I wonder if someone can help me understand how to upgrade EWR-TLV. I read the stuff online but am totally confused. I need to book which class and pay how much and use how many miles?

Also, I notice that there are no reward flights, economy or first, for the forseable future. Is that correct?

Thanks

OK,
a few points
1st Welcome to FT,

When I ask if theres anything available that I can confirm NOW in BF using miles. If Im told yes, then the 1st thing is I hope that theres someone nearby to call for an ambulance as Ill need a supply of O2. If yes then Ill book an "H" fare as its the least costly coach fare that is upgardable without having to pay any extra $$$. The extra $$$ besides miles depends on the fare type of tkt you purchased, so the chaeper the tkt the more you'll have to pay for the upgrade. Some really cheap fares dont offer the possibility of upgrading at all. U/I etc.
I suggest you not purchase ANY fare below the "H" as you will have to at time of purchase tell 'em to waitlist you for the upgrade and they will chage you for it both in $$$ and miles, if the upgrade does not clear you will get back your miles but NOT your $$$.

The only times Ive known anyone to have gotten those confirmed upgrades or Free BF seats were in the low season and within a couple of weeks of when they wanted to fly. The problem is if you wait till the last minute and its still not available your tkt can cost you alot more $$$, as the cheaper seats will have been sold-out by then.

There is a heavy demand for those seats by people willing to pay for them, especially the flight #s 90 & 91. So I really wouldnt count on being able to get the upgrade. As for Free tkts not so easy either I heard (dont know if true or not) that CO allows maybe 2 seats at most for free tkts in BF on these flights. Dont know about Coach. however almost ALL carriers scale back tremendously free seats to TLV during June-Aug. This yr almost impossible to get anything on anyone in July or Aug. I was able to get a Biz tkt on BA in Aug but theres nothing except for Saturdays on the return which doesnt help me at all.

Keep in mind that CO is part of Skyteam so you can fly into TLV on AirFrance,KLM,Alitalia,Czech, although the flights from Europe are usually on narrow-bodies and you wont know that you are in Biz since its really a Coach seat. But at least you will ahve reg Biz over the Atlantic.

Been flying CO to TLV for the last 12 or so months. Managed to upgrade twice in that period, both times on H fares so no co-pay. First time upgrade was confirmed when I called reservations, second time it confirmed right at the 72 hour window. On my last trip I specifically chose the daytime flight from TLV to EWR since BF looked wide open (10 seats free on seat map, lots of availability showing on ExpertFlyer). At 72 hours, my upgrade wait list vanished. When I got to the airport, the agent explained that they only have x seats per flight for u/g and even if they aren't sold or likely to be sold out up front, they won't release additional seats. Crazy policy.

CO's reward flights to TLV are hard to get. They are doable, sometimes. You'll have better luck on 84/85.

They tend to release more seats 2-4 weeks out, so I'd recommend not buying until you have to.

A few comments on H fares: H is nice as they sometimes are more flexible, and you get 150% EQM.

If you buy cheaper fares, you have to do the copay, and you can usually get an H fare for less than the copay+cheaper fare. Then again, you don't have to pay if you don't get the upgrade.

I was able to get 3 reward seats (2 on my account, 1 on wife's account) LAX-EWR-TLV on 90/91 in July & August, no Saturday travel, 8 months out.

The down side is that it cost me 200k miles per ticket.

SLEAZYPASS doesn't count as being 'able to get rewards'

600k miles to save $10k works just fine for me. My personal valuation of miles is $0.01 per; these tix were over $3k each in cash at time of purchase.

I got two tickets in BF at standard levels purchasing H fares last year...left around Dec 16, return around Jan 5. Probably not quite peak holiday travel but close. Got them at time of booking around 6 months out for around $1400 each. Not bad, but a couple weeks after booking, CO had its BF sale and same seats could have been purchased for $2k.

