benliu

I would like to use skymiles to upgrade RT from Seattle to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. As I understand, only YBM fares can be upgraded, and my searches have found these to cost over $5k. Any suggestions? Partner airlines perhaps?

MSPeconomist

I suspect it's even worse than you think. Assuming that you're trying to upgrade with miles, the Y B M fares work only for DL operated flights TPAC and within Asia. AFAIK DL doesn't fly to Vietnam so you would need to use a partner, which might or might not be a codeshare, between some Asian hub and Vietnam. That flight *might* be operated by a carrier that participates in the SkyTeam Upgrade Award program, which generally requires full Y fares.

flyerCO

Since DL doesn't fly into Ho Chi Minh City there's really nothing that could be upgraded. You'll fly to Tokyo and then connect on Skyteam partner Vietnam Airlines. Depending on when you travel outright business purchased is only $6000. You can also choose to go through ICN on KE but the price goes up.

I'm not sure if KE does Skyteam upgrade awards, but 1)It generally requires full Y and 2)Business on KE is not the same as on DL - no all aisle access, 2-3-2 seating, etc.

Bottom line flying into a place like SGN with limited service with none on DL will be hard to find an upgrade all the way. Best I'd say is being able to upgrade all the way except the final leg into SGN. Just not sure how practical that will be.

MSPeconomist

You can upgrade, if space is available and it's not during a blackout period, on KE with DL miles but only from a FULL Y fare. Some folks like their young and smiling FAs but it's 2-3-2 seating on many aircraft and many of their planes don't have flat beds.

RealHJ

You can upgrade on full Y on any SkyTeam airline, isn't it? That then also opens up connections via MU, CZ, and DL or KE/MU/CZ + VN, I'd think for that (though the price of full Y may very well be more than an actual purchased business class fare).

MSPeconomist

Nope, only on airlines that participate in the SkyTeam Upgrade Awards program and many partners do not.

RealHJ

Ah, thanks for that. I didn't even realize that not all ST airlines participate.

MSPeconomist

The SkyTeam website has a list of participating airlines as well as details of the process and its rules.

ADDED: CZ participates but not MU. Also Vietnam and Garuda do not participate.

benliu

I don't mind if the Asia connection to Vietnam is not First/Business. But I would like the flight from Seattle to Asia to be on Business or First.

What's the best way to look for an upgradeable flight from Seattle -> Asia? Looks like I would need a YBM fare, probably on a partner airline like Korean Air. (Any China partners that might stop in China? Would love to do a layover in China). Should I just call Delta and have them search for me?

I have gold status on Delta and 250k miles saved up, and am frustrated that I can't use any of it to just get a simple upgrade on a flight to asia. Perhaps it's time to ditch Delta...

davetravels

Instead of buying a ticket and trying to upgrade, why don't you just use your miles for a free BusinessElite ticket?

stephem

You'll likely wind up paying more cash and have to dump some miles on top for the upgrade route. Skymiles just isnt the plan to use miles to upgrade international flights.

I was just digging around earlier today for a trip and found a selection of fares in the $2600 range for PacNW to Asia over the next few months. You arent going to find a DL YBM fare near that. There was a JAL fare YVR-SGN in that range, I'd throw loyalty out the window and just buy a discounted business class ticket on another carrier.

I have no idea what your budget is or your dates of travel are, but upgrading on Delta is unlikely to line up with either of those. You say you have 250k miles, if you hurry, there is a chance you can still get a partner business class award (try CZ through LAX or MU through YVR) for that!

dd1612

OP: When are you traveling?
You maybe better off just:
1. Getting a low level BE award on DL and partners
or
2. Purchasing a Z Class Business Elite fare on Delta or on partners.

Search using matrix.itasoftware.com or kayak.cm or hipmunk.com
For Travel in Feb'15 onwards for 2 weeks visit it is approx $4000

I'd rather purchase a BE Z class fare than buy a M fare and use skymiles to upgrade.

Have you searched from LAX - SGN-LAX or YVR -SGN-YVR?

You may get better BE Z class fares on DL partners from LAX or YVR.

UVAhoo06

You could also go the long way and fly on KL or AF.

Boony1970

I am making this trip on Thursday. Flying SEA-ICN on the outbound, HKG-SEA coming back. Both ICN and HKG have easy connections to SGN.
I used Global Upgrades for the SEA legs, but your best bet will be to use miles for the BE ticket. Seems to range from 190k to 220k or so.
RT connections to SGN from either ICN or HKG go around $300 or so.
Good luck!

benliu

Thanks all for the replies - really helpful, particularly to a newbie to international travel like me.

Responding to each:

@Davetravels: When I first started with sky miles, I saw that you can upgrade internationally for 30k miles. As such, my plan was to buy the economy ticket (which usually is around $1000-1300) and then use 60k miles to upgrade the ticket. With that, I would be able to get 4 RT upgrades with 250k miles. However, that seems like a naive pipe dream not too grounded in reality

Overall, I'm realizing Skymiles international upgrade seems to be a farce - a YBM fare increases the economy fare by around $4-5k, which defeats the purpose of an economy fare or upgrade in the first place. I guess it's better than $10k for a first class seat, but bleh...

So yes, seems like I should just get one free Business Elite ticket, but there goes the 250k.

@Stephem: Suggestions on a better program for international upgrades, as I plan to be traveling to Vietnam once a quarter? Also, to check CZ or MU, where should I look? Directly on their site? Call them directly? I've seen Delta has the business class flight for around 200k miles - similar on CZ or MU?

@dd1612: I'm pretty flexible on dates, but looking around end of November or early December ideally. Budget wise, an economy fare is around $1200. Hard for me to justify spending more than $500 for the benefits of first class unless I can use my own miles to upgrade for it (I'm an entrepreneur, so no big corporate budget to spend for luxury travel).

@UVAhoo06: I'd be open to that - but how would I go about that search?

@Boony1970: Wish I had Diamond to get those Global Upgrades But yes, that may appear to be my last choice is just to get the whole ticket with miles.

Thanks again all - really appreciate your responses and help!