Thai airways upgrade, is it possible??

[Davo369]

I thought i would treat myself to a upgrade from economy to business class with thai airways, as i have 70.000 air miles. I tried many times doing the upgrade on thai airways website But couldn't do. Anyway I called them spoken to a guy which he said you have to wait 3 days to find out if i can get upgrade. Which I though was a bit strange because i know for sure they have business class seats available on my dates.... Just wondering if anyone on thaivisa would know.   Kind regards davo369 

[jackdd]

Afaik only certain booking classes can upgrade for miles, so you might want to check this

[ThaiBunny]

What does "but couldn't do it" mean? You get an error message? The site "times out" or freezes? Where are you traveling from?

Edited March 28, 2019 by ThaiBunny

[Farangwithaplan]

With some airlines, the hold back from giving an instant upgrade to international flights for a reason. There are different levels of membership to an airline's rewards system. Levels are separate to the amount of points you have obtained.  Generally, rewards are given to members of a higher level first and if there are still seats available the next level down get the opportunity.

[ThaiBunny]

The only possible reason I can see on the relevant TG web page is "* Promotional fares may not be eligible for upgrading using miles" - https://www.thaiairways.com/en_TH/rop/Redeeming/Redeeming_Award_UpgradeAwards_onTHAI2.page -although I agree it may also depend on your membership level

[cranki]

I've upgraded numerous times, you need to buy the correct ticket first *Promotional fares may not be eligible for upgrading using miles* and yes, the website is a PITA trying to do that, have always called the office.

[kwonitoy]

I gotten upgrades at the airport check in desk quite easily, just ask nicely and a fee will apply of course 

I've got a gold card which helps

There online system is useless 

[bert bloggs]

I find it very easy ,mind you my sister in laws son being a steward in business class does help i am sure .

[Estrada]

Last time I tried to get an upgrade to Business by Thai from Brisbane, they said it was full, I explained that I had a leg injury that required me to fly in a business class seat and after pulling a few strings, I got one. When I boarded I found that half the seats were taken up by crew members from the previous flight trip to Brisbane. 

[natway09]

I find that by going to their office in Silom it becomes a 10 minute task

[arithai12]

12 hours ago, Davo369 said:

Which I though was a bit strange because i know for sure they have business class seats available on my dates

Indeed TG (but also other airlines) is a pain for redeeming upgrades or award flights. The fact that they have business seats available when you try to book online doesn't mean that they have seats available for upgrade: only a few are marked for each flight, and depending on the route it can be difficult/impossible to find one for the dates you want.

[Fairynuff]

As others have said not all seats are opened for upgrades and it also depends on the fare class you paid. Sometimes they open more close to departure date. Your best chance will be at the airport.

[emptypockets]

Easy......upgrade to Emirates.

[rimmae2]

From my knowldge of more than 20 years flying Thai, on each flight a number of seats are available for upgrades for different reasons, for example Gold Upgrade, Birthday Award. The fact that there are business class seats available does not mean that there are seats available to use miles in any way.

 

I can't remember ever having to wait 3 days to know if it is possible to upgrade using miles, but I have done so many upgrades I can't remember - maybe if I wanted to go on a particular flight and Thai had to wait if they would sell revenue seats before releasing other seats.

 

I suggest calling Thai again and speaking to another person, who may be more helpful. If Thai Office is nearby a visit and being polite would be worth it.

 

As poster 7 stated you can upgrade at the airport if available. I don't think that it is very common to do so, so if seats available should be a good chance.

[CH1961]

1 hour ago, rimmae2 said:

As poster 7 stated you can upgrade at the airport if available. I don't think that it is very common to do so,

It's called 'ca$h upgrade' ... used many times, only available at check-in-counter ... pay the fee and relax in business class ... easy to do. 

[rimmae2]

52 minutes ago, CH1961 said:

It's called 'ca$h upgrade' ... used many times, only available at check-in-counter ... pay the fee and relax in business class ... easy to do. 

Agreed cash upgrades easy to do and have done so numerous times, but cost depends upon routing and booking class. In any case OP wants to use miles and probably before they are devalued significantly. 

[Sydebolle]

Got screwed with almost 500'000 miles on Swissair at that time; there was ALWAYS an excuse for not honoring anything on particularly those flights I wanted to go. Called them nine months ahead and told them I'd like to fly; they could choose the date - did not happen.

Swiss, which succeeded, did not honor the miles but took over the database and kept on sending promo material (the only source of my email and address was Swissair); never flew with them and I flew every month Thailand-Switzerland in business class for almost 10 years. Emirates worked out perfectly well until I retired. 

[PMZ]

Thai Airways entire loyalty and passenger management process is fundamentally flawed to extreme levels.

I was Gold for 11 consecutive years and Gold for a total of 14 years, yet to this day they seem to not know me from Adam and in those days I rarely got informed of special loyalty promotions and, rarely, even in all those years, got an upgrade.

Travelling on my own account, I go out of my way to avoid the overpriced, nepotistic, farce that is Thai Airways.

To answer the question, only x number of seats in any cabin will be allocated to upgrades, despite occupancy levels and, it will also be dependent upon the 'original purchased fare' being of an 'entitled' level.

Best to keep in contact with the staff in the call centre or as someone suggested, use the miles on a 'proper airline' in the Star Alliance...

[Kinnock]

Been Gold level for over 10 years, travel regularly for work and had a large number of points about to expire - tried to book two free business class seats to anywhere in the world to go on a trip with my partner - in all cases a flight out was available if booking months in advance, but Award flights not available for the return.  Not a single destination in the world available on a return basis within next 6 months!

