Royal Laurel Upgrade
 

1) Route and date of travel:
AMS-BKK 17 Aug, 2013
2) Date of request and how made:
05 April via Amsterdam Ticketing Office
3) Class of original booking class (for upgrade):
V Elite Class to N Royal Laurel (now Z class)
4) Evergreen Club status:
Silver :D
5) Outcome:
Requested 05 April, confirmed 05 April
6) Additional info:
Called AMS Evergreen club in advance regarding availability, was informed many seats were free. Did not ask for my Evergreen Club status.

1) Route and date of travel:
TPE-LAX BR12 5 April, 2013
2) Date of request and how made:
Didn't request an upgrade, but there was a woman standing at the Transfer Desk holding a sign with my name on it when I arrived in Taipei. She informed me my seat had been changed and told me to go to the counter. Upgraded to Royal Laurel.
3) Class of original booking class (for upgrade):
Elite Class M
4) Evergreen Club status:
Gold

What would be your recommendations for other non-US based carriers and their FFP? I would be open to switching if there is actually one worth the trouble. Most, from what I have seen, don't seem to offer that much more and the pricing for Premium Economy is ridiculous. :(

TG

Upgrade Elite to RL LHR to TPE via BKK
 

1) Route and date of travel
21 Dec - BR68 LHR - BKK - TPE

2) Date of request and how made (eg at an office/online)
July sometime (posting late!) - call centre in Taiwan

3) Class of free ticket requested or original booking class (for upgrade)
Elite (originally Q, before codes changed) to Royal Laurel

4) Evergreen Club status (if any)
Diamond

5) Outcome
Given immediately

6) Any other information - what you were told, whether paid for tickets were still available when you were declined etc.
Was quite surprised - this is one of the busiest London departures of the year (last Saturday before Christmas) and with the smaller RL cabins I assumed they would wish to sell the seats. Diamond status doesn't guarantee upgrades. The upgrade was given instantly, so I'm not sure Diamond status was relevant here.

Star Alliance
 

Mrs. used my UA miles and got the following:

JFK/Singapore via Taipei, Royal Laurel class: 60K, departed mid Sept.
Sin/Bkk/HK/Tpe, business class on TG and BR: 40K
Tpe/JFK RL class: 60K, returning mid Oct.

plus normal taxes/fees.

Eva flights usually open up about 10-14 days actual departure date.

EVA Air: pls post your award ticket/upgrade experience here
 

Our family of three used 180,000 United miles to upgrade our Economy tickets to RL. The last batch of 60,000 miles transferring from Chase Ultimate to United got stuck in transit for ten days but finally cleared.

LAX to TPE, Sept 11, BR 11, Three seats together in Row 10 after using KVS to scout.

TPE to LAX, Sept 22, BR 12, same seats in Row 10. KVS earned their fee with this trip.

Loved the experience in Royal Laurel. Any seat that could make my 4 yo sleep for eight hours plus is a winner :)

EVA Air: pls post your award ticket/upgrade experience here
 

I have a "T" class fare from LAX to BKK via TPE. I had enough miles to request the upgrade from Elite to Royal Laurel Class. Miles have been deducted but no upgrade confirmation, just on a waiting list. I am a Silver with EVA and bought the ticket about a week ago now. Flight is for a early Feb departure. I thought it would be best to purchase and request the upgrade now thinking I would have a better chance to get it. I would appreciate any input on this one if you know something about whether will actually happen. I was thinking maybe it would happen after the we reach the 100 day mark for selecting seats.

TG

still waiting
 

We are now officially inside the 100 day, select your seat for the leg of my flight, that I requested to be upgraded. Still on the waiting list. I would have thought buying this far in advance might be a good thing for an upgrade, but from what I have read, EVA is not exactly speedy in giving out the upgrades. Anyone have an idea if this will ever happen before I leave LAX?

TG

The last few times I was on waitlisting using EVA miles, they never deducted the miles when placed on waitlist. Miles were deducted only when the upgrade is confirmed. Something is amiss in your case. I would double check the reservation details on evaair.com or checkmytrip.com

I checked to see if my miles were deducted and it turns out the miles were not deducted as I had originally thought. That makes sense too, as I am still on the "waiting list" for the upgrade. Anyway, my thoughts are that EVA won't do anything now until much later. Possibly they might do the upgrade before I leave. If the upgrade takes place before my departure I will post it when I remember to do so. Happy flying !!

TG

Sticker shock
 

Starting early 2014, the award miles by United Airlines for their Star Alliance partners have dramatically increased -- 63%!

http://boardingarea.com/pointmetothe...hange-summary/

At this point, nothing has happened and the miles are still in my account. Has anybody heard anything positive or had success with calling TPE and asking them to complete the upgrade?

TG

I was able to use United Points for 2 JFK-DPS tickets in business leaving on Oct 4 and returning on Oct 28. However we must layover until the 29th for our TPE flight. Neither my wife nor I have status on UA or BR. We did have to delay our flight one day later on the return as there were no BR flights from DPS on Oct 27, 2014. We used 240,000 points for these flights.

I'm looking to travel SFO-TPE sometime next April, our group is two travelers and an infant. I have about 150,000 credit card points that can be transferred 1:1 to Star Alliance. Regular coach fares I've checked are about $1,200 roundtrip per person.

What's the most cost-effective way to get upgraded travel? Seatguru says there's only Elite and Premium Laurel upgraded classes on this route. Should I buy coach and spend miles on the upgrade, or just get the full award seat in business? For *A, there are no award seats listed right now from United's site.

I do not have any status or miles with Eva's own program. I'm hesitant to transfer my points over to United if Eva's award upgrades are so uncertain, because the transfer is irreversible and we fly infrequently.

Should I buy a Y or B and hope to buy an upgrade at the gate? Couldn't I just get the cheapest Q and pay more for an upgrade (either directly to PL to Y, then PL), so there's no risk of paying extra for Y and finding no upgrade is available? Approximately what is the cash upgrade cost?

When using United miles for upgrading a Y or B (via *A), when is the soonest that upgrade availability information is known? Could it be known at time of booking (about 4 months in advance in my case)?