FF or Upgrade?
 

Me and my husband have individually enough miles (in both Delta and AA) for a trip between SJU and Europe and we were planning to use them on next Sept. 2007. Recently I read that is better not to use the miles for an award coach class ticket but instead to upgrade to business class. Because I have never used miles for either case, what is the best option and how the 330 days rule applies in each case? How many miles are needed for the coach to business upgrade on an International flight?

i suggest visiting aa.com and delta.com for the info....

from the mainland [i don't know if sju is considered carib] the ug is 25k mi plus $250 each way except for q and o fare classes which is explained on aa.com

330 days in advance are when you can book awards or paid tickets...

tons of discussion on this...

perhaps you can search on 330 days or someone will lead you to the threads...

welcome to ft....

... a practice run ...
 

Perhaps, edcblue, you could call directly to your two mileage carriers (Delta and American) and do a 'practice' run.

You could ask for information for a date 8 or 9 months hence, and explain that you'd like info for award tickets and for upgraded tickets. Most agents will try to be helpful, and it will give you an idea of the process.

You might find, however, in the end that your travel schedule will be dictated by what is available to frequent flyers. Any sort of award ticket or upgraded ticket from North America to Europe in summer will be very difficult to acquire.

Good luck, and enjoy your travels!

I don't fly the airlines you do, but in most cases airline won't upgrade the cheaper economy fares internationally. You'll likely end up having to get close to a full fare economy ticket in order to upgrade. You'll end up paying more and then using points anyways vs paying nothing and using your points. Most airline sites I have used will let you search for a fare+points upgrade itinerary. They usually aren't cheap.

Personally, I think it depends on what a coach class ticket will cost you and whether you mind flying coach or would you prefer business/first class. If you can get a reasonably priced ticket it may make more sense economically to use miles for an upgrade.

Don't necessarily make the decision on the current price of a coach ticket, since it is likely full fare this far out. Try to find out what a reasonable sale fare might be if you wait a few months. For example, Flights from PHL (my home airport) to Florida can be as high as $350-400 when not on sale, etc. But I know eventually there will be a sale or reduced fare and I can get the flight for $200-250. To me, it's not worth using 25,000 miles for a ticket at that price. It may make more sense using miles to upgrade, instead (I don't know how many miles it would take to upgrade your flight, so I can't help you there).

Good luck.

It comes down to exactly what your "flying style" is. If you book a coach seat on the flight and then upgrade using miles you will earn 100% of the miles flown as EQM. This will end up costing you somewhere around 40-50k miles and on AA a think there is a fee for INTL upgrading from coach.

However, if you aren't one that cares about Elite Status, I would simply book the ticket as a Business Class Award. You won't earn any EQM, but you will spend roughly the same as you will upgrading, and not have to pay anything more than the Security Fees...

I use my miles for upgrades as opposed to free tickets. Working on the theory that 25k miles used for a one way transatlantic upgrade is almost made up with the AA PLT mileage bonus on the paid ticket. The $250 co-pay sucks though.