upgrades
 

Need opinion of experts in this forum. What is the way to upgrade NW bought tickets operated by KL on international route (IAD-DEL) What can i do to obtain the upgrade, which is the lowest fare class i can upgrade, better with miles or any other option like UA's SWU or AA's eVIP etc. Really would appreciate any help. Travel is flexible around Jan 20, 2008. Thank you all

NW SWU's work at any fare. If you do not have those then you need to buy a B fare and use miles.

Thanks. What are NW SWU's called and how do you get them? Sorry if its a dumb question. I will try and trade for them. Thanks

They are NW System Wide Upgrades and you get them at 120K and 160K miles. You have to earn them or know someone with them who wants to upgrade you. These are VERY prized because they pull from the C bucket (almost always available) so I doubt ou will find them on the CC.

Just call worldperks and ask about upgrade availability with miles if you don't have any SWUs. It will probably cost you less than a trade... :P

NW can upgrade Y and B fares with miles... NW, CO, or KL metal (on CO it's Y and H fare)

Oh ok. You are right, i was thinking of CC. But i guess i should forget about them. I might have to look for some other airlines. May be AA or UA might be easier to get. Thank you for your insight.

For US-India, this would be:
B Fare + 40,000 miles (each way)
Y Fare + 30,000 miles (each way)

Or trade for NWA SWU...good luck on that one though. Not only are these very prized, but they are rare.

More info on mileage upgrades from the USA can be found here.

I guess i should trade for 120000 miles and just buy a award ticket instead of ussing 80000 miles plus y or b fare too. Any opinions on that.

I don't know... I prefer upgrades to award tix... at least on the paid fare you get miles for the trip to offset some of the miles you spent, plus on a Y/B fare you get 150% eqms

A very quick search on nwa.com brought up $2278 B fares, and $7510 business fares (which strangely include a flight on UA to ORD, to connect to KL ORD-AMS).

The real problem is that another search (even when I'm logged in as a Platinum WP member) shows no award availability in Business for 1/20. I'm guessing that a 120,000 mile award ticket may be difficult to find around those dates, and so you'd end up coughing up 240,000 miles (if that even becomes available).

If you're talking about the new SWU's awarded through the Elite Extra Perk program, they're not transferable, but could be usable by a companion on the same ticket as the NWA member who earned them. If you're talking about another upgrade cert, I guess anything is possible.