Upgrading using other FFP miles
 

Hi I've booked a (B) fare from HKG-EWR-HKG.

I want to upgrade to BusinessFirst and I can't get a mileage upgrade using my United MP miles. United says there are no upgrades available now.

Continental says that there are upgrade seats available on my dates using OnePass miles.

I don't have any onepass miles, and I now need 60k, can I transfer into onepass from any of the following:

Marriott - Around 15K
Starwood - Around 10k
United - Around 250k
Asiamiles - Around 80k
CC Points - around 60k equiv (can transfer into Asiamiles/Krisflyer/Royal Orchid/Worldperks)

Any suggestions?

Doesn't sound hopeful. I think the CHEAPEST way to do this via transfer is to find someone who's willing to lend you the OnePass miles, then have them transfer 60K to your OP account. This will cost 1.5 cents/mile, which is $900 for 60K. Then, of course, they'll want the miles back, which will cost another $900. Plus you'd have to accrue enough OnePass miles to do this. It doesn't sound like you plan to accrue in OnePass, so it will be hard to find a lender.

I think on FT there are some threads to help one another out. By this I mean, you find someone that needs 60K Mileage Plus miles (that you apparently have) and has 60K OP miles to give. Then your ticket gets upgraded directly from that person's account, and they get their upgrade or award ticket (or whatever) from yours. No transfer fees. I've never done this, and don't know if any of it violates the TOS of the FF programs or FT, etc., so you might want to proceed with caution. It's the only way I can think of though to do what you want without paying a fortune in fees.

Thanks
 

Thanks for your reply!

The charges for transferring are really high.

Does it make more sense to do some shopping through continental.com and sell the items on ebay at a discount to get the miles?

Alternatively 30 Netflix Memberships x 2000 Miles, Can I buy these for other people and then cancel them?

Unfortunately the "R" upgrade bucket on CO changes pretty fast. The ideas you have for getting miles sound like a ton of work and, even then, don't result in miles in your account immediately. It could take a several weeks for the miles to post.

Hi Chynacom...I replied in your other thread.

I see you are trying to achieve a Star Alliance Upgrade AWard on CO with UA miles.
If the first agent does not see the award availability, call back and ask for a supervisor.
There is no wait-listing permitted for these Star Alliance Upgrades. So basically you have to keep calling UA every day. (if you have already committed to the B-fare on CO).

As pointed out on this thread, the award availability changes very dynamically and your route HKG-EWR is a very tough one to get an upgrade even for CO elites.

Thanks Snod, but does anyone know how to use my mileage buffet to get to onepass miles?

Dont know the best answer.
However, points.com allows one to transfer miles between various programs (not sure about the programs you have). It is usually not a great deal because you lose quite a bit of the value of the points you have in the first place.

No need to transfer the miles to the other person's account. I could just issue an upgrade from my account to your ticket without the crazy transfer fee.

YN Upgrade
 

[deleted] accidental post

I covered this in a later posting.