Booked LAX-ZRH (V class) and asked to be waitlisted for upgrade to BF. 20,000 miles was deducted at that time. Today, I received an email that the segment from EWR-ZRH has been upgraded and my credit card charged $400, however, the LAX-EWR segment is still only waitlisted. If the LAX-EWR upgrade never clears, can I get a refund of the $400 & 20,000 miles if I'm willing to move back to coach for the EWR-ZRH segment? If so, what would be the deadline for doing that?

The fee is non refundable, which is why it's not charged until an upgrade clears. You might be able to get the mileage redeposited.

Wirelessly posted (HTCP4350-Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 4.01; Windows CE; PPC))

Congratulations on the upgrade.

CO only considers the international segment in upgrades so in this case if you fail to clear the transcon CO will not refund the cash or miles.

Alternatively should you clear the domestic segment but not the international one than CO will not charge you the fee and will refund the miles.

Partial Upgrade .. is that like a Little Bit Pregnant?

Sorry .. could not resist from the title.

this has happened to me and family many times, however the domestic portion was only three hours tops and the intl up'd segment was 12.

you will be on the top of the upgrade list and will be upgraded before any complimentary elite upgrades are processed. the bad thing about that is that LAX-EWR rarely has upgraded elites as the F cabin more than often sells out.

the other bad thing is that mileage standby is "officially" NOT allowed at the airport. that means that battlefield elite upgrades WILL go to elites before you unless you are also elite. In that case it follows the EUA hierarchy.

there is a catch. I have done this before. explain to the agent that you are waitlisted for FC and that your miles have been deducted. tell them you should be listed at the top of the list as a P1. some agents know this and will do it and others will not. it all depends on who you get.

There is a good possibility that I am going to have to reschedule this trip. The change fee is $200. Would I also lose the $400 and 20,000 miles or will they waitlist me for an upgrade on the new flights at no additional charge?

you can call CO and have them put you on a partner airline.. it might take longer as you will not be able to get a non-stop.. but for some reason the partners always have seats and CO does not.

I think 1/2 the updgrade stuff should be stopped.

Officially you are out the upgrade $$, though you can have your miles back. There is a redeposit fee if you are not platinum.

As for charging the full upgrade miles/$$ when only the international segment clears, for most pax that is, by far, the longer of the segments and the one that makes more of a difference in the upgrade, so I can understand why they do it, but I think it should be a bit more clear to non-FlyerTalk folk that they are going to take your money and dollars if only the international bit clears.

As dlen111 states above, make sure you let them know that you are a displaced F passenger at the counter, P Club and gate, as that will get you to the top of the list. Don't mention miles or standby or you'll confuse the agents and they won't get you to the correct place on the list. But you probably won't clear anyways.

I don't see why CO would try to charge you the upgrade fee AGAIN if you needed to change your flight. You just definitely can't get it back if you cancel. Anyone know for sure?

the only way for him/her to do that is to actually change the flights, pay a change fee and fare difference. the OP is on a revenue coach ticket and upgrading with miles, so changes are not easy like they are when using miles for the entire trip.

upgrades are not eligible for PR-1 status for waitlists at airports, only FC rewards confirmed in coach but wl'd in biz/F are eligible for PR-1.

you are right. all the times i have P-1'd at the airport was when on a FC/BF reward with a Y seat assignment for a particular segment. I figured it would be the same for FC upgrade rewards, but i guess not.

regardless the OP will be first in line for EUA should any go through prior to airport control of the flight.

to whiteknuckles...
regardless of the rules, id still make my case at the airport if you have not been up'd prior to arriving. the agent will be able to see that you used miles and were only up'd on one segment and may be more apt to force your airport upgrade as opposed to letting the system do it. but the rules are indeed the rules.

please elaborate. you mean if someone didn't clear their domestic leg, you don't think the full upgrade should go through?

what about the person that is flying boston (BOS) - newark (EWR) - rome (FCO)? do you think they wouldn't want their EWR-FCO upgrade to go through without the BOS-EWR portion?

i see what you are saying, but the word "displaced" is a bit misleading. if you were upgraded and then downgraded, perhaps you could use the word "displaced." but, if the domestic leg never cleared, you are actually properly placed until it clears, no?

If an upgrade is not available for the full routing, I think it should be up to the passenger to decide whether or not to go ahead with the miles + money deal. LAX-EWR is a lengthy portion of my flight to Zurich.