Upgrade question - from K to F
 

I am booking a K fare (PBI-DEN) and as a new SM, have an inadequate amount of 800 segments and no NAMU or SWUs to seek an upgrade to first.

Assuming there is availability now (flight in August) can I use a D411 award to upgrade at the time I book the flight to assure a fc seat? Do I take priority with that award over SWU/NAMU and 800m segments, which are generally not available until 72 hours before the flight?

Your answers and wisdom is appreciated.

You can only use miles to upgrade Y, B or M fares domestically, unless you have old miles from the original FF program, in which case you can actually still upgrade an L fare using the old miles.

Luckily, I do have 15,000 of the old FF miles. Does anyone know what the old award chart requires for an f/c upgrade from a K fare?

And will the upgrade using the old FF miles be subject to the available award seats only?

TX

According to the old chart, you can use 10,000 old miles to redeem an award (Award Code EM) for a one-way upgrade on a K or L fare.

In the good old days, if there was a seat open in first class at the time you requested an upgrade, it was yours. They would issue you a boarding pass in F and you would receive a 100% mileage bonus for class flown. Now, all upgrades are capacity controlled, your boarding pass doesn't show F, and you get miles based on the fare paid.

You can also redeem 10,000 miles for 4 800-mile segment points; the hitch is that you'll have to wait for your upgrade window to open...

You can buy 800 miles segment upgrades for cash as well as miles. I forget the price off the top of my head since I have never needed to do so, but it can be done through the website. Of course, you could end up buying points you don't need if you don't get upgraded in the 24 hour SM window.

Jeff

They used to be $160 for 4 800-mile upgrades. That was 2 years ago. Not sure if it's changed.

According to the DL website (Upgrades>Purchase 800 Mile Segment Upgrades), you can buy sets of 4 for $120. Single 800 MSUs are $40 each. Same as last year and the 2 years before.