Using miles for Business Class booking
 

I have about 32000 miles that I wanted to redeem for a CDG-AKL trip next January but when I go through the booking pages to find the cost it says there is "no availability" in business class only in economy.

Is there a "magic" time when I can try and use the miles as I can't believe that there is no availability at all in January or am I misunderstanding the use of miles and only economy can be booked with miles?

Sorry if this has been asked before but I did do a search using different search words but didn't find anything.

Thanks...:confused:

I can see reward availability in Business Class on all dates from the 18th on. Maybe limited before this due to the end of holiday period?

You will however need much more than 32,000 to get one. Shows to me as 145,000 miles plus 475 Euro in other charges.

OK, thanks. I thought I may be able to use the miles to offset some of the costs.

No. You can't make a mixed cash and miles purchase. You could buy an Economy ticket and then use your miles to upgrade part of it to Business. Or if you buy Business, experience First. But it will only be enough for one sector. It also depends on the ticket type (flex/saver).

OK, thanks I won't bother then. I don't travel enough to make collecting miles worthwhile, maybe once every three to four years is about it as my daughter and grandkids are in NZ. The current batch of miles are due to expire in Feb 2015 so won't be able to do anything like accrue more miles with my next trip as the previous lot will be gone. Might try a different route/airline next time for a change. I've done QANTAS and Singapore Airlines and of course Emirates last time as they were the cheapest, I would like to try Air New Zealand but they tend to be about £1k more expensive!!

Just another questions. I might buy some AMS - DXB tickets for new years. What are the chances of upgrading with miles? I don't want to sign up, since I'll miss the bonus if my first flight is after 6 months.

I have SPG points that I can transfer to Skywards. Also can you upgrade ALL eco tickets? I'm with FB and there only eco tickets from a certain bucket are upgradeable...

You could use those 32000 miles to upgrade either CDG-DXB or DXB-CDG with no additional taxes or fees to pay for your next trip. To upgrade a saver ticket it's 32500 or 25000 for a flex ticket. Either that or you can redeem them on Easyjet for intra-European travel. Or donate them!

Whilst you can upgrade all revenue Y tickets, there are restrictions on when you can do that even if there is availability. The cheapest (saver) Y tickets can't be upgraded until check-in opens. AMS-DXB might be difficult if you don't buy a flex ticket. And if it's New Years it may be even more difficult as EK generally seem to prefer to take cash rather than miles for seats! If by the time of your flight you are silver or above in Skywards you can upgrade on board on a space-available basis.

Lussac, if you're going again in Jan, you could upgrade one sector of your flight. At least the miles don't go to waste.

Eh, beaten to it.

It is also possible that around New Year's Eve, no award seats ever become available. In which case you would transfer your SPG points for nothing.

It seems to me that they are being more and more stingy with award availability. I have 4 sectors booked and have been trying to upgrade them for weeks. Two came up a while ago. The other two haven't become available so far, and I'm flying on Friday...