Difficulty of domestic upgrades?
 

I'm serious pondering moving away from Northwest because I feel that...if I fly 150,000+ miles in a year (with a 2-3 business class trips, and 3-4 Y fare international trips (NW requires a Y or B fare to upgrade internationally) -- well, it just seems like I don't get much.

Admittedly, I get upgraded for free domestically, but since domestic flying has been a smaller percentage of my time, it's looking like it might pay to buy stickers/whatnot for domestic upgrades (6-7 trips a year) and get some SWU's.

Also, Sofia, Bulgaria looks like it might be high on the list of places I need to travel to quite a bit, and Star Alliance is a truckload easier than anything else to get there without overnights.

So my question is, assuming I'm willing to spend the stickers, how hard is it to get upgraded at Premiere Exec, and then a 1k?

Foolishly, I went for the comp back in June, got PremEx, and then didn't utilize it, so I guess I'm back to dirt in February -- but it may be worth building up.

Any input is greatly appreciated. It's a difficult choice at best. (I've also considered AA)

Thanks!

Steve

As Premier Exec (1P), I'm close to 100% on upgrades. I believe I've only failed to upgrade once in the past two years.

As a 1K, you'll also earn CR-1s so four of your domestic trips should be covered, and you'll also earn 500-mile upgrades (starting when you hit Premier/2P) that should cover the other 2-3 trips.

150K BIS on UA metal will get you 60 500 mile upgrades, good for domestic (well, region 1) use which should be enough for your 6-7 domestic trips? Even if you don't upgrade all of them, you at least have E+.

You can upgrade a Y or B fare on UA for 15k miles, and a M or H fare for 30K miles. You can also upgrade Q, V & W fares with a SWU. You get 6 SWU's each year as a 1K. You will also get 8 CR-1's which can be used to confirm upgrades in region 1 on UA in advance.

Also consider that your paid Business Class trips (C or D fares) can be upgraded to international F, which doesn't even exist on NW.

I'd switch to UA.

As a 1P, I am near 100% on domestic u/g's over the past two years (only failed to clear last weekend on DEN-IAD, and everything was way oversold anyway).

HOWEVER, I do plan the use of my u/g's judiciously. If I get a lark to use them at the gate, I usually do so on 752's and RJs--the 24 F seats on the 752 make for a good shot of an u/g at any time, and there's not a ton of last-minute upgraders trying for RJs, either. If it's a popular route--like the p.s. flights--or a plane with limited F seats, I try to book confirmable upgrades (via miles as a 1P--you'd have CR1s and SWUs, although using a SWU domestically might mark you as insane...)

Domestic upgrades depend, among other things, on whether the aircraft is a TED (0 F seats), 319 (8 F seats), 320 (12 F seats) or 757 (24 F seats). If you can book all your domestic flights on 757s or 777s, then upgrades should almost always clear.

If you're doing 150K miles mostly in paid C internationally, you're probably UGS material.

What the heck are you waiting for?

The OP said he does 150K total, but only 2-3 in paid C. Quite a stretch to get UGS unless eveyrthing else is in Y/B.

Also, now that you've mentioned the word I expect BJ will be here any second. It's like the batman searchlight. ;)

Only 2-3 C intl tickets he says, and 3-4 B/Y. WIll quickly earn star gold, but from the posts here, UGS may be a stretch.

About time BenjaminNYC showed up to give some input....its been 2 minutes since UGS was mentioned in a post.

I think it depends where you live. I've been PremEx for the last 10 years and this year I've flown 84K so far. I rarely get upgraded domestically. I think the rate has been 2/10 so far. I fly SEA-ORD or SEA-IAD a lot domestically so that could be the reason (lots of "competition" for the seats). But I do tend to get the exit row more often than not which in my mind is great (For me it's all about the space :)).

Domestic I am like 21 of 22 as a 1P. Only missed out on a two-class 763 SFO-DEN.

As a 1K I've cleared every domestic upgrade I've put in for in the past two years--though recently more and more of them later and later.

As a caveat emptor, I should mention, however, that there were a few instances when at booking my flights were showing F0 at booking, so I didn't even bother trying to put in for upgrades (those flights were on Airbusses and explus RJs).

oops, posted to wrong thread

(premature senior moment?)

Never say never. My PEK-SFO flight was F0 and i was one of 3 C --> F upgrades at the gate!!

In looking at prices and schedules, it appears that LO and OS from JFK are vastly less expensive that doing the simple SFO-FRA-SOF. I know there's virtually no mileage advantage, if any (and, if I understand correctly, no Premier Bonus miles on LO or OS), but when you can fly SFO-JFK-VIE-SOF and back for $4,000, or SFO-FRA-SOF for $8500, it's hard to justify the extra money.

It definitely saddens me. :)

Is SFO-FRA hard to upgrade? Using miles, am I correct that you can upgrade on either UA *or* LH metal?

Sorry for being a pest. But I've got one trip I likely have to do before the end of the year, and while it wouldn't hold the comped status, there's something to be said for building up a few more miles.

Or (not trying to be flamebait, just massively indecisive) I *could* use oneworld and get mid-tier on AA for next year. But the overlights just seem annoying...

Steve