FlyerGoldII

So I am willing to upgrade on LX from the ZRH to JNB flights using Miles and Mores evouchers for myself and my wife (keeping my daughter in Business class)- is it legal for Miles and More passengers to give me evouchers? If successful, I could at least get my daughter in the F class lounge in ZRH.

If the answer is yes, I would go to coupon connection and ask for evouchers for 2 people (I am not allowed to ask for anything for more than 2 people)- I would offer Aeroplan miles in exchange (most valuable on AC due to dynamic pricing that AC offers).

MichielR

To provide some reference, on my upcoming ZRH-JNB I am quoted:

CHF1670 for a fixed price upgrade on one leg, no fixed price offered on the other (in which F appears to be almost full).

Plusgrade bids lowest bids starting at CHF1050 and 1200 per leg.

bawm

This isn't how paid upgrades work on LX - they will simply change the one segment in the booking. The underlying ticket remains as is, P class in this case (in Amadeus, there would be a service added, but I won't get into the technical part there).

If you want to understand how an actual upfare to F on the outbound would work - first, RBD A is premium economy on AC, and LX doesn't offer A on any AC-operated codeshares that they market. Further, if your ticket was AC-plated, they don't sell F fares. If your ticket was LX-plated, then an F fare would be booked in either C or J on the AC segments.

Hope that helps.
bawm

FlyerGoldII

My ticket was AC generated. I agree that AC does not offer F class tickets on AC flights as AC does not have an F class cabin. But I thought that AC can offer F class tickets if either a) AC was codeshared on the Star Alliance carrier F class segment- esp the first transatlantic segment; or B) per my TA- the non-codeshared LX flight from ZRH to JNB would be upgraded to A class for CAD$2400 per person- whether or not I kept my AC J (P class) flight.

I just went to google flights - one way first class fare from ZRH to JNB is just over CAD$14,000 and return fare is just under CAD$16000.

cfischer

AC can most definitely sell Swiss First YUL/YYZ-ZRH-JNB. If that is just 2400 more I’d most definitely do that! If you keep an AC coded flight on the return then having this all on a 014 ticket should not be a problem

FlyerGoldII

I went to the LX web site for my reservation.
LX is asking for CAD$2760 for the upgrade from ZRH to JNB.
Expert Flyer shows F8A8J9C9D....

So the question is this: if I want long enough - could the amount LX requests for an upgrade go (substantially) down - if flight availability is high for both first and business class cabins right up to the departure date. Does F or J class stay relatively empty or sell out on this route, esp in August?

Otherwise, if does make more sense if I pay CAD$2400- I change first transatlantic flight to LX and book that flight in F as well as the second flight.
Of note- I may have to pay a $500 rebooking fee- for the itinerary/scheduled change- so for both flights, it becomes a $2900 fee.

It is important I keep the ticket stock in AC 014.

ijgordon

I doubt the single-segment confirmed upgrade price would go much lower. Bidding seems to sometimes result in meaningfully lower prices, but it's much riskier IMO. There's a whole thread on upgrade bids (and OLCI upgrades) with lots of examples. SWISS Upgrade Bargain (Bid or email invite to upgrade)

It seems to me if you can rebook on all LX metal and upgrade both segments for the same price plus a change fee, that's probably a better deal.

MichielR

+1

I've never seen the fixed price upgrades go down in price, only up.

Bids usually start with a lower minimum, but are not guaranteed and low bids will probably fail if someone else takes the fixed price upgrade.

ced_lx

The YUL-ZRH will be the easiest to upgrade, but LX doesn't seem to offer much discounts these days and usually wants 1960$ CAD from YUL. I've seen as low as 1250 but that was a few years ago. The 2nd leg is the best choice IMHO since ZRH-JNB is a much longer flight. If the ZRH-JNB is in First you get the first calss services and lounge in Zurich, that makes the most difference, espoecially since JNB leaves so late you have the entire day in Zurich. 2400$ per passenger is a decent deal for both legs.

FlyerGoldII

I have been to LX business class lounge in Zurich a few times- but last time pre-covid pandemic.
I have been on LX business class flights a couple of times- but last time pre-covid pandemic.

On the ZRH-JNB route- what are the actual differences of J vs F class- in terms of lounge, soft and hard product in the plane
.
I should note- I do not drink alcohol.
I am not really a connoisseur of food.

Of note- my wife and adult daughter do partake of alcohol, but are not wine connoisseur. They have a finer appreciation of high quality food than I have, but I am not sure if I can say they are food connoisseur.

I will be happy to have a flat bed - Is LX is a "private" flat bed like the AC "private" flat bed or the non-private LH J class flat bed (which I experienced on a LH flight from FRA to YYZ, a few months ago). I would take the AC J class product over that LH business class product any day.

My point- is it really worth it for me to take F over J class on that ZRH-FRA flight?

If I take F class on that flight, how does it compare or differ with the YUL/YYZ-ZRH first class?

chris63

There is a massive difference between F & J on LX, Suites in F compared to J similar to LH J , F&B on an entirely different level also.

ZRH FCL E is one of the best F lounges in the World, they have 2 bedroom suites but on a first come basis. LX J lounges are quite poor.

LXB777 & A340 have modern Suites in F, A330 is a much older version but the gap between F & J remains huge, A330 J is ancient.

oliver2002

Since F&B is not a big issue for the OP I doubt the seating comfort on both flights is worth multiple x000 CAD/CHF?

Fabo.sk

Point of comparison, upcoming FRA-JNB, confirmed upgrade 3090EUR, bidding starts at 1120EUR. (return is a different routing)
Compared to that, and the fares quoted in #19, confirmed upfare for 1700USD on ZRH-JNB sounds eminently reasonable.

Is it worth it... well that depends on the individual.

chris63

For the OP to decide, there is also an extremely long layover at ZRH where F lounge would be more comfortable.

ced_lx

Just to contradict myself, I just paid 1339 CAD for an upgrade on LX87. This is the lowest I�ve ever seen. Funny thing is the app said 2530$, I just asked at the counter�This is like 870 CHF