Musings of The Global Traveller
Thoughts, advice and travel news from around the world by a seasoned frequent flyer.
As posted on Flyer Talk, there is a large devaluation of Miles & More premium awards from 1 January 2011, with many going up by over 20%. Other changes include one-way awards will become 50% of the return award cost (currently 75%) and tweaks to some award rules. Upgrade costs remain unchanged.
Time for me to cash in my stash, and re-evaluate my frequent flyer mileage-accrual plans for 2011.
As promised, I am answering some of Wendy Perrin’s readers’ frequent flyer questions. This batch of answers are about mileage valuation – what are those miles really worth and when should we burn miles as opposed to earning them?
As promised, I am answering some of Wendy Perrin’s readers’ frequent flyer questions. The second batch of answers are about upgrades.
My calendar has reminders for when I need to book upgrade requests for those airlines which have a window to lodge them (eg Qantas). Other airlines are simpler in that you can request an upgrade as soon as you have ticketed the flight, although in some cases there is still a window when they are considered as opposed to clearing immediately (eg Air New Zealand).
Which method gets the best results depends on the circumstances of the traveller – a restrictive window is generally better for high status elite passengers since this means they have a shot of upgrades clearing even for travel booked at short notice. A longer window or immediate processing is better for others as, on lightly loaded flights booked well in advance, it reduces or eliminates the gamble on whether an upgrade will clear or not.
How does your airline deal with supported upgrades, and what do you like or dislike about their system?
UnRoadWarrior has a nice explanation of the different types of upgrades. It is useful to know all the ways to upgrade in order to get the best upgrades, for the least cost, and be successful most often. I look forward to the next post in the series about upgrades.
Note that how upgrades work does vary by airline.
