Use Freq Flyers to Upgrade Princess Air?

[travelhound]

We've booked the Crown with Princess air from Minneapolis to San Juan. Has anyone successfully used frequent flyers miles to upgrade to First Class? I tried to call Northwest today and the agent said I needed to know the fare class on the ticket and the ticket won't be issued until 35 days prior? Anyone have a current ticket and know the fare class or is this a lost cause. Is it possible to pay Princess for an air upgrade?

 

We're looking forward to seeing the new Crown!

[spongerob]

We tried to do exactly the same thing a long time ago. Long story short, we booked our own air and used our miles to upgrade. It was very difficult to do through Princess and our TA was having fits about it because we'd have ended up paying deviation fees, etc.

[JGR01]

Most of Princess air fares are what are called Consolidator fares and depending on the airline are NOT available for upgrade.

 

This is why I always book my own air. The upgrade is important to me . as well as knowing LONG in advance what my flights are.

 

BTW .. many airlines will NOT give you miles on consolidator fares .. so your flight via Princess will be what ever airline Princesss chooses with no airmiles and no upgrades.

[travelhound]

Thanks guys for the quick response. Not what I wanted to hear, but certainly what I expected.

 

We just booked this New Year's Eve trip a month ago and all of the flights from Minneapolis to San Juan were about $900 while Princess was only about $600. And using FF at that late date were out of the question unless we rulebusted for 70K each. Our flights are bad. MSP to MIA to SJU on American and no-stop on the way home on Northwest. Actually I excepted something like, Minneapolis to Denver to Miami to San Juan. So, it could be worse.

 

Charter flight from MSP to any warm destination fire up in January and the air is much cheaper then. That's ok...I can live with coach seats flying to the Caribbean better than sitting home in the cold.

[Ka Honu]

Has anyone successfully used frequent flyers miles to upgrade to First Class?

We just returned from Coral (Panama Canal transit) with Princess air - United outbound and Delta on the return. United allowed me to upgrade but Delta would not (although that may be due to my million-miler status with United rather than being their normal policy).

[wanderingjew]

We just returned from Coral (Panama Canal transit) with Princess air - United outbound and Delta on the return. United allowed me to upgrade but Delta would not (although that may be due to my million-miler status with United rather than being their normal policy).

When i go on the diamond in march im flying Jfkto lax business upgraded using miles for 179 returning im using amtrak roomette la to dc then acela regional business class for 625 senior rate

[Toto2Kansas]

We tried to upgrade with miles on United for a Sydney, AU. flight, they said no way. In order to upgrade using ff miles, the ticket has to be a certain class and since Princess air is the cheapest purchased ticket, they said it was not upgradeable.

Most cruise line purchased air fare is not upgradeable with ff miles. We found out the hard way. :(