Originally Posted by Albasmom

New to Flyer Talk, I hope this is the appropriate place for this question.

I've booked 3 tickets CLT-PHX-HNL and returning KOA-PHX-CLT in November. I checked a week before booking on the availability of upgrades and was pleasantly surprised that the PHX-HNL and KOA-PHX legs had upgrades available. However, the CLT-PHX and PHX-CLT segments were not yet available to upgrade. (I know, it's still a long way off!)

I asked how it would be handled if upgrade seats do become available. The agent checked with the "Help Desk" and told me that they would be added as if they were part of the original upgrade, as I would have already "paid" the miles as if I was upgraded the whole way through.

When I actually booked the flights and called for the upgrades, I asked again. The agent again put me on hold to ask the Help Desk, and came back with the exact same answer as the previous agent. I even asked in light of the upcoming change to how upgrade awards are handled (miles + $$), and she assured me that it would fall under the terms when the original upgrade was done (1/30/12), prior to the changes taking effect on 2/15/12.

This evening, I called to check availability (yes, I'm being a nuisance, sorry, but I want those upgrades!) and the agent insisted I would have to "pay" another 15,000 miles per segment, per ticket! I told her that 2 previous agents had said the opposite, so of course she became rude. But that's for another thread! I don't HAVE any more miles to use! I bought just enough to get what I thought I needed!

Does anyone know how this might work out for me? Not on whether or not the upgrades will become available, I know that's the luck of the draw, but if they are available, if I'll need more miles or not? It seems only fair and logical what the first 2 agents told me, as I have actually "paid" enough for a full RT upgrade without actually GETTING a full RT upgrade as yet. But one never knows with airlines these days, as fairness and logic are nowhere in their rule books!

I'll add that I emailed the DM service center previously on whether the miles required were per segment or all the way through, and they confirmed in writing that it's considered one flight, so the mileage RT per ticket would be 35,000.

Your thoughts are appreciated!

Originally Posted by geo1005

Biggie Fries is correct. Call back every day and ask if your flights to /from PHX can be upgraded to match the upgrades for which you've already secured and paid. If the agent balks, be polite and disagree and ask they check with a supervisor. If you get nowhere from the get-go CBATA (call back and try again) as some agents are great; others lazy; others unknowledgeable.

Originally Posted by aztimm

There's absolutely no reason to call every day to see if upgrades are available.

I just went through this on another thread, but an easy way to see if F seats are available to upgrade with miles (or the elite auto-upgrade)--

* pretend to do an award booking between the airports, in this case CLT and PHX

* look for 'low' award availability in F.

If there's low availability in F, chances are high that there will be seats to upgrade with miles.