Upgrading on Lufthansa
 

I am travelling in July (July 1) BOS to FRA, and am trying to upgrade that flight. Any advice for a 1P?

If there's no NC inventory, get on the waitlist ASAP. The longer you wait, the worse your chances.

There is no waitlist for upgrading on LH

Be sure to book it as a LH flight, then call UA and ask to upgrade it (they will have to send a note off to LH to request it). Best to check with UA first on which fare buckets can be upgraded, last I checked it was just Y/B

If it looks like you won't get it that way, you can use a paper SWU or paper MP cert to waitlist the day of the flight.

If you wish to upgrade in advance using miles, you must have purchased a Y,B,M,H or C fare.

If you are going to upgrade with a 1K systemwide upgrade (someone else would give you) then that is done on a stand-by basis when you check-in at the airport. This certificate can be used on almost any fare.

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In order to upgrade with miles, you have to call UA and begin the process. They will contact LH to request the upgrade and mail you a paper certificate to turn in at the airport. You have to contact UA again to see if the upgrade cleared. It usually takes LH 48-72 hours to get back to UA, and sometimes the request has to be sent multiple times.

There is no NC inventory on LH. Upgrade inventory is I (or O for First) on LH.

Welcome to FlyerTalk, Swarthy Gent! Your advice would be excellent if this were a UA flight, but LH does not differentiate between award inventory and upgrade inventory. If there's no award availability, there's no upgrade availability either.

At present, there is no award/upgrade inventory available on that flight. cgruber, have you already booked your flight? If you can fly two days later, there is an I-Class (fare class for Business awards) seat available on LH 423 BOS-FRA on July 3rd. On that date, there is also availability on LX 53 BOS-ZRH.

I don't think one can use UA miles/certs to upgrade LX.

I have already booked, as I have business in London later that day.

Miles yes, certs no. But only on Y and B fares, IIRC.

I have requested an upgrade and have the certificate from United. How frequently do I call to "keep it current"?

I believe you're incorrect. BJ is right, no upgrades on LX using MP.

But not UA miles.

Well, according to this page, Swiss is one of the airlines on which Star Alliance upgrade awards can be used.

They seem to be suspended for the time being though... :confused:

I stand corrected. Thank you.

Right. Up until a week or so ago, you could.