotment.

PDXPremier

Would the statusless pax also lose their preferred seating if you split the reservation?

beckoa

Wirelessly posted (beckoa's PWP wonderous device: Mozilla/5.0 (BlackBerry; U; BlackBerry 9800; en-US) AppleWebKit/534.8+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/6.0.0.600 Mobile Safari/534.8+)

Not sure

But if on the same flight you can still call up AS and request better seating for the companion if on a seperate PNR.