precision80

Fist post and did a search so if i missed this already im sorry.this forum is increadible btw.

Im going to sju from jfk feb 5th to 13or 14th. I have not bought any tickets yet. I have about 10k aa miles and about 70 amex points. Besides paying for a full price 1st class ticket, what the best way for me to fly first class (or is it biz class)? how many miles is it for an upgrade to pr? do i need a special fare. any help is much appreciated. thank you

24.05.2004

Best bet is aa.com! Please click on the link below:


Upgrades

And welcome to FT!

precision80

thanks so much. are there any fares that i need to watch out for that CANNOT be upgraded? I thin i read about y fare or something like that somewhere else on the board.

mwhitted

What is your AAdvantage "status"? If you a Gold or above ("elite") then just about any fare is OK. Otherwise, you can only upgrade on Y or B fares.

JonNYC

That's true for "sticker" upgrades but not for mileage upgrades.

precision80

i am just regular status. how do i get a sticker upgrade, is that from the status of your aa account?

JonNYC

No sticker upgrade for you on discount fare-- you must use miles.

martin33

you must use miles, and there must be C-class inventory available for each seat you want. You are allowed to wait-list if not available at the time of the request,

JDiver

There's another, albeit more expensive, way. Search for flights on aa.com using the First CLass, sort by Fare, and look at the lowest fares - often, you can book a YUP fare (it may look more like "Y21CUP" or someting like that,) which is a Coach class fare, cheaper than walk-up coach by a fair piece, which books into First. You can read more about YUP fares searching this forum.

Otherwise, you are stuck with upgrading with miles, which it seems you may not have for the return trip (I believe an upgrade from a full Y fare is 7,500 miles one way, 15,000 miles from a discounted coach fare one way,) or 500 mile upgrades - which will only work on a full Y fare, ouch! unless you have Elite status.

If you decide to do the YUP fare, seerch for Challenge and sign up - a YUP fare gets you 1.5 Elite-Qualifying Points per Elite-Qualifying Mile flown, and you will make Gold through March 1 2006 on just this trip, as long as we're talking round trip of course.

Because the return trip JFK - SJU is 3,914, earning you 5,871 points at 1.5. (WRONG - it's actually 3,206 miles, booking just over 4,800 points in D/YUP. Whoops, but then it's easy to do a cheap quick fare and get Gold...)

Search, read more. And, welcome.

precision80

wow, you guys are the best. thanks. ^

BenjaminNYC

Round trip JFK-SJU in YUP (seating in C class) will run about $800. Not a bad deal, IMHO.

precision80

where did you find that? I have been looking all day long, aa.com, expedia.com all over this board and i am so confused.

Here is what i found
aa.com-they have 3 fares available for this trip, q,d and
QWEBCD-aprox 230 rt/pp
D07JFK -aprox 634 rt/pp first class?
J26-1100 pp/rt-no clue what this one is.
so, getting back to the original question, what is the best/cheapest way for me to fly 1st class on this trip? Thanks again

precision80

jdiver? any help?

RChavez

I'm actually not even seeing a YUP fare in Sabre for the dates the OP mentioned. The only cheap fare for up front is the one previously mentioned, a D07JFK fare for $299 each way. This fare is non-refundable and requires a 7-day advance and purchase within one day of making the reservation.

This is probably the most economical way to get to SJU in the front cabin, and the most stress free since you book directly into D class. D also looks fairly wide open on the 5th, 13th, and the 14th.

I'd recommend trying to get on a flight that is operated by the 763 instead of the AB6. The AB6's are very old, and the 763s have long-haul style seats instead of the traditional domestic style seats.

Currently AA1635 JFK-SJU at 930A is showing as a 763, and on the return, AA1732 SJU-JFK at 331P is showing as a 763 as well. Though, of course, equipment changes are possible, if not likely.

precision80

thanks for the clarification, i knew i wasnt crazy. Do you know if i can upgrade the d fare using miles or voucher?