Reader Abdullah posted a question on the Reader’s Questions page which I thought was more appropriate to answer here since every once in a way I receive queries on Jet Airways upgrades. Here is a quick Q&A explanation:

Question:

I keep visiting your page as i am too a FF of Jet Airways, though its mostly domestic flights.

I need some advice, i have these upgrade vouchers to business class around 6 of them and my status is Gold card holder of jet airways.

Whenever i fly i look for best fares but then these best fares dont allow a upgrade to business class. How can i use these vouchers?

1 of this voucher expires april 30 next month.

I am also flying with my family to jeddah next month, shud i keep these vouchers and see if i get upgrade for all 3 tickets, though its unlikely but i can still try.

You need 1 upgrade voucher for every 1,5oo miles flown or less per sector for a 1-class upgrade. Which means, for domestic flights, 1 voucher is good for an upgrade per sector to business from anywhere in India, while travelling outside the country, you could need quite a few. In the case above, travel to the Middle East would require 2 vouchers per sector upgrade per person.

The Jet Airways upgrade vouchers, as per the website, can be used against the following eligible fare classes:

On Jet Airways:

• Economy to Première: Y, M, T, U, N, L, Q, S and K class.

• Première to First Class: C, J, Z, I and P class.

On JetKonnect:

• Economy to Première: When flight is operated under 9W code: Y, M, T, U, N, L, Q, S, K class.
  When flight is operated under S2 code W, Y, K, U, T, S, H, E, X, N class.
  

JetPrivilege Platinum members and other members/guests holding JetPrivilege Platinum upgrade voucher(s) can use the voucher(s) on any revenue fare type (except G Class on Jet Airways and G / V class on JetKonnect)

Domestic:

On Jet Airways, the best fares online usually book into the B class (Web Specials) or W,O fares (Special Fares) domestically. This is followed by V, K and upwards. Like most other airlines globally, Jet Airways discourages the best fare classes (cheapest fares) to get an upgrade.  This is the reason you are not allowed to upgrade on these fareclasses. The same goes for JetKonnect.

JetPrivilege Platinum members (top-tier Jet elites), or know one,you get a better treatment. So, if you are a Jet Platinum, you get to use the vouchers for an upgrade on any fare class except G (and V as well on JetKonnect). Also, if you have been transferred the vouchers of a JetPrivilege Platinum member, you can use these as well to request an upgrade on any fare class.

International:

On Jet Airways international segments, the best fare usually book into S, K or H fare classes. While S & K are upgrade eligible, H is not. It would be advisable to check before booking since the difference between the fares is not vast but a few 100 Rupees (in my experience). Again, if you are a Jet Privilege Platinum member, you will be able to use these on any fare classes except G.

How to ask for an upgrade?

It is always a good idea to call up Jet Airways once your tickets are booked. Award tickets and upgrade tickets come from the same pool, and for the past many months, Jet Airways is not releasing many seats in the business cabins. If you are a Jet Privilege member, please log into your account and check if you have business class (Premiere) redemption seats available for your date of travel. If yes, call up Jet Airways and ask them to confirm your upgrade. Otherwise, Jet Airways will put you up on a waitlist.

If your upgrades haven’t cleared immediately, do call them closer to the date of travel (frequently!). The agents can always request Revenue Management to open up seats for award travel/upgrades and confirm your upgrades. Otherwise, check for the status on check-in, and sometimes even on the gate. One of my upgrades last year happened with Jet Airways when the flight was boarded and close doors announcement was made.

In Abdullah’s case, he can get 3 one-way upgrades confirmed on his travels to Jeddah. The Gold status should give him a higher priority than most!

I hope that was enough information on Jet Airways upgrades using vouchers. Do write in if you need more clarifications or post your questions here.

