I'm trying to fine a site that tells me what my chances are if I want to use my miles to upgrade to business/first class.

As you all are aware that there's a non-refundable fee that I need to pay in addition to the miles if I want to us my miles to upgrade. So I would like to know ahead of time what my chances are of actually getting an upgrade before I book my flight, arm with this information I might choose book my flight at a specific Fare Class (Y, H, or K/M) to minimize my service fee.

So ideally, this site will tell my chances if I put in, a time frame of my travel, from/to destination and my chances of getting upgrade or a capacity seating chart showing empty business/first class seats at takeoff.


Thanks for all your help!

I believe that the service fee is not charged unless the upgrade is confirmed. It's non-refundable in the sense that if you later cancel your reservation, it can not be credited against future travel. That said, if you purchase an H fare, your risk is paying a higher fare and not getting an upgrade, although you don't risk the service fee. But balancing this, is an H fare gives you 150% EQMs.

You don't say where you are going, but for a destination like CDG, you will have abetter chance of upgrading on a 777 than a 757.

They've changed the rule. The fee is charged now along with the miles when you requested the upgrade, even if it's just being on the waitlist. If it doesn't clear, both are refunded. But you can't decide to NOT upgrade later on and request a refund.

First, I'm pretty sure that the fee will be refunded if your upgrade is not cleared from the waitlist, assuming you are placed on a waitlist because there is no upgrade capacity at time of booking. In that situation, the fee becomes non-refundable only once the upgrade is granted.

Second, for people here to give you assistance, you will likely have to provide a little more detail about your travel plans. You listed many of the relevant variables, destination/time frame are key to any analysis. If you feel like doing some of the leg-work yourself, the pda website has pretty decent information and you can track a specific route to see upgrade patterns. http://pda.continental.com/PDA20/default.aspx

Good luck!

The H fare costs $100 now for most destinations, $200 for HNL.

There is no way to know if the upgrade is going to happen if it doesn't happen at the time of booking, but if you don't try for it you definitely won't get it. And which fare class you are booked in is not supposed to have any effect on the chances for an upgrade. Or so I've heard.

You may still want to go with the H fare, often I see the disscount fare + upgrade fee= > H fare. And with H you get 150%eqm. Sometimes its cheaper to go the other way really depends on the route and time.

But if you don't get the upgrade you've paid extra money for the 50% bonus EQMs. Depending on how badly you want the EQMs it may or may not be a good bargain. Researching both options is definitely useful.

yep ----that's my constant dilemma. H and risk sitting in back (angrily stewing in my own bile the whole time b/c the waitlist didn't clear) or only taking the 100% miles and perhaps saving a few bucks by buying the cheapo and paying the bigger fee.

In my (adimittedly limited) experience the H fare + fee usually is still *slightly* more $$ than the cheapo + fee

thanks for all the reply...i didn't post any specifics because I was looking for website that can provide that information to based on my travel needs...

my next trip will be to hong kong form EWR either in July or August 2009.

And with regards to the fee...it's really confusing. If i'm reading this correctly, I will get a refund if my upgrade is not granted, but one's it's granted and I decided not to upgrade (I don't know why I wouldn't want that..but that's beside the point) then I won't get my refund back....is that correct?

They need to be more sepecific on their website...it's really confusing..

thanks!

It boils down to this:

If you want an upgrade, but there is none available at the time you book a ticket, you can wait list for one. If there is one available, then just book it. There will be a fee for this service (which depends on the fare bucket you book into) and miles will be deducted from your account at the time you ask for the upgrade. If the upgrade does not clear and you travel in the back of the bus, then the fee and the miles will be returned to you. I don't think its much more complicated than that. Generally award availability is first posted at 330 days in advance and is periodically updated. I assume upgrade availability follows the same schedule. Good luck as the trip will be much more comfortable up front and if your dates are flexible, you should have no problems finding availability. ^

This is actually not the case for CO.

The other stuff you posted is accurate.

My bad, when does CO release Award/Upgrade inventory?

Whenever they want. Inventory Management has become much more complex than release some at 330 and more if no one is buying. Historically, Asia reward inventory seems to come in 3-month chunks, but it isn't at a specific time/date.

This is straight from CO.com...

BusinessFirst Select Economy Fares Upgrade Policy: Members who purchase fares other than Y or H* can pay a non-refundable service fee in addition to the miles in order to upgrade to BusinessFirst. Members will be charged the service fee when requesting the BusinessFirst upgrade.

Service fees cannot be applied to future travel and are subject to change without notice.

how am i suppose to intrepret this?

If what you're saying is true then, I really have nothing to loose if there's a seat available or get wait listed....at the end of the day if I don't get to sit in the front i get my money and miles back...

just another not...i don't have elite status...does that matter on the refund policy?

You have nothing to lose. And it has nothing to do with Elite status. They will take the money and the points when you request the upgrade and they will give them back if you do not clear the upgrade list. Period.