KVS, Krisflyer logic, and partner awards

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stueyjones

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Hi All
First time poster, so apologies upfront is this is a dumb couple of questions and I display complete ignorance!
2 things.
1. I did a KVS search on an SQ flight for an economy to business upgrade for a flight (SQ981) I am booked in Y class on on 13/3. The flight showed availability of business upgrades, yet when I contacted Singapore to use Kris points, they told me none were available, but would waitlist me. I also tried a *alliance upgrade using US Air miles and the message returned 'no seats' form the website. To double check I then went to expertflyer, signed up to the free trial and did a similar search, with the same results, upgrades are available. Any thoughts?
2. I also have an earlier segment of the same booking that showed as unavailable to upgrade, although a number of C seats remain unsold (8 as of 5 minutes ago). The flight is 1 week today, so my question is would it be likely that if these seats remain unsold for revenue, SQ would release them for a star alliance upgrade? I dont have enough Kris points to use on that segment (BNE>SIN), but plenty of US air points. I will continue to try through the US air website, but just wondered whether I am wasting my time and they don't release more seats to partner airlines!
Again, apologies from a newbie, but I love the site. To think of all the uncomfortable (194cm tall!) Y class flights I have been on, never realising with a bit of expert advice comfort was available for a bit of extra cash!
SPJ
 
Not sure about upgrades but last December I had a waitlist for J which didn't come through even though I could see 20+ empty seats the night before. Don't understand the financial logic of that one.
 
Hi All
First time poster, so apologies upfront is this is a dumb couple of questions and I display complete ignorance!
2 things.
1. I did a KVS search on an SQ flight for an economy to business upgrade for a flight (SQ981) I am booked in Y class on on 13/3. The flight showed availability of business upgrades, yet when I contacted Singapore to use Kris points, they told me none were available, but would waitlist me. I also tried a *alliance upgrade using US Air miles and the message returned 'no seats' form the website. To double check I then went to expertflyer, signed up to the free trial and did a similar search, with the same results, upgrades are available. Any thoughts?
2. I also have an earlier segment of the same booking that showed as unavailable to upgrade, although a number of C seats remain unsold (8 as of 5 minutes ago). The flight is 1 week today, so my question is would it be likely that if these seats remain unsold for revenue, SQ would release them for a star alliance upgrade? I dont have enough Kris points to use on that segment (BNE>SIN), but plenty of US air points. I will continue to try through the US air website, but just wondered whether I am wasting my time and they don't release more seats to partner airlines!
Again, apologies from a newbie, but I love the site. To think of all the uncomfortable (194cm tall!) Y class flights I have been on, never realising with a bit of expert advice comfort was available for a bit of extra cash!
SPJ
Welcome to the forum stueyjones.

You really just have to keep active with the US Air awards line to see if something changes.

Maybe you could set an alert on Expertlyer to notify you if the status of award availability changes for your sectors.

And of course, as we all know, the only way to ensure that your 194cm frames flies in J is to pay for it.

Happy travels, pleas do report back on what happens. I'm sure plenty of people would like to know for the future.

Alby
 
Thanks for the advice guys. A few days on and little has changed. SQ981 on 13/3 still appears as open for 'I' fares through both KVS and Aeroplan, but I am still only able to be waitlisted using krisflyer miles for an upgrade after calling SQ. I also tried my US air miles to upgrade with no success online at the US website, then called US air directly and was told star alliance upgrades can only be processed by the partner airline!
As to the BNE>SIN leg on Friday 1st March (SQ256), 9 C class seats available through KVS, but nothing open for 'I' fare bucket. Even though the 2 later flights have much less 'C' availablity both of them do have 'I' availability on KVS. I am crossing my fingers that 48 hours out (on line checkin time) the seat controller may release them, but I have a feeling it just is not going to happen. I suspect I just seem to be on flights/routes that SQ dont like points upgrades on.
I will pass on what transpires!!
 
(I might be slow tonight, very slow but) I am not really understanding your question.

Can you clarify; you paid for a SQ Y ticket issued by SQ? If yes, was it a a fare that is allowed to be upgraded? (some lower bucket Y fares are not upgradeable). If your fare is upgradeable, you can log into SQ and redeem an upgrade immediately (assuming the suitable award level is available eg. most are only willing to pay Saver award levels). fwiw I looked at 1/03 SQ256 and only standard awards were available.

To use USDM to upgrade partner flights, you must have bought a Y fare that has was in the B, C , D or Y bucket fares.

US Airways | Star Alliance Upgrade Awards Frequently Asked Questions
 
For 17000 miles from Kris you can book that BKK-SIN flight in business class as it is available!
 
Alanslegal. Sorry I obviously was not clear. My economy tickets are all in Y bucket. Yep, I see that SQ256 is already gone in terms of savers. I was just wondering whether that might change in the next 72 hours IF they don't sell the remaining seats. I just rechecked through the KVS tool, and although it still shows 9 seats available in C, all of a sudden the seat map shows all seats taken and the savers as @ (which I understand is no saver awards waitlist open). I am assuming that this is not good news and at the very least they have enough krisflyers waitlisted to take anything left over. Damn - but at least I have an exit seat.
Cove. Thanks for that. I'll be calling Krisflyer sevices this evening to ask why a business saver flight award is available on 981, but I am waitlisted for an upgrade on the same flight? Seems a bit silly to me, but I have given up trying to fathom the mechanics of how these upgrades work. Seems strightforward one minute, the next I am lost. And dont even get me started on their online 'manage booking' tool. I successfully upgraded my return SIN>BNE using US miles and that seemed to lock up the entire bloody booking, seats gots cancelled on other segments, and I could not perform anything online. Almost like a punishment.....
Updates to follow, but thanks for the help guys.
 
I successfully upgraded my return SIN>BNE using US miles and that seemed to lock up the entire bloody booking, seats gots cancelled on other segments, and I could not perform anything online. Almost like a punishment.....
Updates to follow, but thanks for the help guys.

What was the process you used to upgrade the SQ Y paid ticket to J using USDM? Many thanks.
 
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Hi Stuey,

having gone through a similar process recently, I now understand that you just cannot use the webpage to upgrade individual segments. That's just a limitation of the site. If you want to do that you'd need to ring them. So locking up etc, is what will happen. Just the way it is, accept, breathe deeply and move on!
 
Hi All
Thanks for all the replies, they were very useful. How did I go? The initial segment BNE>BKK never did open up for USDM upgrades, and I rang US Air who said I had to speak to SQ, who said I had to speak to US Air. I gave up at that point. Needless to say, the C cabin was half full on the flight.
Re the BKK>SIN segment, my waitlisted Krisflyer upgrade cleared about 10 day before the flight (or 10 days after I waitlisted it) so in the end that worked out ok. There was a little hiccup in the admin due to my middle name not being used on my flight booking, but it was on my Krisflyer account. I could not work it out as my booking showed under my Kris Account, but there you go. I am looking at this glass half full rather than glass half empty!!
cheers
 
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