Upgrade or straight redemption?
 

Hello everybody, sorry for this question but I'm still not sure what best to do. I have around 160K miles and would like to redeem a flight to London during July to August for me and my wife. From straight redemption, only availability is J class but the dates suit me fine (17th July - 22nd August). Would my miles be of better value if I redeem 1 business class flight and purchase 1 ticket (either in PE or Y), or purchase 2 tickets and upgrade them with miles? I usually just redeem directly, so am not familiar with mileage upgrades. Would my chances be high or would I still be waitlisted? (I am only MPC green) I don't mind sitting in a lower class myself, but would like to treat my wife instead. Thanks a lot for your patience! :)

It's nice to treat your other half in this way..., so check this out:

1/ Companion Ticket:
Revenue J Tkt (I): HK$46,808 (taxes included)
Companion Tkt Redemption Asia Miles required: AM75,000 + Taxes

2/ Y+ Ticket x2 & Up-grade redemption: (updated)
Revenue Y+ Tkt (W): HK$34,698 x2 = HK$69,369 (taxes included)
Up-grade Y+ to J Redemption Asia Miles required: 30,000 x2 = AM60,000
(Taxes will be increased due to premium class to LHR :td:)

3/ J Ticket Redemption & Y+ Ticket Up-grade:
Revenue Y+ Tkt (W): HK$34,698 (taxes included)
Up-grade Y+ to J Redemption Asia Miles required: AM30,000
(Taxes will be increased due to premium class to LHR :td:)
J Ticket Redemption Asia Miles required: AM120,000 + Taxes

Option 3 seems the best. Good luck!

Thanks flyertalk. Just like to ask another question, if I take option 3, will I get to know whether I have been upgraded succesfully instantly, or would it be waitlisted for the time being?

Being Green, CX will likely make you sweat it out till T-24

issue ticket in TPE you can get D fares for 33k HKD. "I" fare could be 29k zone during pre-summer sale. Then issue companion 75k Asiamiles. Use 10k Asiamiles for positioning flight to TPE.

with 160k asiamiles you can go to LHR twice like that.

Thanks ... great assistance from you guys!

The original advice in Post 2 is no longer correct as from the start of this year you now need to book a W or R fare in Premium Economy to upgrade to business. E fares are still about but are not eleigible.

Sorry guys ... another question as to what you would do ... wife would like me to be able to share the good flying experience together ... so which one is of better value? My options now are straight one-way J redemption from LHR - HKG in August or round trip HKG - HND in First class next December ...

Taxes/surcharge ex- LHR are $3553, HND $807.

I prefer the LHR-HKG one (Never done long-haul business class) , but have done business/First on the HKG-HND/NRT routes a few times before.

I just don't know if I'm 'wasting' my miles on a one -way leg though.

(One-way fares to LHR aren't too bad .. $5K on SQ)

+1 to this, i always think companion awards are of best value if you're after 2 seats

as to LHR vs TYO - can you go elsewhere in europe? LHR has crazy tax and if you're going to other places in europe as well it might cost less. but YMMV.
I might suggest TYO, just because I dont want to go to London (studied there). and its the same business class seat most of the time.

Thanks Kaka ... no London is only choice for Europe .. long complicated story ... will take your advice

Also .. personally ... I don't like CDG or FRA ... terrible experience there even though I speak the languages fluently ...

Sorry .. need to ask another question, is the companion award 'guaranteed'? .. or is it a waiting list process again?

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Waitlist. But its supposedly to hv the highest priority among the diff awards for the same subclass

Option 1 is better IMHO as you spend 75,000 fewer miles while only spending HKD 12,000 or so more. The miles are more than enough to generate another companion ticket. Also, the miles you collect are a bit more.

An even bigger advantage is that you need only have to wait for one J seat to clear and not two in the case of Option 3. Plus waiting for companion award is supposedly the easiest.

yea, the above comments are on the right track to making the analysis correct.

i don't have the time right now to do the math but to the OP I don't think the analysis done so far up the thread is completely correct, apologies. to make the analysis a bit more more thorough you probably need to calculate how much you're "selling" your miles to CX for, as well as how many net miles you're burning/accumulating (because you'll earn miles in varying amounts with each of the different) and then compare that to both a.) the cash component and b.)what price you can "purchase" miles for. because ultimately you're going to have two "Costs": cash and miles. So you need some way to identify what is a good "price" you're paying for the net burn or earn in miles.