Upgrading flights with OW miles
 

Does someone know whether it is possible to upgrade OW flights (operated by QF, JL, CX etc) by using miles from another OW carrier (e.g. AA)?

Not possible using AA miles.

As far as I'm aware most OW programs only allow upgrade award on their own airline on their own metal, however some (eg JL) do allow some codeshare flights.

AisaMiles can be used to upgrade BA and AA roundtrip flights as well as CX and KA (oneway or roundtrip).

It is *A that allows alliance-wide mileage upgrades, not OW.

Can one use QF miles to upgrade a QF metal flight if the a xONEx ticket was issued by AA? I know that AA allows SWU upgrades on their metal, but only if the ticket was issued by AA.

Absolutely!

My wife and I together on QF with Business class upgrades SYD-JFK and NRT-SYD on a LONE4 ticketed by AA (001-) last year.

We also flew in F on 2 class domestiv AA flights with the same booking using AAdvantage miles..

Unlike BA and AA, it does not matter what airline 'plated' the ticket for QF segments.

The only program which allows this is Asia Miles. Using them, you can upgrade CX, KA, AA and BA. In addition to what has be said already, check the fine print as only very few booking classes are eligable.

QF doesn't care who issued the ticket as long as they operate the flight and it is QF points you are using.

As does SkyTeam - if you've booked full fare Y class economy.

And who books Y if B, H, or anything else in the steerage cabin is available?

Dave