rostovru

I was wondering if anyone knew how the Elite Plus upgrades work.

Do you just purchase a coach ticket and then call the call center asking for the upgrade to be applied? Do they normally apply it immediately, or wait list you?

Or do you do it at the airport check-in?

I've upgraded with miles before on BKK-IST-LAX, and at BKK, they were unable to upgrade both segments. Had to do the second one in IST.

Is it the same way with the Elite Plus upgrades?

airoli

The search function is your friend:
Elite Plus upgrade vochers

faustthetraveller

Upgrade them as soon as possible if there is an availability in J class.
For LAX it is not easy since quite popular, not always J availability, you may wait in the waiting list for months without any luck and feedback.
Travel agency tickets may create problem, therefore if I am supposed to upgrade that itinerary, I always buy from the TK website or call center although with some extra ticketing fee, but upgrade works smoothly then.
Last night I booked the ticket on the web for South Africa and called afterwards the call center for upgrade, applied within 10 min.^

FlyingZT

Best to make a reservation online and then contact the call center and ask for free upgrade (voucher) availability on that particular flight(s). Make sure they understand it's the "free upgrade voucher" for the elite plus member. Sometimes they think you are going to redeem miles to upgrade! (Easier to give them your reservation code so they can check the flights)
Once they confirm the flights have the availability to upgrade, either pay on the phone, or go back to the website and make the payment and then call back the call center and request the upgrades.
Upgrades are made immediately.
Also keep in mind, they consider connecting flights as 1 leg, thus you can upgrade LAX-IST-NRT with a single voucher even though it is two flights (connection must be without a stopover)
hope it helps

aulrik

This depends very much on who you talk to at TK. As per the official rules the voucher is for one leg only, not connected flights, but we are many that have managed to upgrade several legs with only one voucher.

FlyingZT

as long as the connecting flight is the first flight they do upgrade.
if there is an earlier connecting flight but you choose to take a later flight then the system doesn't see the entire trip as one single leg.

aulrik

If you read the thread here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/turki...e-voucher.html you will see that a lot of people have a very different experience. There is absolutely no guarantee that you will get the entire trip upgraded using just one voucher, it all depends on who you talk to at TK.

FlyingZT

Since I can speak Turkish, I can "correct" the call center agents when they insist it is not possible. Unfortunately, the call center is outsourced and the Turkish Airlines ticketing counter employees at the airport and within the city also admit that the call center peeps do not know much. Besides, the call center uses a different system than the airline ticketing counters. So you need to tell them that this is the case and they will put you on hold, ask their supervisor and get back to you to confirm what you have said.

On the other hand, you cannot use one voucher for the entire trip, but a single voucher is enough to upgrade the onward connection which is the first connecting flight to your destination.
To give you an example, one voucher would be enough to upgrade JFK-IST-SIN, but a second voucher is required for the return leg.

JFK - IST one voucher
JFK - IST - SIN one voucher (as long as the second leg is the first connecting flight)
JFK - IST - JFK two vouchers
JFK - IST - SIN - IST -JFK two vouchers

I have been using the vouchers for many years now, and I usually book an economy ticket from North America to Asia if I need to do a mileage run. They always upgrade the entire trip with two vouchers; the key is not to have a stopover in Istanbul.

rostovru

Excellent info.

So minimum connection time and push for the entire journey.

Is it better to just do it at the airport if you don't speak Turkish?

gpia

One more thought, not sure if it was mentioned in the other thread: TK is very predictable when it comes to upgrading with these vouchers, as they publish their upgrade class availablity. If a certain class (i wanna say "U"? Maybe someone can confirm) is available, the upgrade WILL go through. Thus, at least a TA will be able to see whether or not your upgrade will go through before (!) booking your Y ticket. Have had a 100% success rate using these vouchers since hearing this - obviously you have to be flexible with your dates.

FlyingZT

NO you should not wait until the airport. The availability is usually predictable, if mileage redemption is available on that particular flight, you have the free upgrades. However, I also remember instances when there was no award seats available, they still upgraded me over the phone. I think the "voucher" upgrade allocation is a bit different than the award bookings.
Best to upgrade right after you make the reservation/booking to avoid any problems.

FlyingZT

As long as I remember (not 100% sure), you don't have to have a Y (or another expensive) ticket to use your vouchers. Even the cheapest promo tix can be upgraded with vouchers, but not the regular mileage redemption.
Best to reserve online, give the reservation code to the call center and ask for the voucher upgrade. If they confirm, proceed with the payment and ask them to upgrade.

vincewy

Awards - based on (I), upgrades (E+ vouchers and miles) - based on (J).

Just like everything else in Turkey, rules are bent based on whom you talk to. On thy.com, the verbiage clearly stated J has to be available in order to upgrade (vouchers and miles alike).

To ensure you can upgrade with your ticket and without the hassle of making mock booking on thy.com, check availability with matrix.itasoftware.com and put 5 people in Business Class and see if there're still plenty of J seats left.

So far I have been able to upgrade with P, not sure about W and F (these are the lowest Y fare buckets).

smellme

I agree that it works the best if you're on a first connecting flight. That being said I just upgraded with one voucher flight similar to

JFK - IST - SIN where IST - SIN was the second connecting flight.

After I finished I called back and verified that I still have 1 voucher left.

mck

Do the 2 free upgrade coupons expire each year? For a 2 passenger itinerary, is there any way to wait until 2nd year to redeem 4 coupons?

I'm trying to decide whether it's worth pursuing E+ or staying at E, Thanks!