Upgrade
 

My daughter's company booked her on a full fare Y coach seat (last minute booking) from EWR to SFO this thursday, the 7am flight. I'm not as familiar with CO's rules as others. She just joined the program. Are there any tricks I can share with her on getting an upgrade to first?
Thanks for any hints!

Assuming that there is availability (A class, I think), you can upgrade her for 5,000 OP miles one way since she is on a full Y fare. Other fares require 10,000 miles and availability in F class.

Yup, it will be 5K miles each way, but nope, Y upgrades come from the F bucket. Even for silver elites (until 9/1/02), Y upgrades come from the F bucket.

As for tips, you can check the flights on http://flyaow.com/classavailability.htm . If her flights show "Fx" in the class availability, where x>0, then she can call CO and get an upgrade. She will need her PIN number (and of course, the miles in the account). If her flights show F0, then there are currently no upgrade seats available. In this case, request to be waitlisted or switch to a flight that does have F availability. The airline will likely release them before departure, if there are still first class seats left (that's what the "A" code tells you). The window between 3 and 3.5 hours before departure is the best time to snag F seats, after they are released but before they are automatically assigned to elites.

Now, if your daughter doesn't have any miles with CO (or NW or HP for now), then she shouldn't hold her breath.

OK - I just checked the 7am EWR-SFO flight on 8/15. Only 3 first class seats available but no upgrades. None for the 9:30 flight either. Strong likelihood that they sell those 3 seats or upgrade a high-level elite who purchases a Y fare. Still might be worth waitlisting. Mileage upgrades usually get fairly high priority in the waitlist.

[This message has been edited by ijgordon (edited 08-13-2002).]

Thanks guys for taking the time to clarify the CO approach.

What is the change on 9/1/02?

what about an upgrade?

oh, are there any tricks to get an upgrade to first?

i couldn't tell from the Topic title.

So, if I understand this correctly, a flight showing A9 D4 F3 is a decent chance for an upgrade with PM status? What about a full flight (A8 D1 F0 E0 Y5 H0 K0 B0 V0 Q0 T0)? I have a K fare ticket. Flight isn’t for another 15 days. Would waitlisting to upgrade with miles be a better approach than waiting for an EUA?

Also, what is D inventory used for?

You must be flying Delta too much http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif.
[PM= SkyMiles Platinum Medallion and K fare is the lowest fare class eligible for an upgrade on Delta]

I wouldn't bother to waitlist on the F0 flight, as EUA customers would probably beat you to the upgrade (see numerous topics on this situation). If you used miles on the flight with F3, it would clear immediately (you wouldn't waitlist). I'd just wait for the EUA system to process the upgrade on both segments and save the miles. My opinion is that chances for a Platinum Elite upgrade are very good on both flights, though not knowing which city pairs are involved makes this rather speculative.

[This message has been edited by TransWorldOne (edited 08-14-2002).]

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum20/HTML/004809.html

Complimentary upgrades for Silver elites on Y fares at the time of ticketing.

Actually, now that I re-read the elite guide on the CO website, I think this enhancement is currently active. The 9/1/02 date extends the perk to Copa. It does not appear that this perk is available on NW flights, so still probably have to wait until 2 days prior.