I am looking to fly some staff to Europe from Taiwan and use some of the hundred of thousands of miles I have to upgrade them to business class. On line at CX website it says economy fare is 32000 NT$ but travel agent is saying we have to buy a fare at 59000 to upgrade them. I never fly economy class so have no idea about fare rules but I wonder from those of you that do can you offer me some advise on whether to find another travel agent or if I can book online and upgrade them later.

Thanks in advance.

Only booking classes of Y,B,H,K are upgradeable to business class by Asiamiles.
Probably, 32000 NTD is lower class (e.g, M,L, or V) fare.
You can check booking class at cx online booking site just before paying.

I checked CX's website about this (dummy booking from TPE to LHR, March 2012) and you have to book at least a K fare class (Economy Core) to be able to upgrade to Business Class using miles. You also get Asia Miles from this fare class.

Note: the K fare class is not the TWD 59,000 ticket that your travel agent said you needed for upgrade, this is the cheaper TWD 42,000 ticket (according to CX booking website). Also, I don't think you can change fare class later, unless you cancel your ticket and buy a different fare class ticket.

EDIT: There also appears to be a H fare class (Economy Flex) at the cost of TWD 46,000, cheaper than the B fare class (Economy Standard) at TWD 59,000.

All costs shown exclude airport taxes, fees, fuel and insurance surcharges. If your travel agent was talking about fares including taxes, then it could be the K class fare he/she was talking about (about TWD 57,000, close enough to 59,000).@:-)

Exact costs before taxes, etc.:
Economy Special (V): 31,746
Economy Save (L): 33,846
Economy Core (K): 42,246
Economy Standard (B): 58,827
Economy Flex (H): 45,397

you are right in this respect. anyway, is ticket flexibility needed? if you change your flights and the new flight DOES NOT HAVE upgrade availability in business class then you're stuck.
In that respect, I sub-class is ~120000TWD inclusive of tax, as you may know.

You need to buy Y, B, H, or K fares for mileage UGs as others said. However, you would need to add the staff to your redemption nominee list. You can only add 5 for free, and afterwards you need to pay in order to edit the list.

The price actually varies depending on departure time, and fares during the Chinese New Year as well as July are higher than other times (for K CLS). 59000TWD is therefore possible when tax is included.

Hi everyone and thanks, the dates are as below. We can be flexible a few days either way.

01 TAIPEI TAOYUAN, TPE - HONG 15JUN FRI 2010 2150 CX531 I CONFIRMED CATHAY PACIFIC
KONG INTL AIRWAYS
02 HONG KONG INTL - AMSTERDAM 16JUN SAT 0015 0635 CX271 I CONFIRMED CATHAY PACIFIC
SCHIPHOL AIRWAYS
03 AMSTERDAM SCHIPHOL - HONG 30JUN SAT 1400 0705+1 CX270 I CONFIRMED CATHAY PACIFIC
KONG INTL AIRWAYS
04 HONG KONG INTL - TAIPEI 01JUL SUN 0835 1015 CX474 I
CONFIRMED CATHAY PACIFIC
TAOYUAN, TPE


Thanks again for everyones help

The fare right now for K CLS is 53234TWD (tax incl.) on this trip per quote from Abacus (which means that travel agents will probably charge a bit more). There are currently no award seats available for either direction, though upgrade availability sometimes is different. The only way you can find out the actual award availability is to call MPO.

BEING OLD, I NEED LARGE FONTS...CAN ANYONE TELL ME HOW TO BUY A TICKET ...LAX/HKT FOR 10/31/12 TO 11/30/12 AND ADD THE "h" FARE TO GET THE aa MILES?
THANKS,
VINCE

Go to CX's US website and fill out the itinerary while keeping the "Flexible with travel dates" option. Then, proceed on to "Fare Details" and select "Economy Standard."