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How to analyze whether to buy an upgrade to F with money or miles
o.k., here's the real life situation...
Flying LGA-MCO with Mrs. Yogimax on June 1st. I'm Platinum, she's Gold, so we are both Platinum for upgrade purposes. Right now, there are 9 available seats in F. Delta is offering an upgrade O/W for 14,400 miles or $154 per person. How would you analyze whether to wait and hope for a free upgrade, or purchase the upgrade right now? If we purchased, we would use miles. Thanks for your thoughts! |
1. Wouldn't spend those miles or $ for the upgrade on that flight.
2. I'd expect an upgrade as a PL on that route on 6/1. What time is flight though? That said I'd be fine in C+ on that flight. |
The $$ to miles ratio for these buy-up offers is fixed at around 1.1 cents per mile.
This is generally considered a poor redemption value for SM's compared to booking an advance purchase round trip or even a last-minute round trip all on points. Pay the cash if it is worth it to you. |
Originally Posted by MarkCron
(Post 31108497)
1. Wouldn't spend those miles or $ for the upgrade on that flight.
2. I'd expect an upgrade as a PL on that route on 6/1. What time is flight though? That said I'd be fine in C+ on that flight. We do have excellent C+ seats. I guess my question is related to recent similar flights where free upgrades disappeared at the last minute. |
It is a direct flight less than 3 hours long, most probably you are doubling your cost of flights (one way) if you upgrade to first. It is a Saturday flight so less business travel. If you have excellent C+ tickets, leave it at that and you may or may not get the upgrades, but you can save your money for another flight down the road.
I vote save your cash and miles. |
Originally Posted by FlyBitcoin
(Post 31108619)
The $$ to miles ratio for these buy-up offers is fixed at around 1.1 cents per mile.
This is generally considered a poor redemption value for SM's compared to booking an advance purchase round trip or even a last-minute round trip all on points. Pay the cash if it is worth it to you. |
I think the answer depends on the situation. I have more miles than I will ever use so I would tend to use miles. I tenD to upgrade with miles or money towards the end of the year in order to push up my mqms. I would upgrade rather than hoping for a free upgrade because that route can be and often is full in first. Older people willing to pay because they don’t fly often and need the comfort a family or two off to dis. So if you have the miles or money I wouldn’t wait unless you really don’t much care. |
I've paid $150 for a similar flight (PHX-SEA) but in that case I wasn't already in C+. So I guess my point is that the price is unsurprising, but I'd be happy in C+ for three hours since you asked :)
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I haven’t seen any UG offers lately on my upcoming trips to KEF or PPT with the domestic portions in the reservations. How are y’all seeing these? |
If you have 1,000,000 or more redeemable miles, I’d upgrade now with miles. When flying with significant others, F is always better. If you don’t have the miles, but this is an anniversary trip, some other special occasion, or a trip to visit your mother-in-law, pay for the upgrade now. If none of the above, keep your seats. Just my opinion. |
Originally Posted by AJDelvarno
(Post 31109208)
If you have 1,000,000 or more redeemable miles, I’d upgrade now with miles. When flying with significant others, F is always better. If you don’t have the miles, but this is an anniversary trip, some other special occasion, or a trip to visit your mother-in-law, pay for the upgrade now. If none of the above, keep your seats. Just my opinion. |
Originally Posted by AJDelvarno
(Post 31109208)
If you have 1,000,000 or more redeemable miles, I’d upgrade now with miles. When flying with significant others, F is always better. If you don’t have the miles, but this is an anniversary trip, some other special occasion, or a trip to visit your mother-in-law, pay for the upgrade now. If none of the above, keep your seats. Just my opinion. |
Originally Posted by xliioper
(Post 31108732)
You earn bonus MQM's with the upgrade (even with miles) which can be a consideration for people trying to earn/maintain status.
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I would make one point which is MCO has never been an easy upgrade for me. Only once have I gotten the upgrade going into and out of MCO. One thing is there are a lot of medallions who go in and out of MCO so lots of upgrades there. Also like LAS, MCO is a tourist destination so lots of people will convert miles or pay for F as a leisure route.
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Originally Posted by yogimax
(Post 31109560)
So let's assume this flight earns 1,000 MQM's So, if I upgrade with miles how many MQM's will I receive?
Probably right about 1500 total. You can login and do a dummy booking to get the exact number based on your status |
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