How to use systemwide upgrades while booking?
 

I have 4 systemwide upgrades (1 covered 110K miles last year). Now, I am booking a ticket form HNL-EWR-DEL and back. I am having difficulty in finding the appropriate checkbox to use these upgrades while buying the ticket.
Can someone help?

Thanks!

Buy first then upgrade. You have the 24 hour refund if needed to cancel out the purchase should something go awry.

You can remove some of the guesswork out of it by checking for reward availability in First, if there is Reward Availability, you can use your SWU without being waitlisted.

Book your ticket on flights that show reward F Availability, then log into the reservation and you should be able to upgrade using your SWU.

I recently used some of my SWUs, and erroneously thought that you could use them on any flight any time... (haha). Ended up having to change dates for my outbound flight to LHR because the flight I had originally booked and was waitlisted for ended up selling out of F seats before I was cleared on the waitlist.

You can also call the elite desk and they can book for you, and and upgrade you using your SWU...

You need upgrade award inventory (R), not award seat inventory (I/O), to be available for the SWU to work.

That caveat SEVERELY limits the usefulness of SWUs.:mad:

A SWU ought to be usable if ANY F seats are available for sale.@:-)

They are an upgrade award, just like miles + cash. Always have been. There's no way the company is going to give away last seat inventory up front on a voucher like that. It simply is not smart business.

That said, they can be wait-listed just like any other upgrade award and as a platinum you'll be towards the top of the wait list so you do run a pretty solid chance of getting that seat in the end.

SWUs
 

Thanks to you all. I am still not as "smart" as you all in figuring out how to use the SWUs. I am not seeing a way to include those. It brought me up the final screen and asked to select the method of payment. Do I enter the SWUs after this screen or there is something I am missing!

You are not missing something in your purchasing process. You are missing the concept of how SWU is being applied. See response of sbm12 above. ;)

Complete the purchase on that screen. Wait until it is ticketed (could be seconds, could be hours, but most likely seconds). Once ticketed - you'll have a second email from CO and the reservation status will change from reserved to ticketed - go in to view the reservation and choose the option to upgrade it. In there you'll be presented with the miles+cash or fare difference option, like this:

http://millerworks.smugmug.com/photo...81_Td9MM-M.jpg

Choose to apply the SWU.

Just do the whole thing through customer service. Since you're platinum, there are no fees for booking over the phone. Takes out the guesswork.