Upgrading via Miles

Hi all,

I have been saving my miles for a while now and have a nice healthy total and was hoping to get some upgrades into Upper Class. I have a couple of questions that I wonder if some people who have upgraded via miles before would know the answer to:-

1. What are the chances of having 3 reward seats in Upper Class for any flight, this would probably be the LGW-MCO route, more than likely on a Saturday in April (though obviously not during any school holidays)?

2. Is it more likely to get a reward upgrade if upgrading from Premium to Upper rather than all the way from Economy to Upper, or are they all out of the same bucket?

Many thanks in advance... y)

Easter is in April next year (Easter Sunday = 20th) so almost the whole of April is school holiday period as many local authorities phase their holidays so that Easter is either at the end, middle or beginning of their 2 weeks off.

1. Not totally impossible but I'd say unlikely given that there are only 14 UC seats on the 747s that generally run to MCO from LGW. Not ideal but consider splitting your party over the 2 daily flights

2. All UC rewards come from the same bucket (G) whether a straight G reward or an upgrade from Y or PE.

That's a good question actually.
I too just recently bought an upgrade from EC to UC using miles but couldn't get and upgrade from PE so had to buy Z ticket I think.
Looking forward to seeing what people's experience is.
Sorry am new to V-flyer so still haven't got much experience.

I wouldn't like to bet a penny on getting 3 UC reward seats on the same flight in April to that destination.
What might be more workable is to fly non direct via NYC (where there are half a dozen flights a day) or via Washington.

If you need to go directly and don't mind paying for PE then at least if the upgrade doesn't work out you wont be stuck at the back (but watch out - not all PE are upgradable).

Yeah, that's about what I figured. Thanks all for your replies.

I use miles a lot for upgrades - often in the Summer but more than one or two Gs rare on same flight.
We usually go to NY then onward and usually go for PE upgrades. Manged to get 4 Gs on the way home from NY this July though. Would agree that best chances are on routes from LHR with much more UC seats and to NYC where there a more daily flights.