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Reader Trey, occasional flyer but frequent upgrader, sings the praises of American Airlines’ upgrades for purchase at check-in and asks:

I travel with relative infrequency, say 3-4 times per year. When I do, I /always/ fly American Airlines because I like their planes, I like their service, and, usually, I like their price. The latest factor keeping my business with them, however, is the availability of $30 500mi upgrades when using Kiosk Check-In. I LOVE it. It’s cheap, fast, and the only way I’ll ever qualify to upgrade from the N or Q class fare I normally book. My question is this: is there any online tool which will let me view historical loads so that I can book flights which normally have room left up front?

The upgrades-for-purchase at check-in can be a decent deal, especially if you’re on a super-cheapo ticket. To maximize your odds of being able to buy one, you want to be on flights with 1) lots of tickets for sale in first class (which is hard to predict, but you can see tickets for sale up until a few hours before the flight) AND 2) with the fewest possible number of top-tier elites on board. These elites might be automatically upgraded by the airline, so they’d jump ahead of you, Trey. But unless you work for the airline, there’s no way to know who’s booked on a flight, though you can expect super-elites to travel to business destinations from main hubs, say, Dallas-New York.

I’m afraid I don’t know of any online service that offers reliable historical information about how many actual seats were available for upgrades into first class. The closest thing out there is UpgradeSuccess.com, which I’ve mentioned here, but the information in their database is pretty thin.

Other sites like ExpertFlyer let you subscribe and see loads for FUTURE flights, but that doesn’t tell you how these flights filled up in the past. FareCast collects this sort of information and gathers it in their database to make predictions about future fares, but again, this isn’t necessarily data that would help you in picking an easily-upgradable flight.

But maybe I’m missing something: Someone out there will surely correct me if I’m wrong. Any ideas?

Tim Winship notes a change to United Airlines’ Economy Plus program. Getting a seat in the forward section of coach, which offers up to 5 inches more legroom than the rear of the plane, certainly has always been a great feature, especially since American eliminated their “More Room Throughout Coach.”

Now, the zone is reserved for elites in United’s Mileage Plus program, and those who pay to upgrade their legroom. (If a flight is booked solid, you can get lucky and get seats in the E+ zone, too.)

The change to the policy is subtle, if you’re not looking for it. (I sure wasn’t.) Two categories of United customers are no longer given access to Economy Plus: passengers on expensive/full-fare tickets, and elites on other Star Alliance airlines.

While it may make it easier for United elites (myself included) to find a seat in the more spacious Economy Plus section, I don’t agree with Tim that this is a good thing. For starters, the people on the expensive tickets are subsidizing everyone else. Throw them a bone, for God’s sake. That way they’ll come BACK.

And the elites on other Star Alliance airlines now have little reason to choose United for their travels. If you’re hooked on a Star Alliance frequent flyer program, you can earn miles on any of the member airlines. Why give United your cash, when, as an elite, you can get an exit row seat on US Airways?

Maybe United thinks that more people will pay to upgrade their seats, but I have my doubts. If anything, I imagine that this could reduce revenue for the airline.

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tags: travel | United Airlines | Economy Plus | UAL Corp. | frequent flyer

When is a free ticket not free? When it’s in India.

The government of India has started bilking first class and business class passengers, INCLUDING those who upgrade or buy a ticket with miles, on all flights departing their country.

The finance ministry has now decided to levy 12.25% service tax from all passengers who occupy the Business and First Class seats in international airlines. And these would also include Economy Class ticket holders who are upgraded to the upper class free of charge. […] Roughly, travellers need to pay a extra Rs 15,000-20,000 for travelling in Business Class, and around Rs 25,000-40,000 more for First Class to Europe. For US, such upgrades to Business Class would cost Rs 33,000-40,000, and Rs 60,000-80,000 for upgrades to First Class.

How do you tax a free ticket, you ask? By assuming the full fare were paid. Like charging rack rate taxes on a free hotel room (which is also done). Terrific.

That comes to anywhere between $300 and $1700 in taxes, payable at the check-in counter.

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tags: travel | India

There’s escalation in the Discounted First Class War.

Yesterday’s post about Y-UP and Q-UP fares brought in a few e-mails. Including this one:

Have you seen that United now goes beyond Y-UP and Q-UP and now features M-UP and B-UP fares?

It’s true. Confirmed. Whoo.