I value my miles as per what i would have paid and Not what CO wants for a tkt. CO wants $3500 now for a EWR-TLV in BF, no way will pay that when I can get a coach tkt for $865-1132. So to ME the 200K is worth only either $865 or 1132 at most, which is what I would pay for the coach seat. Actually less as I still have a few DBV at $500 a pop. So my last tkt cost me $632 it would have been $3000 for BF.
If CO charged $10,000 for the BF but all I was willing to pay was the $865 in coach then to me its worth 865 and not 10K, since I would never would have paid that 10k or whatever for BF. Others will see it as saving 10k even though they would never have purchased such a tkt.

same with hotel nights. If I would have spent $100 a night for say a Hilton but instead use points and stay in a *Wood hotel that was charging $300 anight. I see I saved $100 and not what SPG was charging as I never would have paid what SPG wanted to begin with.
Lets just say its 6 of 1 and 1/2 dz to someone else.

its not so much the value of the miles, its the availability. its nothing special to 'get' an easypass, because if there's a seat in J you can get easypass. The original poster was curious as to R class, and like E/F class, R class is very hard to do.

Valuing miles is difficult, I keep a few things in mind
a) restrictions (nothing for sleazypass), very limited availability
b) no status miles/miles.
c) what I'd be willing to pay

for example, recent AF F ticket with DL miles, revenue ticket was $12,700, no way I'd pay that, but 100k DL miles, no problem there! Could probably get it through a consolidator for 8k, limits on advanced purchase, etc. and miss out on 30,000 status miles/ 45k RM.
For CO plats, aside from inventory restrictions, standard rewards are unrestricted in that you can make changes for no fee, and refund. (though I'm not sure about within 2 weeks on the changes)
on a rev ticket cost basis, QF F tickets are the best you can get with CO miles, as they don't earn status miles, or status bonus miles.

I'd consider $2500 to be what I'd pay for a revenue C ticket to TLV from SFO. I won't fly Y there, so even though LH has a 600$ shoulder fare, I would never take it (unless I could SWU it).

Okay, so let me see if I got it.
If I book the TLV ticket on an H fare I can use 30,000 miles each way to get an upgrade if its available(which I understand is not likely). Any other fare I will pay 200-400 to upgrade each way in addition to the miles. The money would be charged if the upgrade goes through.

Is that right?

Everything is correct except you will be CHARGED the $$$ regardless if it goes thru or not. Its like putting your chips down on a # on the Rouleette Wheel, if the # comes in you win if it doesnt the casino keeps your $$$. Here CO is the Casino, if the up clears they keep your $$ and miles. If it does NOT clear they STILL keep your $$ but do return the miles(which they take out immediately and it can take them up to 30days after the 72 hour (B4 flight time) till the miles are back into your acct. So Ive been told, thats why hardly anyone plays the Game with CO except by getting an "H" fare.

Only once did I do an "H" I still didnt get the up but the "H" was the cheapest tkt avaiable when I got it 6 months before the flight. So it wasnt like I paid $300 more for an H and I could have gotten a K,U,I etc. So I really wasnt playing the game and only had what to gain. I sort of did win as I got 4 bumps going and coming that totaled $2400 and my tkt was $1300. If correct I never have heard where CO will allow a BF person to be a volunteer, unless maybe if they had a walk up who was willing to pay the $3500 one-way BF fare.

exactly (except 200-450 depending on fare)

This is what confuses me. This line from Co's website seems to say the fee does not have to be paid unless the upgrade clears.

BusinessFirst Select Economy Fares Upgrade Policy: Members who purchase a H, K, N, B, O, V, U, Q, I, S, W, T, X or L (or equivalent) fare can pay a non-refundable service fee in addition to the miles in order to upgrade to BusinessFirst. Members will only be charged the service fee when the BusinessFirst upgrade has been cleared.
http://www.continental.com/onepass/r...8F30AF8A756D9A

airfly56,

could be you are correct. When I had asked about it last June, I was told that I would have to pay the $$ then and it wouldnt be refunded if the UP didnt clear. I hope that it changed as it seems it has from the URL you provided. When I go over next month its on my own Dime so I wont fork over the extra $300 each way.