 

Phoned them, best they could do was put us on a wait list for the return flights (this may be the reason for the OP's 3 day delay?).

 

Anyway, points expired and I now tend to fly Skyteam more as their program is easier to redeem.

[Davo369]

5 hours ago, Fairynuff said:

As others have said not all seats are opened for upgrades and it also depends on the fare class you paid. Sometimes they open more close to departure date. Your best chance will be at the airport.

Hi, i got semi flex air ticket booked direct with thai lhr to bkk

[Davo369]

14 hours ago, ThaiBunny said:

The only possible reason I can see on the relevant TG web page is "* Promotional fares may not be eligible for upgrading using miles" - https://www.thaiairways.com/en_TH/rop/Redeeming/Redeeming_Award_UpgradeAwards_onTHAI2.page -although I agree it may also depend on your membership level

Im silver 

[richard_smith237]

I've never succeeded in a Business Class Air-miles upgrade with TG. In fact the only time I've ever been upgraded was on a domestic flight when I knew one of the FA's well.

 

I did try to use Air-miles for an upgrade to the UK, But,  tThe price for 2 Economy Tickets, Plus the additional Tax to upgrade with Miles + the Tax on my son's 'lap seat' was more than 3 business class with Etihad at the time !!! So we flew Etihad to the UK and used the TG Air-miles a few months later for the 3 of us to fly to Japan in Economy instead (total tax there was about 12,000 baht I think).

 

I suspect there are not many seats (perhaps only 1 or 2 business class seats) allocated for Air-miles upgrades on each flight.

 

TG seem to be very 'behind the times' when dealing with upgrades etc when compared to Airlines such as Emirates where I get upgraded regularly, but cleverly they offer 'cheap' upgrades a 3-4 ays before the flight, to be paid for either with Air-miles or Cash - I use this option 70% of the time on my regular flights to the UAE.

 

 

[Fairynuff]

9 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

I've never succeeded in a Business Class Air-miles upgrade with TG. In fact the only time I've ever been upgraded was on a domestic flight when I knew one of the FA's well.

 

I did try to use Air-miles for an upgrade to the UK, But,  tThe price for 2 Economy Tickets, Plus the additional Tax to upgrade with Miles + the Tax on my son's 'lap seat' was more than 3 business class with Etihad at the time !!! So we flew Etihad to the UK and used the TG Air-miles a few months later for the 3 of us to fly to Japan in Economy instead (total tax there was about 12,000 baht I think).

 

I suspect there are not many seats (perhaps only 1 or 2 business class seats) allocated for Air-miles upgrades on each flight.

 

TG seem to be very 'behind the times' when dealing with upgrades etc when compared to Airlines such as Emirates where I get upgraded regularly, but cleverly they offer 'cheap' upgrades a 3-4 ays before the flight, to be paid for either with Air-miles or Cash - I use this option 70% of the time on my regular flights to the UAE.

 

 

I haven’t used TG for more years than I can remember. BA would be my last resort airline

[rimmae2]

My experience of Thai seems to be different to other posters. For the last 15 years or so, I have booked a Platinum or Gold Upgrade and a 50% miles ticket in business class on the same flights mostly to Europe, but sometimes to New Zealand or Australia.

 

Next Friday we were scheduled to fly to London using Upgrade and 50% miles in business class and have just called Thai to change the dates by about 3 months. I had to be flexible with the dates a little but the flights have been rebooked.

 

Economy travel is possible using miles on flights to every destination in Europe that I checked when logging in selecting some random dates in June/July and there were many seats available.  

[scorecard]

15 hours ago, Fairynuff said:

As others have said not all seats are opened for upgrades and it also depends on the fare class you paid. Sometimes they open more close to departure date. Your best chance will be at the airport.

And there' always the possibility that the airline wants to wait a bit longer to see if passengers pay full price for seats.

 

 

[Morty T]

All depends on your class status, are you Royal Orchid Silver or Gold. I'm a Gold member with EVA. Thai is part of the Star Alliance. If the flight you are on has a Premium Economy section, you would not he able to upgrade into business, two class jumps are not allowed. If you're a Gold Member, upgrades at check in are easy enough if your are flying at a economy level higher than K,Y class (cheaper version of Economy), but then only into the next class. Business may not be an option. Booking a Premium Economy seat in any class, K,Y,M has the option of upgrading into business. On Eva its 14k miles on each segement. I'm not sure about Thai though.

[Davo369]

2 hours ago, Morty T said:

All depends on your class status, are you Royal Orchid Silver or Gold. I'm a Gold member with EVA. Thai is part of the Star Alliance. If the flight you are on has a Premium Economy section, you would not he able to upgrade into business, two class jumps are not allowed. If you're a Gold Member, upgrades at check in are easy enough if your are flying at a economy level higher than K,Y class (cheaper version of Economy), but then only into the next class. Business may not be an option. Booking a Premium Economy seat in any class, K,Y,M has the option of upgrading into business. On Eva its 14k miles on each segement. I'm not sure about Thai though.

Silver 

[Davo369]

Hi to all, thank you for your posts, i got a email from thai airways this morning saying I've been upgraded to business class.. ???? happy days

[Pilotman]

15 minutes ago, Davo369 said:

Hi to all, thank you for your posts, i got a email from thai airways this morning saying I've been upgraded to business class.. ???? happy days

It's still Thai Airways !