CHANGES TO FF UPGRADES ??
 

I was booking an upgrade for NW asia flight today and the agent told me that mid-August some changes were going in effect for FF upgrades - of course I could not get the details other than her saying it might be tougher to upgrade later after the "change". I was upgrading a B class (rest-coach) to C class (business).

Anyone have any details on what the "mid-month" change will be? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/confused.gif

Cool - finally lost the "junior" status http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

This may be improtant information. It could be that NW will go with the same situation over the Pacific as they did the Atlantic and disallow upgrades from the lowest fares.
It appears that now is th time to buy.
Thanks for the tip!

Just talked to an NWA rez agent. He said that upgrades will be capacity-controlled, not restricted by fare!!! I usually plan my trips to Asia more than a year in advance, so this won't be any problem for me.

Personally, I think upgrades to Asia give the best bang / buck, esp. for trips from NYC-NRT-SIN/BKK. Those kind of fares usually cost under $1000 when I travel. If you're elite, you basically will recoup all the mileage spent on upgrades.

- Pat

[This message has been edited by Wiirachay (edited 08-05-2000).]

Thanks, Pat. I can live with capacity controls to Asia, but not with the same situation as they have with Europe.
Ed

There is definitely something going on with the availability of upgrade seats to Asia on NW. I've been trying to buy a ticket to BKK for travel next May. I can't find any flights on the weekends that I want to go with both a V fare and C availability. I find it hard to believe that flights nine months into the future are that heavily booked with upgrades. On the flights that do have C availability, the cheap fares aren't available.

NW is probably "zeroing out" the inventory for now -- until the new upgrade policy is announced. That's my guess.

On some flights, NW just keeps them zeroed out. Period. Sometimes, agents say that they're sold out, when in actuality, the inventory has been"zeroed out" since the booking period started. I personally find the act of "zeroing out" inventory and having agents saying that they're sold out extremely obnoxious.

What I find weird with the current ff upgrade scheme for NW from int'l coach to int'l business is that the coach fare is upgraded to "C" inventory. However, some business class fares also use "C" inventory, as opposed to "J" inventory. That can also get frustrating when "C" class fares are much cheaper than the "J" class.

- Pat

If NW goes to a more restrictive upgrade policy for flights to Asia, they also need to do come up with a program of complimentary system-wide upgrades for their top tier flyers. There is no way I am going to fly coach to BKK four times a year without being able to upgrade as a Platinum member. The only thing Plats get now is upgrade certificates from biz to 1st. This doesn't do anything for a Platinum sitting in economy. I hope NW thinks very carefully before they make changes here. There is always United, Korean, JAL or Asiana to get me from O'Hare to Bangkok. Fares on Korean are usually cheaper too along with better flight times.

NWA figures with load factors approaching 90% that they can do as they like! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

Shades of last year! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/eek.gif
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum35/HTML/000247.html

[This message has been edited by doc (edited 08-08-2000).]

I think the policy of not being able to upgrade from low price fares has already occurred http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif My evidence is in April I was flying to MNL from PVD and had to buy a higher priced ticket in order to use miles to upgrade (believe I bought B class). The last month was checking on flights to Asia on a "M" class ticket and was told it did not qualify for upgrade (Pacific Delight tours). Last week I bought a ticket PVD to KIX (B class) and was able to upgrade. Looks like same policy as Europe routes is already here.

Anyone else have this happen?

In July 99 ,I booked a Q class ticket MEM-NRT-SIN-HNL--MEM and upgraded in Aug on my CO miles one leg (only had enough for one leg at that point).....no problem....called in Oct to upgrade other leg and said fare wasn't eligible due to new rule Sept 1 so the restriction has been in effect since then for Asia and it looks like it is 2,000 from MEM-Asia for an upgradeable fare and that is not happening from this pocket

I called to check on a BKK fare a few weeks ago. I asked what the lowest fare was. They told me the it was the Super Apex fare (is that V class?). So I asked if it was upgradeable. The answer: yes. This was for travel in early next year. I didn't buy any tickets yet, but thought I'd share my info.

motnot - Be careful and be sure to verify that info with WP or OP. The last time I tried to upgrade NW internationally, I needed a B fare. It was however to Europe and not to Asia.

Yes Motnot, the super apex fare is a "V" class and it has always been upgradeable to Asia. The consolidator fares are "H" class and are not upgradeable.

Due to on ongoing rift I have with NWA, I've flown only about 25k miles this last year, having been avoiding them at nearly all costs! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

Yet twice recently on Asian trips when I'd be having other family members along and sought the best price, I think KUL & BKK, they came up with the best fares/availability (V, M or whatevr) and each time I was told that they were absolutely NOT upgradeable fares! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif Go figure! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/eek.gif I passed! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif

Just last week, I personally checked into BKK fares from EWR and on a day where a NWA $1100. "el cheapo" came up, I called and was also once agin informed that they were NOT upgradeable M fares! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

As I noted previously on FT, I'd personally encountered this before - so I was NOT totally surprised.

