Upgrades question

If I book a MPM fare in PE, can I later upgrade by cash from the fare to UC? And would this be a reasonable way of doing it? Or would it likely cost significantly more doing it this way??

I don't think you can do this.

I believe you would have to pay to convert to the appropriate revenue fare then the upgrade, so you may as well have booked the U/C revenue fare at the outset.

This is what I did:

I was planning to buy a PE "E" class ticket. I found out just in time that "E" class is not easily upgraded (lots of fees to equalize the fares, etc).

I bought an "S" class ticket in PE - only marginally more expensive for 3 - a few hundred dollars difference THEN I upgraded to UC as "G" class fares were available for 90,000 points (I've been saving a while). "S" coded fares are eleigble for upgrades.

Now, if you haven't saved this is perfect timing! If you're planning for two people flying, you can purchase 30,000 miles for $800 or so BEFORE Dec 31, then buy 30,000 more Jan 1. From what I can tell, it would cost $1500 or so to upgrade 1 fare from PE to UC, so you save approximately $1000. At least that is how it worked for me (SFO-LHR).

Then you have to call UC reservations through FC pretty much every day until upgradeable seats in UC are released and you can snatch them up. I found a great little tool that I could check myself everyday to see when they were available. I had outgoing booked a month before return was available. I knew the upgrades were available before the UC FC person knew!

Happy Hunting!

Thanks for your replies, not sure the miles idea will work for us but will look into it!

I found a great little tool that I could check myself everyday to see when they were available.

Hi Norcalflyer

Is the checker tool freely available or is it something like Expert Flyer which costs $$?

Thanks

Martin