Upgrades on BF
 

What exactly is CO's EUA policy regarding BF flights? e.g. if I'm on flight booked in a regular/discount economy class (NOT Y/B/M) and I'm OP Gold, and there's space available in BF, do I have a shot at being upgraded?

Please read the FAQ:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/conti...ml#post6719459

There is no EUA on BF flights. In order to upgrade you need to pony up some miles and a fee depending on destination and fare class.

So, your shots of being upgraded are zero unless you pay for it.

Here are the guidelines, but to know from experience your chances, it helps to know where you are departing from and going to and what days.

If you are coming out of IAH, CLE, or EWR on a Monday, I would think the chances of you getting a BF bump aren't very good, but it's hard to make any assumption without knowing the day and where you are coming and going to.

Priority for First Class/Business Class Elite upgrades is determined by:

Full Fare Economy Y Allows all Elite members to upgrade at the time of ticketing when a seat is available on eligible flights operated by Continental and Continental Micronesia

Discount Full Fare Economy B and Platinum Elite Members in M Allows all Elite members to upgrade at the time of ticketing, subject to capacity controls, on eligible flights operated by Continental and Continental Micronesia

Elite level: Members are prioritized according to their Elite level — Platinum, Gold and then Silver.

Restricted fare class: Upgrade priority within Elite level will be based on fare class purchased. The fare class structure in priority order is as follows: M, H, K, Q, U, V, G, W, E, S, T, N and L.

Booking date/time: All else being equal, the sooner Elite members book their flight, the better their upgrade chances.

Check in time: If your upgrade is processed from the standby upgrade list at the airport, check in time will be used in place of booking date/time.

Upgrades are processed nightly and confirmed in priority order using the following schedule:

Full Fare Economy Y, Discount Full Fare Economy B and Platinum Elite Members in M: — Beginning 5 calendar days before departure if an upgrade was not confirmed any time after ticketing

Platinum Elite members on non-Y fare classes — Beginning 5 calendar days before departure

Gold Elite members on non-Y fare classes — Beginning 3 calendar days before departure

Silver Elite members on non-Y fare classes — Beginning 1 calendar day before departure

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Banksy you posted to policy for non-BF flights. For BF flights there are no EUAs. There may be OpUps but that is a different beast.

Those guidelines are not for BF op'ed flights.

What are OpUps?

A courtesy upgrade from Y to J when Y is oversold and there are open J seats - it is suppose to be given out by Elite status and fare class, but agents don't often follow those guidelines.

It's a complete crapshoot and you can fly 50 times without ever seeing an OP-UP, so don't count on it at all.

If you want to upgrade to BF, you will need to pay for it with miles or cash+miles - there are no other options.

No. Complimentary Upgrades to International Business Class are not part of the OnePass program..@:-)

You are confusing BF with Int'l Business Class - two separate policies for upgrades!:rolleyes:

Yes, they are.

The OP is asking about BusinessFirst, however.

Edited to Add: I'm too slow.

Is the cost a standard price (based on length of flight) or are there "discounts" based on elite status? (I know that it's cheaper if you're in Y as opposed to B, or B as opposed to M...)

The cost depends on the fare class paid - nothing to do with Elite status. Y/B fares upgrade for miles only, everything else has a copay that increases as you drop down the fare class scale.

Clearing the upgrade list does, however, depend to some degree on Elite status.

When do you need to put in your upgrade request by, and when do you find out if you cleared?
And if you didn't clear, all the miles/money is returned?

If your dates are flexible, call reservations and look for flights that have upgrade availability right now - otherwise you join the list after ticketing, and you pay your miles/cash at that time. If you don't clear, the miles/cash are returned. Our FAQ has all the information you need on how to manage the upgrade process.