dingo

Yes I should know this, but I am confused and two calls to CP / International desk have not clarified it for me.

As a CP using the DMUTA5 certs, fare codes of M, H, Q, Y or B are upgradeable. Codes W, V and K are not.

That's easy at this point. The fares are fairly high so I started thinking about using miles.

To purchase an award seat in Envoy is 160,000. That is pretty easy as well.

My confusion comes in when I look at the Premium Awards that cost 100,000 miles. I was told by one of the International agents that they are upgradable for 10,000 each way at the time of purchase. That puts the cost at 120,000 miles for an Envoy seat.

My points of confusion:

1. Is the last paragraph correct? I can buy a Premium Coach award for 100,000, then spend another 20,000 to upgrade?

2. If yes to the above, am I more or less likely to get the upgrade than to buy the coach ticket and use the certificates to upgrade?

3. If I purchase the premium coach award and just get queued up for upgrade, what is the pecking order for applying the upgrades? Do I just have my CP status and get treated as though I'd bought the ticket and am using a cert or am I way down the list?

Any insight is appreciated.

cedric

Not sure about the points, but I believe that it is possible to get a premium coach award and upgrade with your cert.

dingo

Thanks Cedric...hadn't even thought to ask that one actually. I'll wait and see if any of the other folks can chime in and help me out.

dingo

Any other pearls of wisdom?

StSebastian

Furthermore, if you use the 100K awards and then upgrade with your cert, it's like upgrading a full-fare ticket and should happen at time of purchase instead of waiting for the 7-day window. I just checked my DMUTA4s which I would guess are the same except for the V-class exception in the 2005 certs.

PHL

No. Can't be done. Period. That would make the premium 160K award pointless.


Your third question was answered - and I think it's the best route to minimize the number of points you have to spend to get a confirmed Envoy seat in advance if you have the transatlantic certs to spare.

TP

Maybe it can't be done, I haven't tried it, but there is a big difference between the hypothetical 100K+20K and the 160K award: in the first case the ticket is booked from the Y bucket and then upgraded into R. The 160K awards are booked in C...

dingo

Wow! I had no idea this was possible. This is incredible actually. So I get the award, tell them I've got a cert and then mail it to them? Hang on to it? This is really incredible and something I hadn't known...almost sounds too good to be true actually.

BWIFlyer

You will be asked to surrender your DMUTA5 certificate when you check in at the desk - the method of upgrade is entered into the computer.

The premium award offers flexibility to change your dates with a high chance that seats will still be available in Envoy for the upgrade from a "full fare" bucket. On an Envoy award, you need to have availability in the C bucket to make a change - not always available in late spring or summer to Rome. This is a good deal but not too good to be true - I know many who have done this, myself included.

dingo

Well, hmmm....

Just booked a premium award for my wife and I on Aug 4, returning Aug 19. Total of 200,000.

I asked about the immediate upgrade and at first she said nope, had to be queued and cleared 7 days out.

I told her I thought it was immediately upgradeable using my CP certs and she checked with the supe. Sure enough, that is correct. Problem is, there are no seats available for upgrade.

I had checked earlier in the day and there are like 30 on each flight available for sale.

So I let her book them and told her I'd deal with it later, but thought she was incorrect.

She came back after speaking with a supervisor and told me "if seats are available they are immediately upgradeable but they are not available." I asked what that meant and she didn't have a good answer for me.

I don't know if I'm being dealt with straight up or not. Anyone?

I also think I might as well use the miles to upgrade at this point and do the whole thing for 120,000 per person...or could I just do a regular old award and then upgrade those with miles?

dukeman

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but all Envoy upgrades come from the "R" bucket. If there are no seats available using DMUTAs there are none for miles.

dingo

So if I could book an Envoy award (160k each) I should be able to upgrade? I seem to have no problem booking this type of award.

dukeman

Not necessarily, because the 160K Envoy awards book directly into "C" not "R". Are your dates fixed. If not call back and ask what dates have 100K premium coach award availability and "R" inventory and then you can book and upgrade immediately into Envoy using your DMUTAs...

dingo

As a CP, I would think I'm in a pretty good position to upgrade somehow. The agent also indicated I could use miles, which conflicts with prior posts here. Is it possible to just use miles instead of certs? What are my best options for upgrade?

dingo

Bump...