New Fees Make Frequent Flyer Flights Even Less "free"

[george]

New fees make frequent flyer flights even less "free"

Is upgrading with miles a wild fare chase?

Thanks to new co-pays and rules, using your frequent flier miles to

upgrade can be really confusing, impossible or not worthwhile.

Confusing because the airlines have different rules, which seem to

change at a whim; impossible because often there are no seats

available for upgrading on popular routes, even if you plan months

ahead; and not worthwhile because the major airlines often require

that you buy one of their more expensive fares to be eligible and, to

add to the insult, now levy expensive co-pays of up to $1000 round-

trip, plus miles, to sit up front (that's in addition to the other

frequent flyer fees they charge).

Even so, sometimes the effort is worthwhile. Last year, I flew from

New York to Los Angeles, and thought it would be pleasant to fly

business class on one of Uniteds PS (as in Premium Service) nonstop

flights. Searching on Expedia.com, I discovered that these flights

carry a premium price: at the time, about $2050 round-trip compared to

Deltas $1500 business class fares. But I also discovered that I had

30,000 miles in my MileagePlus account, just enough for a round-trip

upgrade, and, using a site called ExpertFlyer.com, identified which

United flights were eligible for upgrade.

ExpertFlyer (membership starts at $4.99/month) works with several

major airlines (regrettably, of the larger US carriers, only American

and Delta, and no longer with United), which make their real-time

upgrade inventory available to subscribers. The service allows you to

figure out the lowest priced fare class eligible for upgrade, and

shows which flights have upgradeable seats at that fare.

The cheapest economy fare on my dates of travel was an economy fare of

about $230, but only a fare starting at $450 was upgradeable. Still, I

preferred “spending” 30,000 miles for $1600 of value rather than

25,000 miles for $230 of value (the price of the cheapest economy fare).

But its not always that easy to snag an upgradeable seat at a

reasonable fare. Over the last year or two, the major US-based

airlines have been tinkering with their upgrade policies, changing

mileage requirements, the eligible fare classes, and adding fees.

Worse, theyve been eliminating flights, reducing seat availability.

Heres an update of what to expect.

American

American levies a $100 round-trip co-pay plus 30,000 miles for non-

Hawaiian domestic upgrades (half these amounts for one-way; all

mileage requirements and co-pays in this article are based on round-

trips); there is a $300 co-pay on Hawaiian routes. But virtually all

American fare classes are eligible for upgrades. On international

flights, most destinations require 50,000 miles plus $700 to upgrade

from discounted economy fares (there are no co-pays from full fare

economy fares). Fares booked in I, O and Q fare classes arent

upgradeable for travel to Asia, Europe, India or South America; and

those booked in I or O are ineligible for travel elsewhere as well.

Continental

Continental also requires co-pays, but allows all discounted fare

classes to be upgraded, subject to inventory controls. Co-pays on

flights offering BusinessFirst business class cabins (international

flights and nonstops between Houston or Newark and Hawaii) range from

$200 to $1000 round-trip; on flights where BusinessFirst isnt

offered, co-pays range from $100 to $300, although B, M, H, and K fare

classes are exempt (as are “Elite” frequent flyer members).

Delta

Delta used to allow upgrades only on more expensive economy class

fares, but they recently added less-expensive H, Q and K fare classes.

However, other airlines generally offer more fare class choices, a

situation mitigated only slightly by Deltas 25,000 mile upgrades on

non-Hawaiian domestic routes (compared to the 30,000 required by other

airlines). The good thing about upgrading with miles on Delta is that

there are no co-pays. But for international travel, only the more

expensive, slightly discounted, B and M fares are available for

upgrades.

United

Effective for award requests made on or after January 12, 2010, the

good news is that upgrades on many routes require fewer miles and more

fare classes will be eligible; the bad news is that youll have to

fork over a co-pay of between $100 and $1000 (United had originally

scheduled co-pays to kick in this past July, but had a change of

heart). In the current (pre-Jan 12) scheme, on a flight from North

America to international destinations you could only upgrade to

business class from a fairly expensive M or H economy class fare for

60,000 miles, but with no co-pay. After January 12, that same trip can

be upgraded from a much wider range of fare classes for just 40,000

miles, but with a co-pay of $500-$1000, depending on the fare class

and destination. Prior to January 12 , fares booked in G class aren't

upgradeable; for travel from North America, Hawaii, the Caribbean, and

Central America to all other destinations United serves, E, U, Q, V,

W, S, T, L, K, and G fares are non-upgradeable.

