Does award availability = upgrade availability?
 

If a flight shows available standard seats, does this mean that I will be able to upgrade with miles with a B fare on transatlantic flights?

Edited to add:

What if it only shows rulebuster available?

[This message has been edited by notsosmart (edited 12-04-2002).]

upgrades come out of a different inventory bucket than officially available seats.

Standard award seats in W.B.C. come from the "D" bucket. Revenue seats (the expense account draining ones that business people use to get up front) are "C" and "J", and of course the occasional "Z" consolidator/sale W.B.C. seats.

For a B fare, I believe the upgrade bucket is ... ummm... "I"? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif




[This message has been edited by DJMeatBall (edited 12-04-2002).]

There is not "I" bucket listed on itn.net ...(?)

Is there a way to check availability? (Can I just call NW and ask at the time of booking?)

If there is a "D" seat available there for sure is an "I" seat available.
If there is an "I" seat available there may or may not be a "D" seat available.
Check at one of the Galileo sites.

[This message has been edited by magic111 (edited 12-04-2002).]

Thanks magic111.

I think I get it. Except that I can't find "D" buckets on any fares at any time.

I am checking DTW-AMS in jan, and also feb, mar, just to see. No D... am I doing something wrong?

BTW i used the german galileo linked to in the above post.

Check for "W" fare class, that brings up the "I", "D", and "W" buckets. Good luck!

Well, it brings up "W4" which I take it to mean that there are 4 "W" seats on each and every single flight listed... but no D or I.

Does "W" availability imply "D" and "I" availaiblity, or do they actually have to be listed on a sytem like Galileo or itn?

Sorry about all these questions, but I am switching to NW because I feel like their upgradeable fares are cheaper and more plentiful than CO's. But now that I need one, I can't find one... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif