I am regular with NW for now primarily because of no other options, but i guess i can get delta miles on Nw flights, my question is : which one is the best FF program for international upgrades? primarily to dxb ? i understand that there are no free international upgrades on any program and mostly you have to use miles from higher economy fare class to get upgrade, am i right? I did some research and there is lot of difference between prices and miles needed.
NW: economy fare : 1300 , upgradable fare : 4800.00 with 60k miles
Emirates: economy : 1250 , can upgrade from any fare but miles needed:
150K
Delta: economy:1370 , upgradable fare: 2700 with 50 K miles
Dont know of any other option flying over to dxb , if anyone has any other options please let me know.
Why is there such a big price difference between delta and NW upgradable fares?
So if i am primarily interested in itenrational upgrades going to asia using miles? what would be my best bet? also does being an elite make any difference?
thanks

While I'm not thrilled with United, they do offer an M fare which allows upgrading with miles. For example, their M fare from Denver to Paris is about $1,400, while the lowest upgradable fare on Delta is in the $1,700-$1,800 range.

Another question about the same topic, if one buys an upgradable fare is there any way to see that you will be upgraded before buying the fare? also for international flights going to asia, how far in advance tickets should be bought to ensure an upgrade?
thanks

If you reach Executive Platinum on American you get 8 VIP's which are good for upgrading any class ticket to anywhere they fly (AA metalonly). They are capacity controled with a three segment maximum and some fine print, but overall probably the best deal. They also have the ability to upgrade with mile +a copay on any class ticket.

JAL lets you use miles to upgrade from the next to the lowest economy fare (S at the moment, K as of Apr 1) and they typically run about $300 more than their M fare . When I'm trying to figure out if they have seats to upgrade onto, I call their mileage center and ask. Wen I get the dates I want, I have them transfer me over to reservations, make the reservation, have them transfer me back to the mileage center and they take care of the upgrade.
Alternatively, they have what they call a same day upgrade, if there are seats available, they'll upgrade you but it takes more miles. I.E. ORD-NRT an upgrade is 25K miles but a same day upgrade is 36K miles. And you also will have had to have bought an upgradeable fare to begin with.

Good luck!

use SWU on united

Not talking about SWU/VIP/special upgrades, the AA policy is still remarkably generous. You can upgrade on virtually any revenue ticket--except O, Q, or I-- internationally, so even with the co-pay, the total will frequently be well below the cheapest upgradeable fare on UA/DL/etc... Note that the copay goes up this week, so not as good, but still a pretty great deal.

Of course how your company accounting works with this, it may be better for you to be required to purchase a higher booking class...

I tried to do this last month. I could buy a US$1500 SYD----MVD flight in economy, but if I wanted to buy an economy ticket with flights where upgrades were available, the cost was around US$3500. I ended up paying US$3800 on Aerolineas Argentinas for a discounted business class seat instead. And the flight time was around 18hours faster also. So sometimes it is a false economy trying to upgrade.

Not exactly true. If you become Elite on several airlines, you do get a limited number of free "systemwide" upgrades which are usable for North America to Europe, North America to Middle East and North America to Asia.

With UA, when you hit 100K EQMs (1K), you get 6 one-way SWUs (System-wide upgrades), and earn an additional 2 SWUs for every incremental 50K EQMs. And more if you become a Million Miler.

With AA, when you hit 100K EQMs (EXP), you get 8 one-way SWUs (nee e-VIPs). And more if you hit Million Mile thresholds.

With DL, when you hit Platinum Medallion (175K), you get 6 one-way PMUs (Platinum Medallion Upgrades). You used to get additional ones for hitting higher targets; I believe these incremental PMUs no longer happen (but you do get incremental ones for hitting the 1 million miler thresholds).

US gives you two one-way "First Class/Envoy Class" certificates good between the US and Europe/Hawaii when you hit the Chairman's Preferred level (100K).

CO doesn't have a similar program.

NW doesn't, but its 2007 "Elite Extra Perks" shows them dipping their toe into the SWU waters; at 120K miles you can earn 2 SWUs, and at 160K, another pair.

Keep in mind that the rules (range of applicable fares, transerability, etc.) differ from airline to airline. DL's PMUs are only usable only on Y/B/M fares, so some members wind up not using them and hence call them "fish wrappers" or "Pretty Much Useless." On the other hand, 1Ks and EXPs are quite fond of their SWUs and those who don't use them wind up donating or trading them in CC, and there is even a lively trade in these instruments on eBay.

