Fennario

I'm on the fence about upgrading a segment (of a normal LH cash ticket) from P to F with the cash upgrade option online (not bidding, just the cash option). Would my booking class change and therefore increase the status miles for that segment?

I’ve now called the Senator hotline three times with this question, and each time I get a different answer! They all seem confused, and two of them changed their answer when I reworded the question. It should be a simple question, no? If I’m using cash to upgrade a cash ticket, wouldn’t that give me more status miles?

Raul_R

Yes, if you cash upgrade your fligth, you will be rebooked to A-class and will get miles as per First class should be (triple miles).
At leats when you do it in advance -- i am not sure about the cash-upgrades at checkin.

athome

Cash upgrades in advance change the booking class. At check in, they don't.

Fennario

Thanks for the replies, both of which here so far say YES…that a cash upgrade of a cash ticket in advance will also increase the miles earned. However, I have now spoken with an additional three agents on the Senator hotline, and all three said NO…that a cash upgrade purchased on the phone would NOT increase the status miles earned. In each case, I asked the agent if I could purchase the upgrade over the phone for my cash ticket, and each said that an upgrade could be purchased on the phone, but no increase in status miles would result from it. One said I would have to "recalculate"/rebook the flight (at an even higher price) to get the status miles that come with A/F.

So now a total of five agents have said the opposite of what forum members here are saying. That said, a look through my M&M account suggests that this forum is actually correct, and that those five agents on the Senator hotline are wrong. So confusing!

In the end, I didn’t purchase the upgrade because the terms were unclear…and when I called the last time, the amount to upgrade had more than doubled. So I’m out either way now.

globalwanderer84

Disregard the agents and simply confirm if the booking class is/was to change - if yes, then you recieve the higher mileage/status, if no, its simply an EMD (Electronic Miscellaneous Document) which does nothing the booking class/etkt.

Raul_R

Yes, those agents was just stupid.
I had the same case -- upgraded P fare by cash FRA-EZE to First and ticket was reissued with new booking class A. And I got 3xstatus/HON miles for that segment (actually 3,25x as the execuitve bonus alos applied).
Some information is here (altough not very clear):
https://www.lufthansa.com/am/en/upgrade-first-class

Actually if LH.com is offering you upgrade, I think even there are mentioned more miles.

hugolover

Are you sure the ticket was reissued? Normally just the cabin is changed and an EMD added for the service.

Fennario

I never went through with it, but what I was told was that A was sold out, but F was still available, and the only way to get that was through a rebooking (at an exorbitant cost). Five of six agents said that if I purchased the upgrade it would not increase my status miles for that segment...so maybe the question that I should have asked was would it change the booking code vs. being an EMD. Next time I'm in that situation, I'll specifically discuss the booking code for the cash upgrade to make sure it's not just an EMD via phone purchase.

hugolover

The booking class changes but there is no need to reissue the ticket for that. I’m almost sure my Plusgrade’s with various carriers have not been reissued.

Fennario

Well, the last agent did say that Plusgrade = A, but that was sold out by then (earlier agents never mentioned codes). The last one also said that F was available through reissuing for the price of a firstborn and a couple of kidneys.

hugolover

It's gonna be A. But as I said, changing the booking class doesn't need a reissue of the ticket.

Raul_R

Doublechecked -- on all my similar cases ticket was reissued (after paid upgrade ticket had new number).
Anyway last paid upgrade was for me last year.
Maybe now it is different.

Fennario

So I’m now in the lounge at LAX and inquired at the desk about upgrading. I was told that it would be an EMD at this point, which doesn’t surprise me. That still doesn’t settle the issue of what was available earlier over the phone, but from now on I’ll be sure to mention codes.

Tyrolean

I do use cash upgrades quite frequently. My main employer (the state) only pays cheap economy-fares.
On the other hand the Agents at the SEN or HON Hotline often have really no clue about the rule and the systems. Sorry, this is a sad fact. In most cases I know the rules better than the agents. Sometimes calling the supervisor may help (they have more clue but are far from good).

Advance payed cash upgrades and auction upgrades do result a milage value for business class. It is sometimes quite a lottery, in which fare bucket you will end. Auction Upgrades end mostly in P or A. For P it can result in lower milage values (but HON-Miles).

Upgrades during Checkin, at the airport, or on board have no extra miles.

Cash upgrades tend to mess up whole bookings. On multi-sement-flights the upgrade of one segment did block the upgrade chances on all of the other segments. I had that a few times, and the call center agents did not have any chance to solve it (the booking class for the cash upgrade is not available: Which was ........ at that time).

What stays: Checked luggage allowance, and all the other T&C of your original fare.
If you rebook, you get a refund for the cash upgrade.

Since some time you will still have the original Cabin Class on your Boarding-Pass. That is not a bug, but a feature (Many Call-Cente Agents: That is done on purpose). Besides from the "waving a C/F Boarding Pass to the plebs" that may have few issues:

- Fast track at some airports. You are eligible as part of the rules but some Staff does not know that LH issues Business Class boarding passes that show "Economy"
- The Hand-Luggage-Stasi: "Oh you are traveling in Economy and have to check in your hand luggage"
Been there, done that.
- Lounge-Access

The rules are quite clear on the webite:
https://www.lufthansa.com/us/en/upgrade-options


I did complain quite a few times, but got as a response: "This is done on purpose". "You have a Status anyway".
On my Short flights the free middle seat an the extra hand luggage are the main features for the upgrade.

Sometimes the seat-number helps (Sitting in 1A). The Barcode shows "Class-C" so the computer says yes in those cases.

bertles86

Guys, if I understood correctly then upgrading via this button means my class will be upgraded too? Is that right?