Basic B Fare Question
 

Hi all,

I've got a question that's been answered many times for CO elites, but never (as far as I can find) for non-elites.

I just bought a B-fare on EWR-HKG for early June. Co.com let me reserve a seat in the front of the Y cabin, among the preferred seats, but the confirmation e-mail shows "--" instead of the seat number in the confirmation e-mail for that leg.

Does this mean that some sort of upgrade is being processed? I'm not elite on any *A carrier, but I do have lots of UA miles and was hoping to upgrade using those. Would upgrading through UA put me way in the back of the upgrade queue?

Your help here is much appreciated; this is my first time angling for an upgrade on CO.

There is no automatic/free upgrade for BusinessFirst flights, including EWR-HKG. You need to use 30,000 miles each way to get upgrade (no co-pay for B fare).

The seat number on the email confirmation means nothing. Just check on co.com what seat you have right now.

As noted above you need to use 30k miles each way to upgrade. As a non-elite you will likely be at the back of the line for upgrades. Also as many people have reported on this forum you will likely have to request to be placed on the upgrade waiting list and then actively check back to see if space has opened up. I would do a search for further advice.

However I would also try to confirm your seat in Y. Granted it could change at any time because the airlines love to do this, I would still want to know that I at least have a seat.

Thanks so much for the advice. I'll put in for a *A upgrade and confirm my Y seat.

Just a reminder -- there is no waitlisting for Star Alliance upgrade rewards. If there is no availability now, you'll have to keep checking back. Also, I believe the *A upgrades must be confirmed more than 24 hours prior to departure. Both of these issues will probably make it significantly more difficult to clear.

If you're traveling Tues-Thurs you'll probably have better luck than Fri-Sun, which are peak business travel days to/from Asia.

Thanks for the tip. I've called twice this week and have been told that there's no available space in the BusinessFirst cabin. There are certainly seats available, according to CO's website, so I assume this is a UA-imposed limit? The customer service people told me to call back a week before the flight to check again.

What's the best strategy here? Is it worth calling back every other day to check in? Do seats often open up?

The limit is that there are no reward seats, not that there are no seats. It isn't a UA limit.

As for strategy, you have to stalk it aggressively and hope that something opens up.

Yes, seats often open up. Unfortunately they sometimes only open up less than 24 hours before departure (particularly on busy flights), at which point it is too late to request a Star Alliance Upgrade award.

In a follow-up to the B-fare question. I was looking at some upcoming domestic travel I have, which was originally a B fare, but got upgraded at the time of reservation to a ZE.

Now, EQM is supposed to be based on the purchased fare, so I should get 150%, as I have many times in the past. However, I just noticed that CO shows 100% EQM for ZE segment. Is that just a bug?

Yes.

so if there are easypass BF seats available does that equal a confirmable upgrade on a B fare at purchase? Where can I find R inventory?

thanks!

Did you try clicking on Travel Tools in the signature of the previous post?

I do not know if it will give you the answer, but that is where I would begin my search.

NO.

B-Ups clear into a Z-ish bucket. It closely matches Z in many cases but not all. If you see Z0 it probably is not worth trying to get the upgrade.

On co.com by searching for upgradeable seats in the advanced search, but you don't need R for a B-Up to clear.
No CO R inventory there, sadly. :(

Thank you!