brianho4489

I got a few questions regarding upgrade. If I have an economy class ticket, am I allowed to pay extra to upgrade to Premium Economy? If I could do so, how will my itinerary be repriced? Like, for instance, if at the date I booked my ticket, the price difference between the two classes are $1000, that will be the price I have to pay to upgrade to the next class? Or it is calculated in other way? Thank you!

G-CIVC

It will be the fare difference between the published fare (which is normally steep)

brianho4489

Thank you! So no matter I decide to upgrade to the next class days or weeks after I made my booking, the price of upgrade would still be same right?

1010101

CX haven't quite 'got' the concept of upgrades yet. If you want to do it its basically the same as cancelling the existing flights and booking new ones from scratch.

QRC3288

my suspicion is these queries stem from the practice in the US (and perhaps elsewhere) where you can "buy up" at check-in, for super discounted rates. I've seen it available to buy-up cash to J and F, but I think this is especially prevalent for the "economy plus" concepts in the US, where the "premium" Y seats aren't actually any different at all, they just have a little more legroom. It's really not PEY as BA / CX / SQ etc who actually have different, wider seats installed. So those US "Y+" seats are often sold for like $25 or $50 or something to non-status pax, the same way CX sells better seats in the regular economy cabin for non-elite pax.

In general the gist I get from friends in the US these days is it's still quite possible to pay a discounted cash rate to upgrade fares at the airport. It's not the fare difference that's for sure, the calculation is something else and it feels like the airlines are just saying "let's try to grab incremental revenue for this seat" or something like that. It's not like there's any sanctity in the elite cabins in US domestic flying anyway. I don't know how it's actually processed on an accounting / fare basis.

1010101

I only know how they do it from the other airlines i frequently fly, and from the bastion of extracting profits BA/IAG. So not the US3.

On BA, you can always easily upgrade to the next available cabin from the moment you book, be it Y+, J or F. If the flight is looking empty or its a low premium demand route, they will start to entice you with offers the closer you get to departure date. CX make it very difficult to upgrade, others do their best to make it easy to the point of being a no brainer.

kaka

they tried this last year under the name enhancement. it didnt go that well lol

Daffie

No, not necessary.

For example, you may have purchased M class right now, and your $1000 price difference you see right now could get you up to an 'E' fare.

But if that flight sells well, and there's no more 'E', you will have to move up to W or R.
Which at that point, might be a $2000+ difference from your original fare.

If you have intention to be in a higher cabin, I would pay now sooner than later. The price difference will only increase.

bagold

oh yes... whatever happened to that scheme? Quietly went away?

Cathay Boy

It is really a scam to get to you pay the full-price difference between classes of upgrade ahead of time. As many people have complain, most bids are not successful and yet when they board they plane they either see empty seats, or get upgraded for free anyway!

Chalked up another one of those CX initiatives that they have no idea how to run, ran it, and embarrassed themselves with it.

Cathay Boy

First, you may NOT be allow to upgrade if any segment of your flight is considered non-upgrade-able (usually deeper discount fares). So for example, if you flew JFK-HKG S class fare, doesn't matter if you're flying HKG-PVG K class fare. You won't be able to pay the differences between K class to I class and move up. It won't let you.

Second, assuming your ticket is all upgrade-able, you are at the mercy of available fares. Like others have said, if you change your mind, but E fare is no longer available, but only R fare, you need to now pay a much steeper price to move up a cabin.

If you really want to do "American-esque" upgrades (paying cash for a last minute cheap upgrade), I may suggest you fly CA or MH from now on. Slip them some cash onboard and all of a sudden you move yourself from Y seat to J seat. (Last time I did this the going rate is 600 RMB, not sure about current "market price").

Iamhappy

Was that a SH or LH flight? 600 RMB seems a bargain if LH.

Cathay Boy

SH

gpia

A real life example: Called in last week to have my PE seat (E class, non-upgradeable w/ miles) upgraded w/ cash - FRA phone agent apologized 3 times before telling me I'd have to pay 3.100 € to do so.

alphaod

If before the flight you need to pay the fare difference to the next ticket class, so that's the best time to do it since there may be cheaper fares available.

At the airport it's usually full fare only, so that can get really expensive.