Pulling up a list of fares (on Travelocity’s fare tool) between, say, Washington and Los Angeles on the arbitrary date of October 28, I see these “discounted” premium fares:

Delta USD 983.00+ F06C booking code F
American USD 1159.00+ YUPP7ZN booking code P
United USD 1159.00+ QUA7UPN booking code A
United USD 1159.00+ QUA7UP4Z booking code A
American USD 1533.00+ YUPPMZ booking code P
United USD 1533.00+ QUAUP4Z booking code Z
United USD 1533.00+ QUAUP booking code A
American USD 1933.00+ YUPMZ booking code A
United USD 2433.00+ MUAUP booking code P
United USD 2433.00+ MUAUP4D booking code D

Notice that the Delta fare that doesn’t play these -UP games is actually the cheapest of the discounted premium fares. Go figure. (FYI, the fares with booking code D or Z are business class fares on 3-class planes… hope you’re keeping score.) And none of these fares come close to the discounted economy class prices that most people look for. -UP fares shine when you’re traveling at the last minute and all fares are sky high.

This is getting silly. We have Yuppie and Quppie fares, and now Muppies and Buppies. It’s getting too hard to keep track of all these options. My brain is going to explode.

Flying in first class for the price of coach is a beloved subject with this blog’s readers. But reader Alan F. correctly points out via e-mail that I duplicated the Wall Street Journal’s mistake in my two earlier posts on the subject of Y-UP and Q-UP fares (here and here). I erroneously called these fares coach fares with an automatic upgrade to first. They’re not. They are first class fares, period.

The confusion arises because they have a fare code (e.g., “QUAUP”) that starts with an economy-fare letter, “Q.” But the booking code for these fares — the single-letter category the fares fall into — is actually a first-class code, such as “F” or “A.”

So who on earth, beside Alan F., cares?? Why would this matter? At least two important reasons:

1) Some travelers are reporting that they’re not getting seats in first on these fares. They get to the gate and are handed an economy boarding pass, with the comment that their upgrade didn’t clear. What upgrade? They bought a first-class ticket, so an economy boarding pass is a downgrade.

2) Miles, miles, miles. If you buy a first-class ticket, you earn more miles, both redeemable miles and elite-qualifying miles. Make sure you get what you paid for.

This business of the fare code vs. the booking code is silly. It confuses passengers and staff alike. I don’t know if it’s done this way by design or neglect. Or maybe there are travelers who like it this way. I could imagine a company’s accountants, whose job it is to enforce a “no first class travel” policy, not recognizing a Q-UP fare as a first class fare. Anyone?

tags: travel | upgrades | first class

Reader Vicky S. of Stockton, California writes in:

I’m flying to New York in September on United, and I’m wondering if there is any way for me to use my Capital One miles to upgrade. I have over 20000 miles with the card.

Vicky, I’m afraid you’re out of luck. You would need United Mileage Plus miles or upgrade certificates to upgrade the flight. Too bad, too, because upgrading on the cross-country flights to JFK, in United’s three-class planes, is worth it.

You can use those CapitalOne miles to buy a ticket, but you can’t use them for upgrades on any airline. That’s one of the tradeoffs that comes with credit card miles that aren’t linked to a specific carrier.

As a general rule, I’m opposed to bank-issued miles, like CapitalOne’s “No Hassle Rewards,” as opposed to airline-issued miles. Sure, you get to cash the bank’s miles in for any airline’s ticket, but that really just means you’re getting cash back. Why not get a card that actually pays you in real cash, then?

Besides, the value of those bank-miles isn’t that great. CapitalOne sets cutoffs for redemption of their miles:

15,000 miles are required for tickets up to $150; 35,000 miles are required for tickets from $150.01 up to $350; 60,000 miles are required for tickets from $350.01 up to $600. For tickets over $600 in value, the required number of miles will be determined by multiplying the cost of the ticket times 100 (ex. $768 ticket requires 76,800 miles).

That means you’re getting 1 cent per mile MAXIMUM, with ZERO chance of leveraging those miles for an upgrade (like you just discovered) or a premium-cabin ticket. A business class ticket to Australia could easily run you $8000 — which would require 90,000 United Mileage Plus miles (though that’s going up to 110,000 miles in October) or a whopping 800,000 CapitalOne miles.

