Hi all -- been flying for some time but new to the world of miles. Some of the these might be newbie questions but am sure will be helpful to loads of other probably seeking clarity on the same questions.

1. Is it possible to upgrade an economy award ticket to business class? For instance, let's say I use my aeroplan miles and buy an economy award ticket on Copa from LAX to PTY. Can I upgrade this ticket using miles, and if so, which program(s)? Can I upgrade this ticket to business class for cash, and if so is that a bidding process?

2. Assuming no airline status (eg. no upgrade certificates or whatever) in what scenarios can one upgrade from economy to business class, eg. only paid tickets or award tickets too? and how/when does bidding occur? For instance, I've read on this forum some members sharing their experience of bidding cash for an upgrade -- does the highest bid always win an upgrade once the bid window closes? When are these generally opened, eg. 3 days before the flight or 48 hours etc.

Someone knowledgeable on this subject clarifying exactly what's possible with Copa in terms of upgrades clarifying this would be super appreciated!

Curious Boy

I think it depends. I have been offered to bid on an upgrade using UA Miles on CM flights on Economy. So you may need to book and find out.

Gold Status here. In Copa, award tickets, can only get upgrade in the bidding system. All awards tickets cannot qualify for courtesy upgrade. Also, award saver tickets, cannot get upgrade by any means.
The free upgrade levels, depends on your status of the airline and tariff code. Just like any other airline in the world, if both are the same status level, the one who paid more for the ticket, get the upgrade.

I am not convinced that this is true. My understanding is that award tickets are eligible, at least for Presidential and Platinum members anyway, after all paid tickets get upgraded first. That means paid ticket upgrade order: Presidential (usually 6 days out in my experience), then platinum, then gold, then silver member tickets get the upgrades. With all that, the chances of an award ticket getting an upgrade on a long haul flight, say from PTY to US, is very unlikely, bug possible.

I am speaking in the case of a redemption ticket outside connectmiles. I argumented in the scene OP presented. If you get an redemption ticket from Aeroplan (air canada) and no airline status (Copa), you are not elegible for courtesy upgrade even if you are star alliance gold. That was the point i was trying to explain. The only point I missed, is that award saver can be elegible for upgrade but only if you got presidential status in Copa. After that, no award saver ticket can be elegible for courtesy upgrade.