Upgrade with Asiamiles
 

Hi guys, just wondering if CX offers a "book and upgrade using Asiamiles" similar to BA's upgrade using Avios ?

I was checking the asiamile website and saw this:

https://www.asiamiles.com/en/terms-a...de-awards.html

And I am looking to upgrade from PE to J. When I check fares from LHR to HKG, it is about £1800 return but the booking class is E. When I choose the £2111 option, it is done in booking class R. However, I don't see an option to "upgrade to the next cabin using Asiamiles" ? Neither do I see a search feature similar to BA's website "book with cash and upgrade using avios" ?

Is there one ? And I assume based on the website, booking class E is a definite non upgradeable fare ?

Yes, Class E is definitely non-upgradeable.

Essentially, you need to book your ticket first, then you can upgrade the travel class using Asia Miles on asiamiles.com, subject to available award space in the next travel class (in your case, Business Class). So be careful before booking, and see that there are award seats in Business Class available for that flight.

Thanks for the reply. Any ideas how I can go about checking award seats availability? The only way I can check is via redemption search which basically only uses Asiamiles to book the ticket ? And almost all the dates are on "waiting list" ?

yeah, that's about right unfortunately.

So basically, if a fare is available for redemption just solely using asiamiles, it should be available for "upgrade using asiamiles"?

I've found the upgrades cumbersome, and not something you can easily do online.

I just tried one a few weeks ago. You've got to hold a reservation (either online or through the phone center), then call Marco Polo to check on upgrade. If available, you then ask them to hold the upgrade. Then go an book the ticket. Then call back to book the upgrade.

If the upgrade is NOT available, then you you cancel the HOLD on the ticket, and start over with a different flight.

Yeah, it's that bad.

Alternatively, you can check the reward seat availabilities online for your flights, and book your tickets afterwards. Then you request for an upgrade online, which should be mostly instant. I say mostly instant because it'll take them a bit of time to reissue the tickets in the new travel class (which was 20 minutes in my experience).

FWIW I talked with MPC about this when I did an upgrade a few weeks ago. They made it very clear that that there were separate buckets for full redemption and upgrades. While it is certainly possible -- maybe even likely -- that both buckets would have availability on a fairly open flight, they caution that it is not always the case. There could be full redemption seats available, but no upgrade. And vice versa.

The website only shows full redemption availability, not upgrade. Because of their warning, I followed what I described above. I did try to use full redemption availability as an indicator, and it worked. I hate calling in... it's generally a long wait and a colossal time sucker compared to online transactions. But for me, I wouldn't book any ticket where I intended to upgrade without confirming with MPC.

Of course, you need an "R" ticket to upgrade, and that is refundable with a $100 penalty, so it's not a huge risk.

I'm actually surprised to hear that, because as far as I know, and by experience, both full on redemptions and upgrades goes into U for Business Class, and Z for First Class.

In spite of that, I suppose by virtue it's always safer to take the agents advice, and do what you suggest :)

I think they are the same ticket class, but what the agent told me was that the availability comes from different buckets. Anyway, I also think there are plenty of examples here where you can get conflicting advice from different MPC agents. I don't know which is more accurate; I'm just reporting what I was told.

Anyway... I found the whole thing to be a real PITA. That was the first time I did an upgrade. I thought it was actually a good value. But the hoops I had to jump through to book it sucked. And then my plans changed... AND IT WAS AWFUL to unwind it. If I wanted to change, I had to do the same process of HOLDING a flight, checking with MPC on award availability (and holding the upgrade), then go back and book the ticket, and then go back to book the upgrade.

But it turned out that I just needed to cancel. For that, I had to first go to MPC to cancel the upgrade (and pay the fee). Then I had to call ticketing to cancel the flight. After enough grumbling the MPC agent said he'd handle it all. That was 10 days ago. The miles were refunded after 3-4 days. The taxes on the upgrade just got refunded. The ticket has not yet been refunded.

One final note: I think part of the hassle was I was trying to book very close to departure... like T minus 3 days. The website won't let you HOLD tickets when it's in that close. I think it would've been easier if I could have just HELD a few different reservations and then called MPC.

That sounds so confusing!

This is what I always do, unless only M class or above is available.