So for now, check your United account to see if you have enough miles for the upgrade. It’ll most likely cost you 15,000 United miles each way.

tags: travel | CapitalOne | frequent flyer miles | credit cards

Don’t ever let anyone tell you it doesn’t matter what kind of plane you’re on. You could be paying a coach fare but sitting in business, without using miles or upgrade certs. I’m referring to American Airlines’ policy of letting elite members reserve seats in business class on three class planes… on a domestic coach fare.

How does this work? First, you need to be eligible, i.e., an elite member in American AAdvantage, or on a full-fare ticket. Second, when booking a flight, make sure you’re on a three-class plane. American’s 777s between hubs (such as Chicago and Dallas) are such planes. Anytime you see an MD-80 (or -83, or “Super 80″), 757, or 737, you can forget it.

Importantly, American Airlines doesn’t provide a business class service in their domestic business class cabin. You’ll still have to pay $5 for alcoholic beverages, and you don’t get a meal. But you DO get a much better seat.

For people who subscribe to the belief that it’s all about the seat, this is a great deal. For those who want the full premium class service, you’ll be left wanting. (I imagine that international business class travelers who connect to a flight like this are comped into first class, instead of coughing up five bucks for a drink in their business-class seats.)

Added bonus: American is in the process of upgrading their business class seats. Frankly, it seems like kind of a tight fit to me, and it looks like the person in the window seat would have quite a climb to get to the aisle. But it’s a flat seat (if not horizontal). Photo below.

Click to see larger image.

Photographer: © Joe Statz

From the reader mailbag, Lena asks:

We are going with Lufthansa next week to Frankfurt on miles tickets,can we upgrade?If so how?

The short answer is no. If you’re traveling on a ticket “paid for” with miles, then you can’t officially use normal upgrade methods, like miles or certificates, on Lufthansa or any other airline. There are exceptions, though:

1) You may be upgraded if the flight is oversold and you get moved up to make room for someone else. This is called an operational upgrade, or “op-up.” See here for more info. It has happened to me on award tickets, once: Business class award tickets, we were already in our seats, someone else had the same seat numbers on their boarding passes, and we got moved up to first class. Pure, unadulterated luck. So don’t count on it.

2) Some airlines allow for travelers to purchase upgrades at the time of check-in. It all depends on availability, timing, potentially your status in the frequent flyer program, and above all, luck. United, for example, doesn’t seem to differentiate between paid and award tickets when they offer to sell you the upgrade at their automated kiosks. (We got an upsell offer a few weeks ago on award tickets from Washington-Dulles to Amsterdam — $550 to move from economy to business — which we declined, since we already had seats 21 H and J.)

Since you’re traveling with Lufthansa, there is no option 2 that I am aware of. Readers can correct me if I’m wrong, but I’ve never heard of upgrades for purchase on LH. You’re most likely going to be sitting in coach. But have a great trip!

And readers should feel free to send in other questions by clicking on the “contact” link at the top right of the blog.

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tags: travel | air travel

A deceptively simple question, without a simple answer. For starters, not all upgrades are the same. There are the “unlimited free domestic upgrades” for elites at Continental, but good luck getting them on a popular route, especially if you’re not an ultra top-tier frequent flyer. There are the electronic certificates (e.g., at United Airlines), which improve your chances if you’re a low-rung elite, but you still need to sweat it out, often at the gate. Then there’s the option of using miles. But how successful are travelers at actually GETTING the upgrade?

To really answer the question, we need empirical data, which the airlines are not about to volunteer. A few websites are stepping up to the plate, but they all have a way to go:

UpgradeSuccess.com is building a searchable database of upgrade requests and their successes and failures for the major US airlines. The data are still pretty thin (Northwest has the most data, with just under 1000 flight segments) but the site has an option for sorting the results by elite status. If there were more flights entered into the system, it might be nice to sort by flight route, too.

Looking more globally, WebFlyer maintains an index for both award tickets and upgrades, ranking the airlines in both aggregate and monthly terms. But they don’t tell us how many segments have actually been entered. (n=??) Looking at Webflyer’s May upgrade data, there are only three airlines listed, with Air Canada showing 0% and American showing 100%. I’m pretty sure that Air Canada’s flyers are doing better than that, and American’s are doing worse. The site also collapses domestic and international flights, so you’re comparing domestic U.S. upgrades to first class with, say, trans-Pacific upgrades from coach to business class. (The latter is much more desirable than an upgrade from Chicago to Detroit.)

