Kacee

That's not what OP wants to do. He wants to leave SIN-NRT as a K and only reprice NRT-SFO to W (which is why he thinks waiting until he's flown SIN-NRT will somehow make this possible). I'm nearly certain that cannot be done.

There's no question you can refare the 1/2 RT SIN-SFO to W (though it may involve refaring the entire ticket, depending on fare rules). As noted above, that's not what OP is asking about.

sbm12

FWIW, I've never been charged the fee to switch from K to W. And I've done it a few times. No guarantees, but I've had god success over the past few years.

Also, a ~$350-500 o/w premium for K->W is normal IME. If the R is available I wouldn't hesitate to pay that for the confirmed upgrade.

jsloan

I think what OP wants to do is "pay as little as possible to make the flight eligible for a GPU," and the answer to that is "refare the entire trip to W." The only reason to try to do this at NRT would be if there were no W availability on SIN-NRT. Introducing a fare break at NRT is pretty much guaranteed to raise the fare substantially.

OP: if Kacee is right, you're barking up the wrong tree. For one thing, I don't even see a K fare published in the SIN-NRT market; the cheapest I see for a Tokyo point of sale, even ignoring all restrictions and eligibility rules, is an S fare for C$280* on a half-round-trip basis. The very cheapest W fare -- eligible only in July, but we're already ignoring the rules here -- is C$525* for a half-round-trip. Meanwhile, the YYC-SIN W fare (which is what you'd be buying, since you're originating in YYC) is about C$800 HRT. So, at best, it's a wash.

* plus taxes, customs fees, etc -- these are just base fares

Kacee

I think we are agreeing that OP has to refare SIN-SFO to W, rather than creating a fare break (K to W) at NRT. And if there were no W available SIN-NRT, I'm pretty sure the solution would be to refare SIN-SFO in the next available fare class (e.g., V, Q, or H), rather than breaking the fare. Not only do I believe that breaking the fare retroactively is not possible, I also suspect there would be combinability problems because of the fare restrictions typically applicable to NRT-SFO which, IME, often preclude combination with anything lower than a Q or H on the NRT-SFO segment.

mozilla

Same, I've never been charged a change fee for upfaring, either to a higher service class or within the same service class, although the fare rules called for a change fee. Same for other *A carriers, although I have to add that I avoid Basic Economy or similar fares which may be more troublesome in this regard.

My understanding is that the GG BUYUP waiver covers all cases of booking class upgrades, as the rationale behind GG BUYUP is to entice the customer to buy up (any buy up), but it could be that the letter of the waiver actually only covers booking class upgrades that also lead to a service class upgrade.

Kacee

I've been charged. GG BUYUP technically applies only to premium cabin upfares. That said, it is certainly possible for a 1K to get change fee waived as a courtesy for a W upfare, and I would definitely ask.

NH_Clark

I've had the change fee waived when invoking the GGBUYUP ... but have also had CSRs charge me. Probably a hit or miss thing depending in the agent you get.

timfountain

Indeed but GGBuyup is for paid upgrades. Not what the OP is wanting to do. Buy it may work anyway. It all depends who you get on the other end of the phone....

PaulInTheSky

It is possible, but it would be a K fare to Tokyo, and whatever fare basis that will be for all the flights onwards. A change like this would trigger expensive (B/Y) fares ex-NRT, which dramatically changes the total cost of the ticket.

If you tried to do K on the outbound and W on the return, assuming you have already flown the outbound, then it is also possible.

But if it's the answer to upfare to W from Tokyo, then definitely no.

david_oz

Thanks everybody for the advice. I guess it looks like I'm out of luck on this one. Hopefully the amount of spare seats means we'll at least be traveling in hobo first class

david_oz

In an ironic twist, my girlfriend just paid $1000 to upgrade herself on the LAX-SIN outbound. I’ll be going in the back and she will be in the front