INMO, NWA has a long way to go! I hate to see all this potential going down the proverbial drain! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

I hope that they get there - and fast! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

I upgraded a $859 RT EWR-BKK on June 27. I called CO and they put me on CO to NRT and NW on to BKK. Later I found out that this was against the rules, that there are no code shares to ASIA that are upgradeable and that CO should have put me on 100% NW aircraft. That's a separate issue. The original coach fare basis was "K" class.

Looks like this is another classic case of the CO and NW programs being out of Sync, this time in CO's favor. I purchased today form CO, a NW ticket, JK-SIN-JFK next May for $1120RT. I could have done KUL ($1040) or BKK ($859). I had no trouble upgrading with 50,000 miles from my one pass account. I did have CO reservations check many differnt options and it was no problem upgrading the "cheap" ticktets with Onepass miles!

If I am unable to upgrade cheap tickets to Asia anymore, then my whole strategy changes with buying tickets. There is no advantage to buying 9-11 months in advance anymore. I plan to wait until 30-45 days before departure and get a consolidator ticket. These tickets are usually $100-150 cheaper than the lowest fare you can buy direct from NW. They aren't upgradeable, but I'll suffer in coach and save $ and rack up the miles. After two paid trips I will earn one free trip in biz class.

Paul3456 who do you use for a consolidator? I have not used any in the USA but they were very popular in Japan.

Beetee, I have some Filipinos in my office and from their contacts I use a small local travel agent located in the Filipino community. I travel to MNL as well as BKK. If you are looking for a good agent located on the web, try http://www.asiaairfare.com/ This is the site for Vantage Travel, located here in a Chicago suburb. I've never used them for air tickets but I have bought phone cards from them. All of the consolidator prices from competitive agents are about the same (within $10-20.) The consolidator tickets to MNL are substantially lower than the cheapest fare you can get from NW direct, but the BKK fares are usually only about $100 cheaper and they are harder to get because NW has less service to BKK. I have been buying consolidator tickets (H class) to MNL and upgradable (V class) tickets to BKK.

[This message has been edited by Paul3456 (edited 08-11-2000).]

I have been searching for award seats in BC or FC for a Feb trip to BKK since Mar without any success. Thinking about doing the upgrade route. Maybe I should consider getting a ticket immediately.

Peter - I have always done the upgrade to Asia (even getting a free upgrade from NRT to BKK on a rock bottom consolidator ticket when I could not upgrade) rather than trying the "free" ticket route. Please let us know the cheapest upgradable ticket (and fare bases code) you can pry out of NWA http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

beetee- Things are changing - fast - or perhaps I should say have already changed! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

The Super Apex fares to Asia seem to be the cheapest fares you can find on Northwest, but the fare basis code varies depending on the city you are departing from. For example, from Chicago O'Hare to BKK the best fare is in V class, a fare code of VLARC. However, from Milwaukee the best fare is in M class, a fare code of MJXAB7. Both of these fares are the "Super Apex Fares."

I suggest looking at www.travelocity.com. On their home page there is a place to list originating and destination cities, and it will find the best fares in that market along with the fare basis codes. To the best of my knowledge, all published fares you would find here to Asia on Northwest are upgradeable.

Instead of going to Travelociy, I just found that the same information is available on Northwest's web site.

I'm not sure if this is a new feature or not, but I just found the "Lowest Fare Finder" on Northwest's web site at http://www.nwa.com/travel/fares This will give you the lowest published fare in a given market and the price to look for when searching for tickets.

There is a lot of detailed information listed about each fare, but missing is whether the fare is upgradeable. A suggestion to Northwest, add this information to the fare description.

[This message has been edited by Paul3456 (edited 08-16-2000).]

I dont like this plan here. If there are any areas of travel still reserved for the well off, frequent transpacs are the last frontier. Most everyone from a 10 yearold to a 100 year old who crosses the pacific frequently is an elite member. This system will lead to lots of angry elite members who will be stuck in economy for a long time. Of course it is the ft's who the airlines want to keep and since the asia routes by their sheer length are where fts are most common

I checked with NW last night regarding upgrades on transpacific flights. Was informed that upgrades using miles on discounted fares are from the same inventory as award travel. Otherwise upgrade from full coach. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with my Feb trip to BKK. Been checking since March for mileage ticket in WBC or F. Nothing has been available. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

The lowest discount fares are not upgradable with miels, says NW's Japan web site section on their winter (Oct.-March) tariff for Super Apex tickets.

http://www.nwa.co.jp/travel/cyber/

A small print remark says World Value 14 tickets (14-day advance purchase required) are not upgradable with miles, a remark which is not found anywhere in their summer tariff section.

NW has also switched the inventory for upgrade with miles from economy to the 'D' class -- the same as business class award tickets, thus increased competition for limited inventory?

Previously, the 'C' class inventory was used for upgrade with miles from economy. The C class is a revenue ticket business class.

[This message has been edited by Chiangi (edited 08-26-2000).]

Since it has gotten more difficlut to upgrade from a decent discounted Coach fare, I will take a courier flight to BKK during the High season of the Year end holidays for $450.00 and accept whatever JAL offers in coach. Of course, the courier company pays a bigger price, so I will try for a 'hardship' upgrade. Unfortunately, I believe the staff at JAL sticks to the rules. My welfare check still hasn't arrived and I have been waiting for it for 9 years.

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