sushimaru

I'm thinking of upgrading my AI economy ticket on DEL-NRT sector to business class availing "UFS" (Upgrade for Sure).

It's a bit confusing because there is another upgrade scheme called "Get Upfront Upgrades" and both of them can only be done if there is an empty seat available within 24hrs of departure. The difference according to AI site seems that UFS is actually re-issuing the ticket to the eligible business class RBD, where as the latter GUU only issues EMD hence the mileage earning is only possible for the original booked class. Funny enough, both charge the same amount, so it's much better to upgrade through UFS.

I'm thinking of doing this at the airport itself. Has anyone tried UFS before? Was it easy to get it done?

Keyser

i've never used ufs but i have used the get upfront scheme a bunch of times & its been pretty painless....i'm assuming ufs will be the same....

just go to the booking counter & let them know you want to upgrade....they check availability & then process the upgrade....if you have an agent who knows what they are doing then it takes 5-10 minutes....

Anish

I think the main feature of UFS is that you/your TA can upgrade and re-issue the ticket before you even arrive at the airport.

Once you're at the airport there isn't any difference between the two.

I used Get Upfront on FCO-DEL yesterday and it was very easy and super quick, took about 15 mins in all.

sushimaru

Thanks for sharing the experience. I'm more concerned about earning extra miles so I'll try best to stick to UFS.

Thanks for the input. Even though the website says one can still apply for UFS at airport ticketing offices, it may be possible that the agents are mostly just used to GUU and there could be some confusion. As you've pointed, it seems safer to just to do it at city office on the day of travelling.

Flyfromscratch

From what I could understand from their website, UFS is for international flights, GUU is for domestic flights. So one wouldn't really have a choice on which offer they use. There is only one offer, based on your ticket type...

sushimaru

I see UFS is for intl. flights only, and GUU is for both intl. and domestic. It does specifically mention that for GUU only the original booking class's mileage earning rate is applicable and only when booking class Z is available (when Y to C), where as for UFS the ticket is actually reissued to Z,D,or C,so there seems more chance on this one. At least, that's the message I get from the website.

Anish

Please do let us know your experience with UFS at the airport.

Keyser

guu is for both....i have used it on domestic as well as international tickets....

sushimaru

Hi Anish, I've decided that I'd just stick with economy as the seats are wide-open and I'm likely to get the whole block of three seats by myself, where as business class seems more packed.

Otherwise, I would asked at the airport ticketing office at Delhi Airport (apparently there are two at the either end of the terminal near visitor's waiting room), but not at the check-in counter as that'll likely to upgrade based on GUU.

Thanks for all the suggestions!

hokiebuy

Anyone has experience doing this on IAD-DEL flight? Is the ticket counter at Dulles able to handle either of the upgrade methods mentioned above?

wall2main

sfo del round trip is roughly $1000 in economy.
UFS is either 1200 or 1300 per leg (not clear). Lets say 1200.
Round trip is 2400. Plus 1000 = 3400. You can buy a biz class ticket for that amount or within $200 of that.
What am I missing?

Keyser

when planning ahead its always going to be better to buy a business class ticket....these type of schemes are good for people who want to upgrade one way or upgrade at the last minute when business class fares would be a lot higher....

PiperAtGatesofDawn

Keyser

these type of upgrades never make sense with most airlines, not just air india....the cost of upgrading both ways at the airport with pretty much every airline will come out to be more than buying a cheap business class fare....

PiperAtGatesofDawn