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Old Jun 13, 2019, 2:44 pm
  #1  
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Upgrade for points on LH

LH states that I should refer to the SK site to find out about how to upgrade for points so I assume this is the right place to ask the question.

I will be travelling long haul on LH (out in Economy and return in Premium Economy). I'd like to upgrade using my EB points, preferably to Business but to Premium Economy on the outbound would also be okay.

Accoring to SK's website I can upgrade from Economy to Business if I am booked in Y or B. I believe they are "Full Economy" tickets. If booking on lh.com I can't book those classes so I'd have to get our company travel office to book it in Y or B. If I book online I get Q for the Economy trip and E for the Premium Economy trip.

My question is if it is correctly understood that it has to be a Y or B ticket and that I can't even go from E to Business when using EB points?

Is there any other way to get upgraded? Can I for instance bid for an upgrade with EB points or does have to M&M Miles?
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Old Jun 13, 2019, 2:57 pm
  #2  
 
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Originally Posted by SASegments
My question is if it is correctly understood that it has to be a Y or B ticket and that I can't even go from E to Business when using EB points
If I were you I'd ask EB this question. Many * FFP allow nowadays to upgrade LH's booking class E and G.

Also keep in mind that the award booking class I needs to be available for your flight to be upgradable with points.
Is there any other way to get upgraded? Can I for instance bid for an upgrade with EB points or does have to M&M Miles?
You can't use EB points, but money works.
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Old Jun 13, 2019, 4:30 pm
  #3  
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If you ask your TA to look in to booking Y or B, you will probably find them more expensive than P or Z. Unless your company has a healthy corporate agreement with Lufthansa.
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Old Jun 14, 2019, 2:04 am
  #4  
 
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Originally Posted by SASegments
LH states that I should refer to the SK site to find out about how to upgrade for points so I assume this is the right place to ask the question.

I will be travelling long haul on LH (out in Economy and return in Premium Economy). I'd like to upgrade using my EB points, preferably to Business but to Premium Economy on the outbound would also be okay.

Accoring to SK's website I can upgrade from Economy to Business if I am booked in Y or B. I believe they are "Full Economy" tickets. If booking on lh.com I can't book those classes so I'd have to get our company travel office to book it in Y or B. If I book online I get Q for the Economy trip and E for the Premium Economy trip.

My question is if it is correctly understood that it has to be a Y or B ticket and that I can't even go from E to Business when using EB points?

Is there any other way to get upgraded? Can I for instance bid for an upgrade with EB points or does have to M&M Miles?
Originally Posted by Jainzar
If I were you I'd ask EB this question. Many * FFP allow nowadays to upgrade LH's booking class E and G.

Also keep in mind that the award booking class I needs to be available for your flight to be upgradable with points.

You can't use EB points, but money works.
It is possible to upgrade on LH using EB points. It's called *A upgrade, and you find it on your EB pages after you login. Under Use points - Upgrade - Star Alliance upgrade. It's not a plusgrade bidding. It's a confirmed upgrade at a fixed price. But be aware that LH tends not to release the *A seats until like 2 weeks ahead of scheduled departure
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Old Jun 14, 2019, 2:26 am
  #5  
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Originally Posted by highupinthesky
It is possible to upgrade on LH using EB points. It's called *A upgrade, and you find it on your EB pages after you login. Under Use points - Upgrade - Star Alliance upgrade. It's not a plusgrade bidding. It's a confirmed upgrade at a fixed price. But be aware that LH tends not to release the *A seats until like 2 weeks ahead of scheduled departure
That's only for F awards
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Old Jun 14, 2019, 3:37 am
  #6  
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A LH B or Y fare will be so expensive that you will quickly forget about upgrading with your EB points. Much cheaper to buy a N or P/Z fare from the outset to get directly into PE or J respectively.
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Old Jun 14, 2019, 3:57 am
  #7  
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Thanks for the responses. I wonder if the *A upgrades for points are ever used... Doesn’t make much sense to make it so difficult IMO.

As I am constrained by company policy to a large extent I guess I won’t be flying business this time unless I decide to pay for it.
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Old Jun 14, 2019, 4:43 am
  #8  
 
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Depending on the route, an LH bid upgrade can be a very good idea.
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Old Jun 14, 2019, 5:06 am
  #9  
 
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Originally Posted by SASegments
Thanks for the responses. I wonder if the *A upgrades for points are ever used... Doesn’t make much sense to make it so difficult IMO.

