Trip Upgrade Advice
 

Hi -

I am trying to get from the east coast (BOS or JFK) to Amsterdam, leaving May 19, return May 23 or 24. I have a bunch of miles from different programs and would like to book an economy and upgrade to business (or first). Any thoughts on the best way to do this?

Here are the miles/points I have:
AA 165K
Delta 75K
BA 55K
Amex MR 100K
Chase UR 75K

Thanks!
Gordon

Hi frankle1, and welcome to Flyertalk!

As this query primarily concerns mileage redemption, and does so across multiple airlines and credit cards, I think you'll get a better response in the MilesBuzz! forum than you would here, so I'll move the thread over.

Please continue to follow this topic in the MilesBuzz! forum.

stut
Moderator
Europe Forum

Is there a reason you want to pay for economy and upgrade with miles instead of just using miles to book business/first?

I can expense the economy ticket through work

Check out the upgrade charts for the major programs you have. Most programs either don't allow you to upgrade the most discounted economy fares, or they charge a high copay. For example, on United, you'd have to spend 40K miles to upgrade a low-end economy fare and pay a copay of $1100. The best deal of your programs is probably AA - discounted fares would upgrade for 50K miles + $700. As you can see, it is definitely preferable to just use miles to buy business class up front, but I understand why you're wanting to do it this way.