Possible to upgrade one leg (return) of KE paid J flight to F using AS miles?
 

I flew from SFO to ICN a week ago in KE J and will be returning to SFO in another week. Ticket was paid J RT, credited to my AS mileage account. KE website shows that there are open F seats on the return that are eligible for mileage upgrades (presumably using KE miles).

Does anyone know if it's possible to use AS miles to upgrade from J to F on one leg of a paid J ticket?

And if so, do you know the mileage cost to do so for ICN-SFO (and whether I'd effectively be paying double, like for KE award tickets where you pay the RT miles price even for one-ways)?

Afraid not. AS miles can only upgrade AS paid tickets or AS/partner awards, and AS doesn't have access to KE F on award tickets, only J.

Deleted for inaccuracy!

James

Well that just blows my theory out of the water. I forgot that fine detail.... ;)

James

Thanks, figured. So, given that I have no Skypass miles, the only possibility would probably be transferring (120k) Bonvoy points to (40k) Skypass and using those to upgrade J-->F. Though I imagine that would probably require untagging my AS MP account from the ticket and associating it with my (empty) Skypass account -- if that's even possible after having flown one leg of the flight. Unlikely to be worth it, I guess. The J suites in KE are quite good as far as J goes already.

Don't forget you are flying on an AS ticket number. I am not sure KE can make changes to the ticket as they didn't issue it.

James

No, KE did issue it. I bought the ticket directly from KE's website. I just provided my AS number as the account to which I wanted the miles credited. Maybe that amounts to the same thing, but just to be clear.

I don't think it's the best use of 120k Bonvoy points anyway.

I didn't even realize KE had F. Do you mean they have a four class long-haul product with Econ, Prem. Econ, Business, First?

Three class; Economy, Business (Prestige) & First. They have been phasing out F on all but TPAC. On my Auckland flight for example F it was the same seat as business but 2 row mini cabin with dedicated FA and upgraded meals.

Sorry, I thought you were on a AS award ticket. I would agree that 120K Bonvoy could be better utilized. :)

James

SFO-ICN in F is only 80k KE, with very good availability. That's a pretty good use of195k Bonvoy IMO.

It would be 105k Bonvoy to get 40k Korean miles. 60k (25k) + 45k (15k). What does Bonvoy give for it? 1 night in a Cat 13 hotel? I might consider it.