No, obviously op-up's don't count in this thread. :rolleyes:

NRT-ORD 60,000 JPY (or ~$512 USD) for Y->C (bought a T fare)

But the difference is usually quite significant. Just looking at fares in late March, if you paid approx. $800 all-in for a W fare SFO-NRT-SFO RT, then get an offer for, let's say, $500 each way to upgrade, the entire price (if you upgraded both ways at the gate...) would be $1800. Whereas if you purchased a Z fare in the same market, the price would be approx. $4,000.... seems like a pretty good savings to me....

I know there are some markets where QUAUP and relatively cheap Z/A fares exist, but usually, the biz/first fares in intl markets are pretty high... While I've never taken advantage of a Chick-in upgrade, I think they are 1) a terrific method to earn revenue on seats that would otherwise be filled by "free" (non-monetary) upgrades, and 2) a pretty good way to sit up front for those who didn't want to (or couldn't) fork out the big bucks at time of booking.

SEA-SFO 3/6/2006 morning flight on Boeing 757
Y -> NF for $130.00

Has anyone noticed any trends about the cost differing based on what type of Y fare you have? NRT-ORD at ~500 on a T fare vs SFO-KIX at ~300 on Q...

What magic (if any) do you think they are using to come up with these numbers? (I remember hearing something $xx per mile, but this feels like something else.. maybe)

276.00 o/w K-fare (FAT-SFO-KIX) upgraded to NC for 275.00, so 551.00 o/w in NC, in reference to my prior post, though the first leg was in Y (FAT-SFO) as no C service is offered from our gateway to SFO. Offer was at SFO check-in. Irrops applied (wx).

Pat

Yes, my feelings exactly, I just checked in for NRT-ORD and paid another $550 as hoped. I may not always get so lucky, but this RT was even cheaper than above scenario, as DFW-NRT was under $500 and applied the $250 Expedia goodwill coupon from last year. So under $1400 upper deck transpac including narita hotels both ways as I continued on to PNH and SGN.

Viva LA Flyertalk ^ ^ :-: :-:

Another data point:

ORD-CDG (offered in DTW) FEB 18: 450 dollars Y to C, S fare.

IAD-ZRH on March 7th:

Paid C -> F on 763 for $750. :rolleyes:

I was in NC, and probably would have done it, but they refused. :rolleyes:

I'm glad they're protecting the F cabin (which they then filled with NRSA's). :rolleyes:

Today (or yesterday 07/03 departure)

LAX-SFO-LHR Y to C, 550$

UTA

ORD-LHR last 28/02 $350 from Y (W Fare) to C care of Mr chicken

Since you can buy 40K miles per year for around $1100, it only follows that they would be willing to sell an upgrade for around $500.

You get the same upgrade for 15K miles, even though it can't be confirmed ahead of time. So UA gets badly needed $.

Last year ORD-GRU S fare $300 Y to C.

October 2005: HKG-SFO, C -> F for $550, offered at the ticket counter. The agent made the offer before she noticed that I was already upgraded into F using an SWU. The F cabin was full, and no upgrade offers were made at the gate, so it sounds like they had all the takers they needed during checkin.

$750 for F on a 6.5 hour flight with a glorified biz seat?

Seems steep as people are reporting $500 for U.S. - Asia routes.

7 March 2005, EZE-IAD, $500 to upgrade to Biz. I kept my exit window in E+.