How to upgrade to business and receive miles?
Aug 28, 2014, 6:17 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2013
Programs: UA Platinum
Posts: 3
How to upgrade to business and receive miles?
I am trying to find a way to fly from SEA to LHR to visit my son. I would like to fly business class and receive some miles so I can maintain Alaska Gold MVP.
When I tried to redeem through Alaska's award system I couldn't pay and use miles to upgrade. I have a significant amount of AMEX points and was wondering if there might be a way to use those to upgrade a ticket if I buy one and receive mileage credit in my Alaska account? I understand I would get miles on the original fare.
When I tried to redeem through Alaska's award system I couldn't pay and use miles to upgrade. I have a significant amount of AMEX points and was wondering if there might be a way to use those to upgrade a ticket if I buy one and receive mileage credit in my Alaska account? I understand I would get miles on the original fare.
Aug 28, 2014, 8:40 am
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,386
Alaska Airlines does not fly to London. You should ask questions regarding upgrades in the forum of the airline that you choose to fly to London, as these policies will depend on the airline you fly, not having anything to do with Alaska Airlines.
British Airways is an AMEX Membership Rewards transfer partner. The BA forum has a guide to using Avios for upgrades:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...l#post22138044
There are of course other airlines that are Alaska partners that would serve London (American, Delta, KLM, Air France). I am not familiar with policies on those airlines; perhaps there is information in other FT forums that would be helpful?
British Airways is an AMEX Membership Rewards transfer partner. The BA forum has a guide to using Avios for upgrades:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...l#post22138044
There are of course other airlines that are Alaska partners that would serve London (American, Delta, KLM, Air France). I am not familiar with policies on those airlines; perhaps there is information in other FT forums that would be helpful?
Last edited by eponymous_coward; Aug 28, 2014 at 8:48 am
Sep 23, 2014, 12:03 pm
#3
Join Date: Feb 2014
Posts: 314
I am trying to find a way to fly from SEA to LHR to visit my son. I would like to fly business class and receive some miles so I can maintain Alaska Gold MVP.
When I tried to redeem through Alaska's award system I couldn't pay and use miles to upgrade. I have a significant amount of AMEX points and was wondering if there might be a way to use those to upgrade a ticket if I buy one and receive mileage credit in my Alaska account? I understand I would get miles on the original fare.
When I tried to redeem through Alaska's award system I couldn't pay and use miles to upgrade. I have a significant amount of AMEX points and was wondering if there might be a way to use those to upgrade a ticket if I buy one and receive mileage credit in my Alaska account? I understand I would get miles on the original fare.
Book a premium economy ticket on BA. Give alaska Mileage plan number for this flight to credit the miles.
Transfer 10,000 of your Amex points to BA avios.
Upgrade the premium economy seat to business.
I was doing this everytime i needed to fly on BA.
Check the upgrade availability prior to booking the premium economy tickets.
Sep 23, 2014, 1:42 pm
#4
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Helvetia
Programs: AS; BA Silver; UA; HH Gold; Sprüngli Connaisseur
Posts: 2,912
Availability tends to be low on SEA-LHR with BA and upgrades from Premium Economy to Business. YVR-LHR may have better availability. Also, the days with two flights might have more upgrade availability.
Sep 23, 2014, 3:48 pm
#5
Join Date: Feb 2014
Posts: 314
Actually on this note, i recommend flying via Vegas. Due to some reason it has always been much cheaper on BA.
Sep 24, 2014, 8:21 am
#6
Join Date: Aug 2012
Programs: BA Executive Club, AS Airlines Mileage Plan
Posts: 981
I thought the upgrade from Premium Economy to Club World is 25K Avios, not 10K.
Also, make sure the original (paid) ticket in PE is an upgradable one. I used to accomplish this by using the "book with cash and upgrade with Avios" feature on BA.com at the outset. The one time I tried to upgrade later, it turned out we had booked the wrong fare class and it was not possible.
Also, make sure the original (paid) ticket in PE is an upgradable one. I used to accomplish this by using the "book with cash and upgrade with Avios" feature on BA.com at the outset. The one time I tried to upgrade later, it turned out we had booked the wrong fare class and it was not possible.
Sep 24, 2014, 11:35 am
#7
Join Date: Feb 2014
Posts: 314
I thought the upgrade from Premium Economy to Club World is 25K Avios, not 10K.
Also, make sure the original (paid) ticket in PE is an upgradable one. I used to accomplish this by using the "book with cash and upgrade with Avios" feature on BA.com at the outset. The one time I tried to upgrade later, it turned out we had booked the wrong fare class and it was not possible.
Also, make sure the original (paid) ticket in PE is an upgradable one. I used to accomplish this by using the "book with cash and upgrade with Avios" feature on BA.com at the outset. The one time I tried to upgrade later, it turned out we had booked the wrong fare class and it was not possible.
It depends on the distance but i think the calculation is something like half the miles required to book an economy ticket to upgrade one class. Which makes it 12.5 k for their longest flights.
Sep 24, 2014, 11:29 pm
#8
Join Date: Aug 2012
Programs: BA Executive Club, AS Airlines Mileage Plan
Posts: 981
OK, I was talking RT. From US west coast to LHR, the upgrade from PE to J is 12.5 K Avios each way, or 25 K total. I assume anyone talking about flying business class to London is thinking of flying both ways.
Sep 25, 2014, 10:25 am
#9
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Helvetia
Programs: AS; BA Silver; UA; HH Gold; Sprüngli Connaisseur
Posts: 2,912
OTOH, these routes also can get fairly overbooked, and that can also work out well.
Sep 25, 2014, 10:57 pm
#10
Join Date: Feb 2014
Posts: 314
Not really, with the BA fuel surcharges , the availability in club is pretty awesome all the time. And booking this PE and upgrading to club is a well documented method of using avios to extract the most value.
Sep 25, 2014, 11:38 pm
#11
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Helvetia
Programs: AS; BA Silver; UA; HH Gold; Sprüngli Connaisseur
Posts: 2,912