Phila to Barcelona

[kely53]

A group of 4 of us are taking a cruise out of Barcelona next summer. We have USAir FF miles so we were all hoping to upgrade to envoy class to make the trip more enjoyable. This is a non stop flight on a 767 from Phila to Barc. Cost per person for coach is approximately 980. USAir only has one seat available for upgrade. I was told 2 different things by 4 different people......they all suggested I book the 4 seats and upgrade one now to have the one seat secured. Two people said that they will open more seats for upgrade and to just keep checking back. Two other people said they would not. Any idea how many seats the airlines generally allow for FF miles update?

 

Continental also has a non stop from Newark to Barc. Close to the same price. USAir times are a little better for us. Any opinions on either airline as far as international travel? We were really looking forward to moving up to business/envoy class!! Any tricks to upgrades other than booking at 329 days out? Guess I should have looked into this sooner!!!

 

Thanks for any advice!

 

Karen

[ab0si]

Continental gets MUCH better reviews than does USair for long haul flights. In my humble opinion, these reviews are correct. Con has better seats, better service, etc. Of course, front of plane on a grade C airline is likley to be better than back of plane on a grade B+ line. :)

 

It is nearly impossible to predict how many seats will open up for FF redemption. It depends on load factors, projected load factors, etc.

 

If you are open to other suggestions: If USair flies Phila to Madrid, see if there are front of plane seats on that flight. Several carriers have dirt cheap flights from MAD to BCN. My favorite is Vueling. It is a short flight, so back of plane is fine.

 

Paul

[FlyerTalker]

The number of FF seats, in any class, along with the number of upgradeable seats, is a proprietary "secret" of each airline for their specific flights. Sometimes the number will be high, sometimes non-existent. In general, the availability of upgrade seats (and/or FF seats) is inversely proportional to the overall paid demand for those same seats. For example, NW has high demand for business seats intra-Asia to/from Tokyo -- ergo, a small availability for FF/upgrade seats. South African had a policy of having only 1 F seat available for FF points between ATL and JNB, since they were able to sell the seats on a regular basis - so a couple would have to fly on separate days, or one paid one FF, or one up front and one in the back!!

 

A thing to remember about upgrades...it often requires a higher fare classification (bucket) ticket to be able to use FF miles. On Continental, you have to be on a Y,H, or K fare - the three highest coach buckets. Other airlines have similar policies, some let you upgrade from any fare. You have to check each airline's FF policies to be sure.

 

As for flying into MAD and taking a domestic flight between MAD and BCN, be aware that you will likely have a different luggage allowance for that segment (probably on a weight basis rather than by the number of pieces you have). That might make a difference.

 

On a side note, it is now reported that the route between MAD and BCN is the one with the highest number of weekly flights in the world. It recently passed Rio-Sao Paulo which is #2 and Sydney-Melbourne which is #3.