Hello - I have read all the posts, but haven't found any info around upgrading on CX using Asia Miles. If someone could help with a few questions it would be appreciated.

1) I know upgrades are only available on Y,B,H, and K fares. I haven't been able to find a way to compare by fare types on the CX website. It just has options for full fare economy and discounted economy. Is there anywhere to get these fare types or do you need to book through a CX agent?

2) When upgrading using Asia Miles is it a confirmed upgrade? On their site you need to book first then request an upgrade. What do you do if your flight selection is dependent on being able to upgrade?

3) Which inventory buckets on KVS is the # of seats eligible for being upgraded?

Any assistance would be appreciated. Thanks

1. Click on "Discounted Economy" and then continue, you will then be able to see the booking class. If that's not what you want, call CX or your TA.

2. Yes. However you need a reservation under YBHK first before you can book an upgrade using your miles.

3. Booking class is U but you cannot see them on KVS or ExpertFlyer. Only MPO agents can see them.

kchika - thanks for the insight.

One last question, when you go through the upgrade request process on the CX site and you pick your flight that you are requesting an upgrade for......do you think it is looking at "U" inventory and if it allows you to select a flight to upgrade, you actually will get the upgrade?

In fact, if you book upgrade on the web, you can still get it before getting the YBHK ticket first. However, you still need to ticket to confirm the upgrade before the deadline - and do not wait until the last moment to do so.

The flight availabiltiy on Asia Miles web page may not always be accurate, but if you can get through to the end and get the confirmation response of your booking, then you should be in good shape. Again, remember to ticket your underlying ticket (if not already done) to reconfirm before the deadline.

So as I understand, in order to use the web to get an upgrade (or even calling MPO or Asiamiles), you must first and always be holding a non-waitlisted, but not necessarily ticketed reservation.

Here is how I did last time (Feb 2008):
* Booked on CX redemption web site. Flights were available so I did not call MPC. I got a confirmation with a ticketing deadline.
* Called my TA to book and issue a ticket on booking class K.
* I called MPC to ticket the upgrade, but the MPC agent told me the upgrade had already been processed. So I suppose it was automatically done when the underlying ticket was issued.

On a side note, when I called MPC earlier, they asked me to ticket first before they could book the upgrade. I suppose if I could not book on the web, I do need to purchase a ticket first.

U is a generic booking class for business awards, including full redemptions, upgrades and companion awards. They have different queues and availabilities, and I was told that CX has different internal booking codes to distinguish some of the award types.

That's good to know, since I see some upgrade possibilities for myself then on a trip to HKG in June. The follow-up question I then have is, what if I go through the web-process and get a ticketing deadline and then I don't make the deadline because my plans change? Will miles get re-deposited or are they only deducted once ticketed?

Miles are deducted at ticketing.

I never try redepositing miles and do not know if that can be done. There were some threads that talk about this subject.

I know I can change a full redemption ticket as long as I keep the flight sequence and complete the travel within the ticket validity time limit. I am unsure about upgrades as they also involve the underlying tickets.

i have a quick question.

I am planning to do a LAX-HKG roundtrip upgrade
what if one get both ways confirmed, but the return trip turnout (an open ticket) rescheduled and the U inventory is not available on the new date, what will the agents do?

p.s. Actually both inbound and outbound (in August!) U inventory happened to be sold out in my case. If I manage to do an instant upgrade for inbound, and then instant upgrade on outbound travel, how will mileage be deducted? 40000x2 or 70000?

This happened to me. It will count as 2 separate 1-way upgrades. So 40,000 x 2. It's unfortunate, but that's how it is.

I also don't think it's a fair policy - because very often it's not that people don't want to do a roundtrip upgrade, but more often it's because CX is holding up the seats and just releasing them in the last minute (often after the outbound flight happens if your trip is more than a few days long), even if the return flight isn't really that full. It's much better for us DM's, but I have seen many of my friends/family members who're GO/SL "wasting" a lot of miles this way although they do want roundtrip roundtrips all the time to start with...but almost always got confirmed 2 x one-ways instead.

Instant upgrades are processed at the airport. It has a different paper based procedure and is one way only. There is no way to do a return instant upgrade. The return mileage is only applicable if you can confirm return upgrades before mileage deduction.

I completely agree. It was especially harsh in my case because I was traveling with my son and used my miles to upgrade him, as well. This was JFK-HKG on the old requirements (so 40K one way). I had been waitlisted for ages for RT upgrade, but 2 days before my outbound, that one cleared and I remained waitlisted for the return. So an extra 10K miles spent for myself, and another 10K miles spent for my son. It was still a pretty good experience, don't get me wrong, but I miss those 20,000 miles!