On domestic US flights, starting in January, co-pays range from $100-

$200 round-trip (when first announced, there was up to a $1000 co-pay

for upgrading the cheapest fares to or from Hawaii, but United has

backtracked on that ("we heard your feedback," they state on their web

site) and now the co-pay is the same as for other domestic flights). But

all fare classes will be upgradeable. So, while theres greater

flexibility, the co-pays may make upgrading an expensive proposition,

assuming that seats, which are inventory controlled, are even

available. And keep in mind that those “name your own price” fares

you bought from Priceline are also ineligible.

US Airways

As of August 15, 2009, US Airways no longer required their Dividend

Miles members to purchase a minimum fare (it had been $1400) to

upgrade to business class. Theres currently no co-pay for domestic

flights, even to Hawaii. For international travel, you pay 60,000

miles plus $600 ($800 to the Middle East). All fare classes are

eligible for upgrade, but that doesnt mean that all seats and

flights have seats available.

Maybe you should just buy an upgrade?

So which airline should you earn miles on if youre hoping to

upgrade? Lets not bring your frequent flyer status into the

discussion, because that would complicate things beyond the scope of

this article. The truth is, its a complicated question, because all

the miles and co-pay cash in the world amount to nothing if there are

no seats available for upgrades when and where you want to fly, or if

the only fares eligible are so expensive that when you add a co-pay,

you might as well just buy a discounted business class ticket. Which

airlines have the most seats available for upgrades at the lowest

possible fares? No one really knows (if the aforementioned

ExpertFlyer.com worked with all airlines, we might have a fighting

chance at stabbing a guess). But thats the crux of the matter: what

difference does it make how many miles you need, or what fare classes

are eligible, or what the co-pays are, if the airlines, which are

cutting flights and capacity in their premium cabins, really just want

to sell you a business or first class seat and arent making enough

available for upgrades? Basically, the only way to make sure you sit

up front is to buy your way in.

-- http://www.airfarewatchdog.com 2010-02-08

[fishhooks]

I find the only worthwhile use of FF points these days is really long haul with hopefully the fee's and tax's not too much in cash outlay.

To use FF points on a major airline out of Australia to Thailand amounts to almost as much cost in extra's as the total cost of the whole ticket including all extra's on say Jetstar or Air Asia X.

[markeewan]

I find the only worthwhile use of FF points these days is really long haul with hopefully the fee's and tax's not too much in cash outlay.

To use FF points on a major airline out of Australia to Thailand amounts to almost as much cost in extra's as the total cost of the whole ticket including all extra's on say Jetstar or Air Asia X.

I agree that you have to be very selective about what you use FF points for. But over New Year I went from Sydney to Bangkok return in Business class with my FF Points and ~AUD340 and the best of it was that on the return journey I got upgraded to First Class. It was the icing on the cake and made up for being ripped off on the Bangkok to Samui leg which was just under $10000 baht return.

[Musongman]

It's very hard to crack a ticket for the dates you want with your F/F points on Qantas these days.Through a contact, I am able to view the seats available on all flights, but there are never more than a handful of F/F seats per flight, and not all flights are fully booked.

Getting to and from BKK even if you are staying a long time, is a monumental task. As soon as I use my current points, I am dropping Qantas as I am also a Kris Club member,and Thai suits me for multi leg as does SQ. Qantas has really uninteresting routes and dull partner airlines IMO.

[FRM-BKK]

Just talking of value for money and miles.......

I had a pleasant experience with Thai Airways' Royal Orchid Plus programme three weeks ago. I am a gold member with Thai Airways. As such, they send you a "Birthday present" close to the month of your birthday; mine is March.

Before I received this birthday present, I realised that I only had 36.000 miles left in my account; not enough to get me anywhere, apart from domestic destinations.

Anyway, the Birthday present offered me a 'one-off' invitation to redeem an award ticket at 50% of the required mileage.

I normally fly between Bangkok and London (required mileage 70,000). I also purchase my tickets in the UK because of price. I nowadays purchase a year return ex London.

So, I quickly made my way to Thai Airways office behind Silom Road and enquired whether I could use my Birthday present for a LHR-BKK-LHR flight?

Dates LHR-BKK 18 September

BKK-LHR 20 December

All available and E-ticket was issued within 15 minutes; 35,000 miles! Thank you very much Thai Airways!

The value of the free Award ticket for these dates came to £812.00

I had to pay 11,550 THB in taxes and charges. I was very surprised that they let me fly on an award ticket so close to Christmas. There were seats available all the way up to 23 December.

I will purchase another year return ex London at the end of January 2011 when I return to Bangkok.

I have always found 'Thai Royal Orchid Plus' a worthwhile progamme to be a member of.

So, not all bad news!!

Frm-Bkk