Use Auto Upgrade or Get Alerted?
 

What is the consensus here for updates? Use auto alert but risk an upgrade not being applied because the taxes have changed, or set an alert and apply the upgrade manually?
That leads me to my next question: how would one know if the taxes have changed?

If the taxes for the upgraded ticket are different from those for the original ticket, the ‘auto upgrade’ function will not be available on the website. An example is the Y to J upgrade for a departure from a UK airport where the APD is higher for the premium cabin.
However, I would not rely on auto upgrade as it is known to be unreliable, by which I mean that it sometimes works and other times not. If you set an auto upgrade you should at least check manually regularly.

Totally agree with this and highly recommend that you do so!

Thanks for replying. When you also say to check manually, does this mean going into the upgrade section of the booking and keeping an eye out for No Availability to change to Available?
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...aafa5a2e5b.jpg

Yes, that is exactly what I meant.

And only because Mrs B is already in F and I am in J (being the sweet guy that I am), I also will regularly search for award flights.... both for the full through flight and for the individual segments.....to double check that the upgrade availability indicator in the Manage My Booking (as seen in your insert) is not missing some otherwise available inventory. It's a 'belt & suspenders" approach, but grabbing the upgrade is highly desirable for this trip. And remember to have the necessary miles already in your account, otherwise the upgrade won't be automatic even if it is available.

The most reliable way is calling up and asking, more effective than any other method.

Agree, at times they seem to 'find' availability which is not visible on the website. Once got a really good agent who pointed out that whilst there was no availability on the flight pair I had booked on, there was a 'through upgrade' if I took the later flights. As I was on a Flex+ fare, I took it. Those are situations where having Gold status helps as you seem to get more experienced agents.

I've been trying to understand a nuance about the upgrade feature without success: if I book an award ticket and there is already award space available for the next cabin at the time of booking, is it possible to immediately upgrade with miles to the next cabin? Or is still only within the 30 day-72 hour window (and hope that the space remains)?

I ask because the total miles required via the aforementioned method would be lower than booking straight into the desired cabin...

From my experience, the process of booking a lower class award ticket and upgrading later is a much higher cost of miles than booking straight into the higher class award if that inventory is available. I am currently waiting for incremental inventory to become available, and the premium to upgrade (vs. miles if booked directly into the higher class) is about 40% more miles. I don't think my situation has altered the equation, but I do have a two segment trip, and the added miles to upgrade both segments individually (J to F) is 40% higher than if I were able to book the flights in the higher class as a single "through fare" ticket.

Interesting, in this particular case, an economy award ticket was priced at ~23K miles + ~$85 vs. 54K + ~$250 for business. The upgrade cost in miles is quoted at 19,500 miles (and presumably no cash addition), so the savings here would be quite significant. I booked the economy award, but it's not showing availability in auto upgrade (the only class shown for business awards at the moment is Flex Plus, so I'm assuming that's the problem?). The business cabin is very empty, so I think the chances of using 19,500 to upgrade even at the airport or on the plane are quite good.

You can't officially upgrade an award ticket. However, it's sometimes possible to do it on-board.

You can, I have done it twice before through auto upgrade

Ah, maybe it's changed! Thanks.

How did this compare to booking an out right F redemption in terms of miles and fees?