Upgrade booking classes for dummies
 

I really need one of those :)
There must be something I'm not getting here ?
I've got a B class ticket which then upgrades into U class on a NW flight as far as I understand?
Doing a search for my NW 040 flight for the 20th of August this year on Expertflyer tells me that there are U9 tickets left.
Calling the Flying Blue helpdesk they do a search on NW and report back no availability? How is that possible? Is there any chance for me to get this upgrade through or some strange trick I just don't know ?

Cobos

Classes for upgrades are not visible. U (nor Z) are not the classes that flight upgrades book into - this is a common bit of misinformation floating around.

You can use them as an indicator, but the buckets are different, and not visible. Normally, if there is Z availability, there will be upgrade availability, but not always. There is no way to see for yourself online if upgrade inventory is available. The only way is to call FB. If you're seeing plenty of seats open in WBC, chances are good they will release upgrade inventory, so keep trying.

FYI - upgrade inventory on NW is very, very limited for FB.

If you follow the procedure for using KVS searching on Skyteam award availability to derive updgrade availability, my experience is that you can use this input to in turn guide the phone call with the FB desk to snag the upgrade. You may have to wait until the days/hours before departure though.

Search the NW forum for more details.

Now this was a very usufull piece of information, I was under the impression that was the same thing. Thanks.

Hmm one of the helpfull FB (one of the few) customer service reps said they could not upgrade my KL 6040 (NW 040) flight and I had to get it changed to a pure NW flight i.e. we're booked on NW 040 now not "through" the KL6040 flightnumber. Are you saying I'm out of luck either way or that I did the right thing getting the change ? Regardless I will call them back every few days so as to try to get the upgrade through.

Cobos

That information is yet another misinformation floating around. :rolleyes:

Flying Blue has very clear upgrade policies for travel on NW metal.

Transatlantic upgrades from Y class book into Z class
Transatlantic upgrades from B class book into D class
North American upgrade from Y and B class book into R class