Buy Coach Tickets, Upgrade to 1C using Points?

[MikeM132]

First, I'll say I have looked on FlyerTalk.com many times. The people on that board are WAY too advanced for me and I think too advanced for this question. I am investigating buying the cheapest tickets I can to Hawaii and then trying to upgreade using FF miles to 1/c. I am looking for 4 tickets during Jan/Feb/Mar (probably a prime time, I'd guess) in 2008. I have an account with miles at AA. I used AA already once to get to Hi on FF miles because I was told they had a lot of availability (and I did get tickets pretty easily, although I got them at 331 days before the flight).
Is there somewhere to look to see how to do this upgrade thing? I have heard you have to buy the right kind of ticket to start with. I have also heard various things about upgrading and how hard/easy it might be. Many seem to swear by this (upgrading to 1/c). Having never flown 1/c anywhere, this would be a first for me. That 11.5 hour trip to HI would be a good place to start, I think. Thanks in advance.

[dixies9]

I think you can look at aa.com and find out how many miles and what is required to upgrade to first class with miles. We flew to HI several years ago and we had 2 coach and 3 first class tickets and it was great. It makes it easier to sleep on that long flight. We purchased the 3 FC tickets with miles.
We use citi bank charge cards which we earn miles on AA and charge everything. We booked 15 coach tickets this year with AA using miles.
You just have to pay the credit card bill every month to avoid finance charges.
Dixie

[MikeM132]

one of our Marriott salesmen told us about buying a coach ticket and then upgrading. We won't have enough points for actual FC tickets to HI (they are more than double the coach miles). I just am not sure exactly how to do this. I see on aa.com they have miles to upgrade to 1/c from coach (looks like 1way) and it is not ridiculous. I just need a strategy on exactly how to pull this off. I have enough time to be early on this.

[Pat H]

Use AA.com to find the tickets you want to buy and put them on hold. Then call AA and see if there are seats available to upgrade with miles. AA allows you to upgrade on any published fare unlike some other airlines that require you to buy a more expensive ticket. The challenge you will have is getting a reasonable price early enough to get the upgrades.

I was surprised 2 weeks ago when I booked a ticket EWR-CUN on AA for March 2007. I got a very reasonable price and was also able to upgrade using miles.

[Pat H]

Mike, I just noticed where you live. I'm in Brodheadsville if you know where that is.

Here's another tip for getting more AA miles. AA presently allows Gold/Platinum challenges where you can obtain elite status by flying 10,000/20,000 miles within a 90 day period. The trip to HI is over 10,000 miles round trip. You would be Gold on the return trip and earn bonus miles plus you can use the elite check in lines, reserve exit row seats, etc.

[camachinist]

Yup, unless it's an "oopsie" fare

I couldn't get any kind of upgrades, as a non-elite, on any of the 105.00 transcon fares I booked. They were published for a couple days. Does that count? At least, back then, they had MRTC.

Conversely, the K mistake fare I just flew on NW did allow for upgrades, but I didn't have miles, so flew coach. I wasn't that impressed by F on NW anyway, after scrutinizing it. We're flying to YOW on another iteration of this fare next month and I do have miles now

AA allows you to upgrade on any published fare

For the OP, best thing to do IMO is book/hold and purchase/upgrade on the phone, or do the whole thing on the phone, even if it costs a fee. Well worth it when going to HI on vacation.

IIRC, there is a way to see AA upgrade buckets on the GDS, but my expertise is with UA. If someone knows the bucket codes, I might be able to look them up on my access.

I did similar (phone ticketing) with our upcoming F awards to Oz and had to eat the Y re-deposit fee (200.00) plus the ticket fee (30.00), but it was worth every penny

Pat

[lynne]

Be careful when booking as fares booked into O will not be eligible for domestic upgrades.

[Pat H]

Originally Posted by lynne

Be careful when booking as fares booked into O will not be eligible for domestic upgrades.

I'm not familiar with "O" fares. Can you buy them on AA.com? I know "S" fares are not eligible for upgrades but those are sold thru bulk fares like RCI travel.

[camachinist]

Originally Posted by lynne

Be careful when booking as fares booked into O will not be eligible for domestic upgrades.

Yup, that's what the mistake fares booked into....

Relevant verbage:

Upgrade Awards provide you with the opportunity to purchase an economy or business class ticket and use AAdvantage miles and a non-refundable co-pay to confirm and upgrade. View Upgrade Awards

* Upgrade awards are only valid on individual published-fare tickets and are subject to capacity controls.
* Fares booked in I or O, or fares booked in Q between North America and Asia, Europe, India or South America are not upgradable
* Upgrade from most discount economy is an upgrade to the next class of service, from any eligible purchased discount economy ticket.
* Upgrade on Full Fare Economy is an upgrade to the next class of service on any unrestricted full-fare economy ticket. Unless otherwise noted, a full-fare ticket is one that is booked in Y or B and is unrestricted, requires no fee for change or cancellation, has no advance purchase requirements, and is fully refundable.
* Upgrade from Business Class is an upgrade to the next class of service, from any eligible purchased Business Class ticket
* Upgrades are limited to a single one-way trip with a maximum of three segments.
* Upgrade co-pays are non-refundable.

http://www.aa.com/apps/AAdvantage/Vi...t#travelawards

Pat

[Jaybee]

We have been able to upgrade with AA miles every time we've tried, including 2 tA flights. It's kind of a bummer that they now charge $250 pp each way, but it still beats buying first class tickets. Now, I'm back to point A, trying to utilize my AA CC as much as possible...Here comes Christmas...and the shopping mall, and MyPoints. From listening to some others, we must have been very lucky.
Jean

[JROBIN]

On AA, the only fare class to Hawaii that you would need to be concerned about is the O class fare, which cannot be upgraded. The other fare classes can all be upgraded to First Class for 15k miles in each direction. The fare class that needs to be available is the A fare bucket, which is a fare class that can be viewed directly on a site like ITA:

http://matrix.itasoftware.com/cvg/dispatch/login

In order to book your upgrade, you will need to call the advantage phone number 800-882-8880 once you have purchased your ticket. I have booked these upgrades this way twice and have not had to pay any additional ticketing fees to AA (provided you call at least 21 days before the flight is scheduled to depart, otherwise there is a $100 expedite fee) because the only way you can book this type of award is to call in to AA.

