Ask How Many Are Waiting for Upgrades Before buying an upgradeable ticket, find out if you’ll be wait-listed. If so, ask how many people are ahead of you. Some airlines (like American) are usually friendly enough to tell you. You may want to change your date or routing if the line is already long.

US Airways Embraces the Embraer 190 Starting this month, the airline will fly the 99-seat plane (11 First Class seats) from Philadelphia to Hartford, Boston, Dallas/Fort Worth, Providence, and Manchester, NH.

Cathay Downgrades Air Pass This year, the carrier is not offering upgrade options with its “All Asia Pass,” which offers unlimited economy class travel to 17 cities in Asia. Cathay had offered decent upgrade values from economy to Business Class for years; let’s hope they come back next year.

Qantas Down-Under Pass Call the carrier’s reservation number and you’ll be told that Los Angeles-Sydney round-trip in Business Class costs more than 13 grand. But buy the carrier’s new Air Pass and get the same Business Class seat to Sydney, plus three flights within Australia (albeit in economy class domestically) for $8,999 to $9,399, depending upon the season and your farthest destination within Australia.

Qantas has carved Australia into three zones.

Zone 1 cities: Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Gold Coast, Hobart, Launceston

Zone 2: Cairns, Hamilton Island, Townsville, Alice Springs, Ayers Rock (Uluru), Darwin

Zone 3: Perth, Hayman Island, Broome

The Air Pass is available from Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Honolulu, but add-ons are available from other cities. From New York in Business Class add $1,075 round-trip (reg. fare $19,670). From other US cities to a West Coast gateway in economy class, add-ons range from $50 to $360 round-trip.

The fine print: Minimum/maximum stay 7/21 days, with the clock starting on day of departure. Upgrade to 30-day maximum stay for $200. Booking deadline: June 30. All flights must be booked at the same time. Reservations: (800) 227-4603.

Continental Buy-Miles Offer in Disguise The carrier is billing this offer as a bonus miles deal, but it’s really a mileage purchase offer. Enroll in Continental’s Extra Mile program and get bonus miles (up to 50% of miles flown) for every paid flight through Dec 31, 2007. Fees are pegged to the total number of miles you think you can earn in a year: $50 buys up to 5,000 bonus miles; $100 up to 10,000; $150 up to 15,000. But at 1¢ a mile, it’s not a bad deal. Enrollment deadline is Feb 28. Call (800) 554-5522. Bonus miles are in addition to any elite miles as well as most promotional bonus miles for which you may qualify, but they do not count towards Elite status. The fee is non-refundable.