rostovru

Hello.

I'm switching to TK from UA.

I live in BKK, and plan to use them to fly back to the US. Does TK upgrade people in the Elite Plus tier on international flights?

If so, how does it work?

vivamuci

Elite+ members get two upgrade vouchers annually. They work like UA's GPUs.

No additional vouchers if you fly significantly more (like UA where you get two more vouchers every 50k miles)

That is one of the reasons why I just credit the minimum amount of miles to TK to retain Elite+.

I don't know where in the U.S. you have to go, but the TK "K" fare in biz BKK - IST (stop-over possible) - LAX return €2.800 / $3.400 a.i. is very attractive.
Rest of the U.S. destinations are more expensive.

Bit off topic: Last month I flew BKK BOM NYC DEL BKK (B788 and B777-300ER). Return ticket price is €2.100 / $2.550.

vincewy

Based on my experience, TK does not OPUP easily, especially long haul, they usually just let the business cabin go empty, as mentioned, use vouchers, miles, or check for promotional offers on J fares, sometimes those offers are even cheaper than flying 2 segments separately, even in economy.

Where did you find this fare now? I am not seeing anything below $5000 from US except IAD-ICN ($4600) at the moment. I believe those sub $4000 US - Asia RT J are scarce and they usually pop up for less than 2-3 days and are gone forever. One day I saw anywhere US - KUL for $3500 for 12 hours and never saw it again.

Currently the cheapest NA - Asia is YYZ - HKG/ICN/TPE/MNL from $3126 US, who knows how long this will last.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/premi...ng-3126-a.html

vivamuci

This fare is around for quite some time

J THB94.000++ / EUR2.350++ / USD2.850++
K THB105.000++ / EUR2.625++ / USD3.190++

I purchased this ticket three times so far but only got K.

The fare is available through all websites and travel agents.

vincewy

oops, nm, I was thinking LAX-BKK, not BKK-LAX, yes, it's there out of BKK. Airlines (not just TK but all) surely know how to rape US based J passengers.

pencereamelesi

Only US based ? Check this out

J BKK-IST-BKK / EUR 2,916 9,288 mi €0.314¢
J BKK-IAH-BKK / EUR 2,747 22,076 mi €0.124¢

pencereamelesi

Also, there is a thread "Post your recent Operational Upgrade as Miles&Smiles Elite Plus/Elite/Classic Plus" started by LH4116 for OPUPs.

TPJ

Generally long haul C cabins are so small (only 28 seats on B777 or 330-300) and so full that op-ups rarely happen. You might have more luck on A340, but it is an old C product. If you are lucky enough to fly on a short haul aircraft with new short haul C (16 seats) upgrades do happen.

starflyergold

If you are thinking of an US airline style elite upgrade policy than you will be disappointed. That only happens in the US. As E+ it is vouchers for 2 flights and that's it.

rostovru

Excellent. This is all great information. Thank you.

vivamuci

Even US airlines don't upgrade on intercont flights without a valid upgrade certificate, miles plus copay or in case of overbooking.

It only happened twice in my flying career that I got upgraded without the flight being oversold.

2001 on TG MUC BKK from C > F (but only because I helped the station manager to reconnect their internet which broke down) and again one time
MUC BKK C > F because they filled the almost empty C cabin with op ups from Y and they put C pax (although there was still plenty of space in C) in the F cabin with F service.

My logbook counts 642 intercontinental segments so far. I’d guess that I travelled 80% of the flights with the highest possible status of the respective carrier and save for above events, no upgrade outside the rule. I doubt any carrier would jeopardize the integrity of their premium cabins (domestic U.S. F is anything but premium) by using unused seats to upgrade status pax from a lower service class.

Forrest Bump

On TK you're more likely to get opups on the shorter feeder. Of course only out of operational necessity, as said in several other threads.
Again got upgraded last week (V) IST-NAP on a packed plane due holidays madness.

SK AAR

On the European feeder flights, op-up occur during school holidays/holidays where Y is sold out (and over booked) and C is almost empty. I have witnessed this several times on CPH-IST flights. Priority seem to given to E and *A gold pax. In the past I received an op-up being SK*G.

Y needs to be sold out. Unless there is an actual need to upgrade pax, op-up will not occur.

changey2

I don't think they upgraded internationally. Took a PEK-IST flight last week and lots of empty J seats

DHalltheway

How hard is it to secure an upgrade using E+ vouchers?

The impression I am getting after reading several threads is that it is either nearly impossible or it is possible but you need to have of patience and persistence.

PS: I ask because I am moving away from UA after the devaluation.