I think this is one of the best way to use your miles because you will earn credit for the flight and replenish some of the miles that you are using for the upgrade.

[Dave M]

JR - How can you see the class availability on ITA after the changes that were made to the site? Can you lead me through the process of getting to the screen? (e.g., F9 A6 Y9, etc.)

[Hoc]

Just a personal opinion, but I fly on AA First Class all the time. There is very little difference between First Class and coach on domestic AA flights, including those to Hawaii. Normally, I find the First Class seats a little wider, with a bit more recline, but they are just as uncomfortable (sometimes even more so) as the AA coach seats. When you are flying First Class on AA, you have a special checkin line, but that usually is as busy as the regular checkin line, and in some cases, it is even slower, as the AA First Class Checkin normally has only one person, while the other line usually has two or three serving the line. You get a meal in First Class, while you have to buy one in coach, but the meal is airplane food. In other words, about the same as what you got in coach about 6 years ago.

You get free booze in First Class, so if you drink a lot, that might be worth it to you. You also get to board the plane first if you are in First Class. Personally, I save my AA miles for flying First Class on the partner airlines, like Cathay Pacific, where you get a real First Class experience.

[chrisnwillie]

I purchased my tickets last May (AA online) from JFK to Aruba (direct flight) for a cheap fare of $278/pp plus tax for March '07......that's less than half I usually pay. I called 3 weeks ago, and upgraded to first class using points and I am thrilled. No hassle, no problem.

[MikeM132]

Originally Posted by Hoc

Just a personal opinion, but I fly on AA First Class all the time. There is very little difference between First Class and coach on domestic AA flights, including those to Hawaii. .

Well, we sat for 23 hours right behind first class (counting both ways) on AA, and not only did they sit in Barcoloungers but they seemed to give them the royal treatment. I have always loved to fly (except one forgettable trip with a High School band to UK on a charter packed to the max), so even coach was always a pretty good experience for me. My wife is another story and is the real driving force behind this first class thing.

[MikeM132]

Originally Posted by Pat H

I'm not familiar with "O" fares. Can you buy them on AA.com? I know "S" fares are not eligible for upgrades but those are sold thru bulk fares like RCI travel.

See...now you guys are talking like they do on Flyertalk. What the heck is "O"? I don't see this stuff anywhere when I look at tickets online. I have no idea what "Y" is, what "J" is, etc..
BTW--of course I know where Broadheadsville is. That's where Country Junction used to be! I'm not all that far away from there.
In answer to Camachinist--the only time I've cashed in for a trip was about 18 months ago (went to HI last April). I didn't know how to do it so paid the extra money and AA talked me through on the phone. I actually wrote AA a letter about this telling them I had thought this kind of customer service was dead. The women I talked to at AA both times I called were true pros and nice as could be. I fully intend to call again next time (hopefully in a few months--not so long until early 2008 now!). I hope AA hasn't shipped those jobs to India by then.

[Pat H]

Originally Posted by MikeM132

See...now you guys are talking like they do on Flyertalk. What the heck is "O"? I don't see this stuff anywhere when I look at tickets online. I have no idea what "Y" is, what "J" is, etc..

I still get all those letters mixed up too. I think "Y" is coach and "J" is Business?

Originally Posted by MikeM132

BTW--of course I know where Broadheadsville is. That's where Country Junction used to be! I'm not all that far away from there.

That sure was a shame when it burned down. I remember when it was just a small store. There is another one in Wind Gap but it's nowhere near the size.

If we have a TUG gathering in the Spring, you'll have to join us.

[icydog]

Since you live in Bethlehem PA I suggest you use Continental if you can out of Newark. Do you have an Amex card that has reward points. If you do you can transfer those points to One Pass miles. Do a search like this:
Go to www.Continental.com
Put in EWR to HNL, put in your dates, then select reward travel. The next screen will ask you if you want to search for reward travel or upgrade rewards. Select upgrade rewards. Once you do that the screen will ask you to indicate which flights you wish to upgrade. Select both. Then see if any upgrades are available.

Upgrading on miles going to HI takes more miles than for "domestic" flights (15k vs 25 k). Because of this I simply used my miles for the whole trip. I cannot see spending $750 for a ticket and then adding 50K miles. For 60K I get first both ways on reward travel. If you have any problems send me a pm or an email.

[camachinist]

Dave, I'm assuming you use KVS and SeatCounter for fare buckets. I've been seeing UA award and upgrade buckets on the latter for awhile now. I'm assuming AA is more open, as most people complain about UA being so cryptic.

Personally, I hardly use ITA at all anymore. Much faster IMO to use KVS, EF and FareCompare. All the mistakes (or perhaps not, but cheap) I've flown recently have come from FareCompare and routed on EF.

For those overwhelmed by FlyerTalk, it's much the same as the average timeshare owner coming here and trying to figure out all the purchase/rent/exchange strategies we all talk about here. I personally found the learning curve there pretty quick, once I put in the time and actually got out on the planes.

Pat