Points upgrades
 

The last several trips from the US to CPH (both from ORD and EWR) have been impossible to get upgrades with points as we've been told that both C and Y+ were fully booked. Last month at EWR the lounge attendant was downright rude and wouldn't even hold our boarding passes for the possibility of upgrading with points, as she said that she had others on the waitlist ahead of us who were also not likely to get their requested upgrade.

Needless to say, the return night flight in a completely full economy was not fun. Yes, I know, if I don't want to sit in economy I should just pay for Y+ or C. :) But for me the value of my SK points is to use for upgrades and I just can't seem to get SK to take them.

I'm looking ahead to book our Christmas/New Years trip and can get a good fare with good routing, connecting via EWR on the outbound and IAD on the return to CPH.

Two questions --

Would a return IAD-CPH possibly be easier to use points for the upgrade than it has been from EWR and ORD? This would be the weekend after New Years.

Any news on the confirmed upgrades that we've been hearing about that SK should introduce this summer? How confident are people that this will really happen and will the points level required be the same as today (30,000 for C and 10,000 for Y+), as well as available from all fare classes as today?

A confirmed upgrade option would certainly tip the scales. Right now I can use points for a confirmed upgrade on Delta, but have to do so with a higher fare class than SK.

Susan

According to some inside info to tommy777, it seems to be the case that points will remain same as today! :) ^

think yourself lucky, flights from ORD to CPH or ARN are usually overbooked in my experience and volunteers are required to stop over and take the BMi flight via BHX the next morning.

ive found that if you hold a Y+ ticket and have your SA Gold card, you normally get priority for upgrading. Although the new policy of scrapping the upgrade vouchers hasnt helped so you get every man and his dog battling at the boarding gate desk - without stereotyping, its usually the americans who are flocking around it complaining about how they cant use their UA points.

There is not even an option to use UA points - eurobonus only.

Are the seats tight year around - or is there any seasonal opportunities to exploit?

Summer and christmas are good for upgrades as they overbook M with epmty Y and C in mind.
Same with SK as for other airlines.

BMI doesn't fly to BHX, you must mean MAN and that leaves in the afternoon. ORD and EWR are pretty much the same whatever the season. ORD has more transit pax bought in by UA.

Easter-time is also pretty busy for travel on SK. Otherwise (except for summer--May to September--and Christmas), it's pretty hit-and-miss for oversold planes. Mrs. and Baby Swede are travelling to Sweden well before Easter, and leaving on a Wednesday two weeks after Easter--I'm hoping they can upgrade to Y+ on the ARN-ORD segment.

The problem is that with our last many eastbound trips, by the time we reach the SK gate or lounge due to our connecing flights, all the possible upgrades have been given away and the GA will not even entertain the thought of holding our boarding passes for an upgrade.

And I'm not asking for op-ups, but offering to pay points, and still being turned down cold.

Obviously, the option to request and confirm a points upgrade in advance would be ideal.

In lieu of that, I wondered if a connection from IAD would have a better chance of being able to upgrade with points at the gate/lounge than EWR/ORD since flights from those gateways are always packed and perhaps have more EBGs.

Susan

Ooops... SAS have changed their minds before... Don't count on it till it has been published...:eek:

Hopefully the rumors will be true and situations like this can be avoided.

Right before/after the holidays are hard times to score any sort of upgrade, though. If it's any comfort, I had huge problems using my UA SWUs around new years last year...

seriously: having no upgrade availability for an airline is a good thing, it means that they are making money, earning profit and enable them to invest. Not giving priority to golds when there is free space is bad. But then again, i actually never had any problems with this... if i wanted to upgrade i have, if i didn't (a poor period point wise) i usually travelled with someone and had some fun.

but now with buy-your-booze, its a different ballgame :)

Ahh... most of my longhaul is LH and KL business anyway...

KL??? Are you feeling ok?? Want me to fed-ex some tylenol?? :D :p :D

Is there an official order of priority with these at-the-gate (or in-the-lounge) upgrades?

Is it purely first-come-first-served or is it based on EB (*A) status and/or ticket class?

I have an upcoming IAH-ORD-ARN-OSL trip in Y+ (with UA on the IAH-ORD segment) so I will not be able to request an upgrade on ORD-ARN until I'm at the gate in ORD about 1.5hrs before departure... So I'm guessing slim odds for a business class upgrade?

I'm directing all the earned miles for these flights to my UA account, but I have some orphaned soon-to-expire SK points that I was hoping to use for the upgrade. I trust there is no issue in deducting SK points for an upgrade but crediting earned miles to UA?

On the return, can I request an upgrade on the ARN-ORD segment when I check-in at OSL, or do I have to wait until I'm at the gate in ARN? (probably only 40min prior to departure)

And finally, any thoughts on the best seat assignment in Y+

14A/B/G/H

From my own experiences it is based on Status, and the time you got added to the list of requests. On your IAH-ORD-ARN, your best bet might be to try and get a message to the ORD station manager via phone/fax phone once you have checked in at IAH. This has worked for me 2 out of three times on SIN-BKK-CPH. On the return from OSL, They should be able to make some entires that will get you on the list..... I have found persistance pays off.

For example; Last sunday at ARN, checked in early, requested upgrade on points to Y, agent says no chance, does not bother to put me on the list. I choose to ignore her, I know there are seats available. I ask at the service desk in the older t5 wing, and the agent puts me on the list (I am now the only person on it), and tells me she will be in the new wing service desk later, and to come and see her when we get there. So we hit the lounge, and wander over there, my new favorite agent confirms we are still at the top of the list, and it looks good, but only the gate can confirm. So we proceed to the gate, at this point I figure its 50/50. 5 minutes later, the same agent comes to the gate area and helps manage everything, she pages us, and lets us know we can get middle seats, in row 15/16. I take them, since I want power for my laptop. We wait another 10 minutes, and bang, we now have two ailse seats 14B and 18G..... A few more minutes and we have 14A/B.

Persistance, and a very nice agent. Its not always hell to get the upgrades.

Also, recently Y and M have been packed headed to the US. They might welcome someone moving to C.

Thanks kjsaw, great advice!^

As soon as I have my boarding passes after check-in at IAH I will call the SK lounge at ORD and ask to be put on the upgrade list. I found this no. for the lounge: +1-773-686 3565. (It's the only relevant ph.no. I can think of...)