deephouse

Okay, here's the deal. I'm a Silver Elite with about 20,000 banked miles. Barring anything unexpected, I expect to lose my Elite status at the end of next February.

In August, I'm going to catch a Tuesday night red-eye from SEA to DTW. Wednesday morning I'll connect in DTW by taking a 9:40 a.m. flight to MHT (Manchester, NH).

Coming home I've got a Tuesday-morning flight that leaves at 6:07 a.m. (!) from MHT to DTW. I'll then connect to a flight from DTW to SEA that leaves DTW at 9:29 a.m. and arrives at 11:15 a.m.

Oh, I've already booked exit row seats on all flights as "consolation prizes" should I be denied an upgrade at any point.

Here's how I see the situation....

I don't care that much about an upgrade on the red-eye from SEA to DTW because I'm going to sleep. (A nice dose of Xanax does the trick, and I always wake up right when the plane starts its descent.) I imagine my chances are decent for an upgrade from DTW to MHT, but if not, it's no big deal, as the flight is only 1 hour and 40 minutes.

OTOH, I know I'll be rather cranky when I board that 6:07 a.m. flight out of MHT, and my travel will be much more tolerable if I get upgraded. My guess is that I've got a good shot at an upgrade from MHT to DTW, but it's pretty risky for me to count on getting an Elite upgrade -- especially as a Silver -- on the 9:29 a.m. flight from DTW to SEA.

It seems to me that the best course of action would be to spend 15,000 miles now to lock in an upgrade on my return flights. Does anybody disagree with my thinking here, and if so, why?

Thanks!

NOLAnwGOLD

use the miles....it's worth it for the security....esp as a silver the west coasts flights are just not very common for EUAs

deephouse

I gave it a try, and there are no available upgrade seats on the DTW -> SEA flight, even though I'm seeing "P9 F9." Any chance they'll move some seats into the R bucket before they start processing Elite upgrades?

deephouse

Well, after checking once every few weeks, and getting the same result, last week a seat(s) was placed in the R bucket. And now it's mine.

I leave in about 2 1/2 weeks... perhaps 21 days before the flight is when they start moving F seats into R if nobody's buying them?

baccarat_king

I just got off that flight (MHT-DTW) and am now in the Main DTW WC waiting for my DTW-BWI flight (and a bit later today, I return to DTW for a BWI-DTW-DAY flight --- don't ask).

Anyway, I was upgraded on that flight at 6 days --- and noticed that it went P0F0 a few days ago -- though, I think it processed a good number of folks into FC. Flight was full in FC; I was the last to board (as seems to be a trend lately) Flight is very short, around 1.5 hours; and if it is any consolation, while there is NO elite security line at MHT, the LONG line moved quickly, and I arrived from Nashua this morning at 5:35AM and still made the 6:07 a.m. flight; though, arriving just after 5AM (around 5:15AM) should give you plently of time (if you did OLCI).

yogimax

Have you considered that with your upcoming flights you will have in excess of 25,000 miles. That would get you a free domestic ticket.

deephouse

baccarat_king: Thanks for the report. I can't say I'm terribly excited about the 6 a.m. flight, but it's good to know that the lines at MHT move quickly. With that, and the fact that I'll be staying at a hotel right by the airport, I'll hopefully be able to get some decent sleep beforehand.

yogimax: Yes, the thought did cross my mind. But lately I've had terrible luck trying to find suitable flights that don't require a PerkPass/RuleBuster. And at the moment, I have no air travel plans beyond this trip. Furthermore, after I lose my Elite status, I'll probably "retire" from the frequent-flyer game (at least until I need to start flying on a regular basis again). So I decided that I'd rather use the miles to secure the upgrades for the flights home (especially the DTW -> SEA flight).

* * *

Anyway, I just checked my reservation, and I'm now upgraded on the outbound flights as well, thanks to EUA. That'll be a nice start to my vacation.

mnredfox

IMHO, don't use your miles. Despite all that's going on with NWA these days, I'm still betting miles are good. Burning 15K miles isn't worth the FC seat if the flight is less than 2 hours. Only snack food too.

AviationFan

But the 15K miles should get the OP into first class for both segments of the return, MHT to DTW and DTW to SEA.

Cool, you got upgraded on a SEA flight as a Silver Elite? That's pretty rare - congratulations, end enjoy your vacation!

- Martin