As I am constrained by company policy to a large extent I guess I won’t be flying business this time unless I decide to pay for it.
I don't find it harder to do *A upgrade than *A award flights, so I'm not sure what you mean about it being difficult. As I read most of the posts here, they are around buying the bizz tickets directly instead of going through the upgrade or LH upgrade using miles & more or EB upgrades on SK metal. None of these are related to the *A upgrade.
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Old Jun 14, 2019, 5:13 am
  #10  
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Originally Posted by highupinthesky
I don't find it harder to do *A upgrade than *A award flights, so I'm not sure what you mean about it being difficult. As I read most of the posts here, they are around buying the bizz tickets directly instead of going through the upgrade or LH upgrade using miles & more or EB upgrades on SK metal. None of these are related to the *A upgrade.
My point is that if you need to get an expensive full economy ticket in order to upgrade for *A points/miles from another FFP then I guess most would get a cheaper(?) Premium Economy ticket. I may be wrong of course.
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Old Jun 14, 2019, 5:32 am
  #11  
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Originally Posted by highupinthesky
I don't find it harder to do *A upgrade than *A award flights, so I'm not sure what you mean about it being difficult. As I read most of the posts here, they are around buying the bizz tickets directly instead of going through the upgrade or LH upgrade using miles & more or EB upgrades on SK metal. None of these are related to the *A upgrade.
People are recommending alternatives, as the value proposition of the *A upgrade from Y is pretty low. If not absolutely zero. Driven by the price of the tickets that are upgradable.

The value from PY is better, but SK does not include LH PY as an option at the moment. From J to F it is pretty good for corporate travellers who are usually in the flexible booking classes. Provided O availability shows up.
​​​​​​
As the *A upgrade and awards are looking at the same inventory, of course it is not more difficult to find space. But the underlying condition for the upgrade from Y or B makes it all the more unlikely to be fulfill the conditions of the upgrade.
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Old Jun 16, 2019, 7:28 am
  #12  
 
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Try to think about this differently, SASegments: it may well be worth to pay cash for the LH bid to a higher class, and use the points somewhere else where you could consider using cash (a suitable redemption for vacation, an upgrade on an SK flight etc). Upgrades on LH from economy, are just not a good deal, and we don't recommend it here. Using points profitably, in general, is much harder than the marketing materials from Eurobonus (or any other FFP) would like you to believe when you are joining.
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Old Jun 16, 2019, 2:57 pm
  #13  
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Originally Posted by SK2751
Try to think about this differently, SASegments: it may well be worth to pay cash for the LH bid to a higher class, and use the points somewhere else where you could consider using cash (a suitable redemption for vacation, an upgrade on an SK flight etc). Upgrades on LH from economy, are just not a good deal, and we don't recommend it here. Using points profitably, in general, is much harder than the marketing materials from Eurobonus (or any other FFP) would like you to believe when you are joining.
Yes thanks I guess I’ll do that. I fly a lot intra Europe on SK but most of my long haul is with family on LH so I can’t really use the points for upgrades. Mostly I use them for domestic flights where I find the value quite good. As I now have a company long haul coming up I’d like to have tried out the LH C as I have quite a lot of points. I had not looked into it before so my question was mainly to confirm that the value was as bad as it is. Hopefully a long haul SK will come along soon.
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Old Jun 16, 2019, 3:07 pm
  #14  
 
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You can ask your employer to book the flight completely on points and get the taxes and fees reimbursed. Used to work for me working at some big companies in DE and SE.
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Old Jun 16, 2019, 4:16 pm
  #15  
 
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Originally Posted by SASegments

Yes thanks I guess I’ll do that. I fly a lot intra Europe on SK but most of my long haul is with family on LH so I can’t really use the points for upgrades. Mostly I use them for domestic flights where I find the value quite good. As I now have a company long haul coming up I’d like to have tried out the LH C as I have quite a lot of points. I had not looked into it before so my question was mainly to confirm that the value was as bad as it is. Hopefully a long haul SK will come along soon.
Originally Posted by fassy
You can ask your employer to book the flight completely on points and get the taxes and fees reimbursed. Used to work for me working at some big companies in DE and SE.
Or save the points for the next LH with the family. If yo call SK, they can probably put together a ticket where one or more of the seats will be award seats and the rest for money.
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