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• Introduction
• Clipper Lounge, Mumbai CSI Airport Terminal 2
• Jet Airways Economy Class Mumbai to Brussels
• British Airways Galleries Club Lounge, Brussels National Airport
• American Airlines Business Class Brussels to New York JFK and Five-Star Arrival
• American Airlines Premium Check-in and Flagship Lounge, New York JFK
• American Airlines Economy Class JFK to London LHR
• American Airlines Arrivals Lounge, London LHR
• Sheraton Heathrow Hotel, London
• American Airlines Flagship Check-in and Flagship Lounge, London Heathrow
• American Airlines Economy Class London to Chicago
• American Airlines Flagship Lounge at Chicago ORD
• American Airlines First Class from Chicago ORD to Dallas Fort Worth
• Hyatt Regency Hotel, DFW
• Hyatt Regency Hotel, Bellevue
• Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel, Los Angeles
• Sheraton Gateway Hotel, Los Angeles
• American Airlines First Class from Los Angeles to Chicago ORD
• American Airlines Business Class from Chicago ORD to Delhi
• Jet Airways Economy Class from Delhi to Mumbai
• Conclusion

The oneworld MegaDo was my first MegaDo participation, and I sure was excited to go and meet another 170 frequent flyers who were game to put their money on the table and travel all over to meet airline, aircraft and hotel executives and get to know how it works behind the scenes.

The MegaDo was supported by American Airlines and I had participated in the Executive Platinum Challenge offered to OWMD participants. Hence, it only made sense to get some of my business to them and book my travels on the MegaDo with American Airlines as far as possible. However, I started to look closely at the reservations only in January, 15 days or less before I was supposed to get to the MegaDo. As a result, the flights on American Airlines soon to be discontinued direct flight AA293 between Delhi and Chicago were pricing at an astronomical price. I decided to take a codeshare option on American Airlines instead to get to Brussels, and then head over to New York on American Airlines.

For travelling to London for visiting British Airways, I chose to go with the MegaDo rate offered by American Airlines to travel from New York to London, and travel back from London to Dallas Fort Worth.

In the end, my routing for the entire travel, including the MegaDo looked pretty enormous, with 28,700 BIS miles travelled in a span of 10 days, hopping over 9 airports in 3 continents. Slightly crazy, but enormous uptake for the mileage account. Things that you’d have to do to credit miles to your account!

Here is how the entire itinerary looked, with a total of 28,686 travelled miles, 62,668 EQMs and 92,644 redeemable miles! I was able to use 2 of my EXP SWUs for upgrading my travel from BRU-JFK and on ORD-DEL, while I got a complimentary upgrade on the LAX-ORD flight.

1. 21/Jan AA7836 Mumbai to Brussels (codeshare with Jet Airways) departing Mumbai at 03:00 and arriving Brussels at 07:50
2. 21/Jan AA171 Brussels to New York JFK departing Brussels at 10:00 and arriving JFK at 12:45
3. 23/Jan AA104 New York JFK to London Heathrow departing New York at 21:05 and arriving London at 09:10
4. 25/Jan AA51 London Heathrow to Dallas Fort Worth departing London at 09:45 and arriving Dallas at 14:05
5. 26/Jan AAOWMD Dallas Fort Worth to Seattle Tacoma
6. 27/Jan AAOWMD Seattle Tacoma to Los Angeles
7. 29/Jan AA2004 Los Angeles to Chicago O’Hare departing LA at 08:00 and arriving Chicago at 14:00
8. 29/Jan AA292 Chicago O’Hare to Delhi departing Chicago at 15:40 and arriving Delhi at 17:45 +1
9. 30/Jan AA7852 Delhi to Mumbai (codeshare with Jet Airways) departing Delhi at 19:45 and arriving Mumbai at 21:45

That some of the routing did not work out as planned is a different thing, and added to the excitement of being on the MegaDo (not to forget churn us miles for the inconvenience!) is a separate deal altogether!

I’ll skip the parts of the MegaDo charter and exclusive activities while I post them separately in an ongoing series. There are more trip reports lined up so keep reading, and if there is a question or comment, drop me a line!

In spite of being a Jet Airways flier most of the times, I have been having an issue with their recent service quality. Maybe it us the tight economic scenario that made them do some tweaks, but it is one good international product out there. Maybe I haven’ t scaled down my expectations in line!

However, when I flew with them this past Saturday, on a flight back from Brussels to Mumbai, it was a reminder of the good old times, when everything was as it used to be. The champagne was flowing, the food was warm, the service with a smile and the details all taken care of.

Happy with the whole experience, I asked for a feedback form and gave the crew the brownie points they deserved!

I don’t know if you have been able to decipher my handwriting out there, but I am glad to report there is hope in my world.