European programs are stingier, but some upgrades exist:

With BA, you get a "Gold Upgrade for Two" (presumably to use on a leisure trip with a spouse/significant other) once you hit 2500 Tier Points and again when you hit 3500.

With LH, you get 6 eVouchers once you qualify for the super-elite HON Circle.

Quae vide above. Yes, being elite makes a difference because you can earn and use SWUs. You have higher priority when standing by for an award (in some cases, you have to be elite for standing by for certain mileage awards). You may have access to more "award" inventory than general members. You are more likely to have an agent accommodate you with an upgrade in certain other circumstances. By all means, do it.

I think UA and AA give you your best options for upgrades to Asia using SWUs. Many, but not all, fares are upgradable with SWUs, including some reasonably-priced, restrictive, fares. You have lots of inventory in their 3-cabin aircraft.

If you fly regularly to Asia, well overshooting the 100K level, then UA is your best bet. Especially if you fly B fares which earn you 150% EQMs. In that case, a round trip from East Coast to, say, Singapore, earns you over 30,000 miles. And since you earn two incremental SWUs every 50K miles, if you do this commute monthly, then you'll pretty much get upgraded (space available of course, that's where being 1K is good) all the time. And if you do manage to run out of SWUs, you can use miles in the 4 highest fare classes to upgrade.

Stingy, maybe, but probably not as stingy as Qantas, who no longer give confirmed upgrades until just before the flight (24hrs or so, I think). Which is why I have AA now.

I can understand your post but it does not address what the OP asked. Most people trying to upgrade do not want to, or cannot, pay $3000 to $4000 for a ticket. Many people would simply see what flights upgrades are available on on book that. Or they would resign themselves to being in coach. That is why i said that upgrades were capacity controled on AA.

Thanks for all the replies and help, here are a few more questions regarding above postings:
1- Regarding SWUs or similar products, i understand you can use them only with same airline metal, like AA or UA, problem is both of them dont go direct to dxb where i will be going, so they end up connecting through europe, so this way i can upgrade to europe but no beyond, am i right in this/
2- I guess my main question is : how you gurus do it regarding international upgrades, do you buy an upgradable ticket and then try to get an upgrade, but what happens if no upgrades are avilable, then you ened up paying much more for economy class, or you dont buy a ticket till upgrade is secured using SWUs or miles?
thanks

On AA you can use a VIP for up to three segments. It must be used on AA metal. So if you fly LAX-JFK-XXX-XXX you will have the upgrade on all segments if they are available. If the flight from Europe is on another airline then you won't be able to upgrade using the VIP.


The way to find upgrade inventory is to buy a subscription to expertflyer <www.expertflyer.com> which is associated with Flyertalk! It can show you fare classes on most carriers. That way you can see what routing has upgrade availability.

You can also try calling the airlines reservation and getting a good agent. Just make sure you already know any alternatives that might work. Many agents just look for the quickest/easiest/common routing and fail to see the unusual routes that would work.

I never buy an expensive coach ticket hoping to catch un upgrade later. If there's no upgrade available at the time of purchase, I try another airline, wait to try later or go with a cheap coach fare.

Except (at least in theory!) *A, all internation upgrades (whether SWUs or equivalent, or mileage) are on the airline's own metal only.

However, outright awards are partner-wide.

I'm unclear from your post how often you need to fly this route.

If only a few times, and you want above-economy all the way, you might just try whatever airline you've got the most miles in, and get a partner-inclusive award into the class you want.

If you want to go to DXB all the way in above-economy via an upgrade, you can either look into the theoretical *A alliance-wide upgrades, or find an airline halway between (BA, LH, AF?) that flies both to DXB and to somewhere reasonably close to you in the US. To find such airlines, you could use Expedia, for example (it would in a few clicks show you everyone who provided the connectings flights all on the same airline). Verify that all the flight numbers are relatively low (ie, not codeshares). You didn't specify where you're starting from; the above three airlines have 1-stop flight pairs LAX-europe-DXB, but depending on where you are (and how far you are willing to drive, or whether you're willing to take a "short" non-upgradable connecting flight) your results will vary.

Next, upgrade to what? Keep in mind that BA longhaul has 4 classes of service, and you can only upgrade a class at a time. OTOH, if what you want most is more legroom (rather than fancy service), BA's premium economy (World Traveler Plus) on both legs might be just the ticket at a compromise between price and level of comfort. (BA mileage upgrades tend to be on the more difficult side compared to some other airlines, and you have to buy WTP to qualify for an upgrade to Business, but at least the worst seat you'll get if no upgrade comes through is better than economy!)