Hello,
I'm moving to Seattle soon and I frequently travel internationally to China and the Middle East for work. I want to start using an airline that offers upgrades to it's elite members on International flights. Are there airlines and programs that offer upgrades from coach to biz based on availability rather than having to use miles?
For example, when I was a gold member of NW/KLM I could usually get an exit row in coach but was never upgraded to business. Are there any programs that offer this?
Thanks,
Jesse

AFAIK, there is no airline which upgrades based on status.
That being said, since you are flying to China and Middle East, I would say UA might be your best bet with SWU.

Welcome to FlyerTalk. Your best bet would be United if you can get 1K status and use the systemwide upgrade certificates on the relevant routes. They fly both to China and the Middle East and even if you can't get upgraded you would have E+ seating or exit row seating.

No one offers complimentary upgrades on international flights that I know of.

This is probably a dumb question but to get the 1K status and the SWU's do you have to fly 100,000 miles in one year? I usually fly about 60,000 to 70,000 so I don't know if I would ever get this.
Thanks,
Jesse

Yes. 100K miles or one of the other qualifying requirements in a calendar year for UA and the other major US-based airlines. Others have varying rules.

You would be most interested in the information available here:
http://www.united.com/page/middlepag...litemembership

You could always get creative with routing to take the least direct and longest way to get to and from your destinations?

I believe their only ME destination is Kuwait, which may or may not work depending on where you ultimately need to be.

You don't necessarily need to "fly" the miles. There are various promos (usually toward the end of the year) that can help. The Mileage Plus Platinum Visa is also a good way to earn some EQM. Also, if you fly on a B fare or higher, you get an additional 50% EQM for the flight.

If you buy Y or B, then you only need to fly 66,667 BIS miles without any promo as mahasamatman pointed out.

UA gives 6 certs/year good for an upgrades systemwide space avail to top tiers. Valid for most fares.

AA gives 8 similar certs/year.

DL gives some certs but these are only valid on the most expenive fares. Not useable on most fares.

US also gives a couple certs.

NW has just started a program for those who fly WAY MORE THAN TOP TIER to get a couple upgrade certs, good from any fare.

CO has no international upgrade certs; miles only.

If I remember correctly, MA atleast used to give MA elites free space available ugprades to business class transatlantic. I don't know if they still do. They are the only airline I know of that did this.

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I have a related question:

Does any airline offer elites (or top tiers) free (no miles or certs) space available transatlantic/transpacific upgrades on full Y fares? B fares?

As all of those are top-tier benefits, the MA site seems to imply that they have that benefit still in place for their top tier on MA metal flights, and a distance-based mileage upgrade for other status members. It looks like their top-tier is invitation only (like UGS), not formulaic like all of the other top-tier programs.

Only airline I know of that does this is Iceland Air.

http://www.icelandair.com/home/frequ...e280/item3303/

OS usually fills up C with elite members at the gate. Just make sure to ask