Both of these sites can only function with your help. So go, enter your segments! Tell them when you tried to upgrade, when you failed, and when you succeeded. Improve the data. It’ll be doing everyone a public service, and maybe in a year or so we can empirically say which airline is best for upgrades. At least for that year.

tags: travel | air travel | upgrades | first class | business class

Warning: Don’t try this on flights to/from Washington National Airport… From The Observer:

Angry economy passengers stormed the first-class section on an international flight in a mid-air mutiny. The pilot of the Pakistan International Airlines jet radioed ahead, and 14 people were arrested on suspicion of endangering the aircraft after landing at Manchester Airport.

Cabin crew lost control after the flight was delayed for four hours in searing heat on the tarmac at Islamabad airport in Pakistan. With economy packed, a number of passengers decided to upgrade themselves to the empty luxury section at the front of the Boeing 747. It is believed the crew asked them to move but they refused, so police were called in as the plane landed in the UK on Friday morning.

A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police said: ‘Police at Manchester Airport were alerted to a problem on an incoming PIA flight from Pakistan. When the plane landed, 14 of the passengers were arrested on suspicion of endangering an aircraft in flight.’ The airline refused to comment.

Note, however, that they didn’t land the plane enroute. They waited to land in Manchester, so the “mutineers” enjoyed more spacious seating for the remainder of their flight. Who says that crime doesn’t pay!

(Updated August 6, 2006; original text is crossed out, corrections follow in text. Reason for update is here.)

Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal (republished here) advises travelers to look for discounted first class fares: Q-UP, Y-UP, and Z fares. Some of these are technically coach fares, with an automatic upgrade. Though these fares often look like a coach fare, based on the booking codes, they actually book into first (or business, on three-class planes). This is a subject we’ve addressed before, with regard to international travel.

A few observations:

Finding a coach-with-automatic-upgrade discounted first class fare is nice, but it’s not generally rockbottom cheap, so don’t plan on paying $225 for a first class ticket from New York to San Francisco. These tickets are cheaper than last-minute full-fare economy fare, and certainly cheaper than full-fare first class, so undoubtedly preferable, but not cheaper than long-term advance economy purchases.

For example: Chicago-Los Angeles and back, May 16-23 on United. A search for first class fares on united.com automatically yields an itinerary with fare basis code QUAUP. This is one of the fares the WSJ is talking about. The price? $1418.59 round trip. The cheapest upgradable coach fare? $280.60. Sure, that doesn’t mean that the upgrade is guaranteed, but that’s still a big spread between “discounted” first and coach.

The lesson: See if you can upgrade a cheaper fare before you buy one of these fares. They may be less than full-fare first, but if you have upgrades, and the spots are available, use ‘em on a cheap fare. Call your airline first to check upgrade availability.

The article is also a bit glib on how to find these fares. They’re not available for every route, for every date, or every airline. Searching for first class tickets should bring them up, if they’re available. Otherwise, try using this tool from Travelocity, which lists all available fare classes for selected airlines on your chosen date. You’ll see the list of fares, ranked by price. Some of them may read Q***UP or Q***UPN, for example. These are your auto-upgrade discounted first class fares. Once you’ve found the fare you want, (try to) book wherever you like.

Finally, not all Q-UPs, etc. are created equal, and these fares are more restricted than full-fare first (”F” fares). F or A fares are most likely refundable; Q-UPs, etc., may not be. For example, on United, if there is an “N” at the end of the fare basis code, it’s not refundable. Read the rules before you buy.

Priceline’s latest US-based promotion/sweepstakes may be of interest to the Upgrade: Travel Better crowd. The “Ultimate Upgrade” offers free private jet travel, or, more likely, upgrades on American or USAirways. (The catch: If you win an upgrade, you have to buy the ticket you wish to upgrade from Priceline; presumably the name-your-own-price tickets are not eligible.)

Entry is automatic for air or air+hotel purchases. “No purchase necessary” — mail in a card. See here for the full rules.

The private jet services are offered through OneSky, which is notable for offering discounted private jet travel for repositioning flights. Let’s say someone books a plane to fly from New York to Miami, and someone else books the same plane to fly from Washington to Chicago. The aircraft has to get from Miami to Washington, but it has no one to carry. Enter OneSky, which purports to offer access to such flights at a discount to normal private jet rates. Still not cheap, to be sure, but cheaper than retail.

tags: travel | air travel | priceline | private jet