The hidden, low-upgradable-fare routes, combined with the lowest-upgrade-cost programs, together with solid availability, and other remarkable upgrade and elite tools for savvy travelers.
EasyUp Business Class fares to Asia don’t appear as often as they do to Europe and, of course, they aren’t always for the routing you want. But a top Star Alliance carrier, Asiana, has uniquely low “upgradable fares” accessible to members of its Star Alliance partners’ programs (among them, Air Canada and United). It’s called a Star Alliance Upgrade.
Because this approach is so nuanced…
Here’s the game plan:
- Who this strategy is for
- Availability insights
- Applicable routes (many)
- Why this upgrade is different
- How to get the miles
- Cheat Sheet of lowest fares possible through
Relevancy
While this special report has strong potential for the infrequent flyer, it is most interesting to Elite Status Seekers in a Star Alliance loyalty program. That’s because elite seekers, for the most part, must fly on published fares to punch their elite ticket each year. (Award tickets don’t earn elite credit.) So, for elites, upgrading from a published fare to the next class of service is the only way to go.
Availability
Our research shows that Asiana has great alliance-upgrade-award space over the next 11 months—or we wouldn’t waste your time.
What differentiates Asiana from other Star Alliance carriers is that its upgrade and award inventory space is identical to Star Alliance’s (booking code I). That means that if Asiana has free mileage seats available (also booking code I), then the Star Alliance upgrade is also available through its partners mileage programs. That’s unusual because most partner upgrades are pulled from a different—and shallower— upgrade bucket.
Routes
Asiana offers non-stop service to Seoul from six U.S cities: Chicago, Honolulu, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Seattle. The carrier offers connections to many destinations in Asia, including Bangkok, Beijing, Denpasar, Hanoi, Hong Kong, Phuket, Singapore, Shanghai, Taipei, and Tokyo to name just a few.
The Three Basic Mileage Upgrades: A Primer
Discount-Fare Upgrade (DFU):
This is an airline’s own upgrade from the lowest economy fare, and the upgrade most people think of first. With United’s loyalty program, for example, it involves using MileagePlus miles plus a cash surcharge, typically called a “co-pay”.
Full-Fare Upgrade (FFU):
This is an airline’s own upgrade applicable with more expensive fares (usually B and Y); usually doesn’t require a co-pay. This tool is not often used by leisure travelers and not often enough by business travelers.
Full-Fare Alliance Upgrade (FFAU):
Upgrades offered through a carrier’s alliance partners and generally requiring a B or Y fare. Rarely used because of the higher fares, and because it’s not top-of-mind.
Today the Full-Fare Alliance Upgrade is the focus as Asiana offers a couple exceptions to the general rules.
Alliance Chart Discrepancies & Getting the Most Valuable Miles
You’d think that all alliance members would use the same upgrade chart, prices, and rules—for Alliance Upgrades anyway. That’s usually not the case. For example, United charges 50,000 to 70,000 miles between the U.S. and Asia round-trip, whereas Air Canada charges a flat 50,000 miles.
Which Star Alliance Upgrade Currency to Use?
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Air Canada is a credit-card point transfer partner with Amex Rewards (500,000-point annual purchase limit) and Starwood. You can also buy up to 50% of the miles required from Air Canada if you have at least 50% already in your account.
The chart shows eight major Star Alliance airlines/mileage programs, with details on their upgrade costs to Asia on Asiana.
Where to Find Low B-Fare Routes
Y and B fares, technical jargon for “full fares”, are generally close in cost to discount Business Class fares, if not more. So why bother?
That said, the FCF Lab Team didn’t take “generally” for an answer, and turned over enough rocks to find some gems, which go a long way toward making this deal work.
To Asia & Australia: Little-Known Routes With Unusually Low (Upgradable) B Coach Fares
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To Seoul: Little-Known Routes With Unusually Low (Upgradable) B Coach Fares
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Booking the Fare & Upgrade Is Surprisingly Simple
Step One: Since free Asiana awards are in the same availability bucket as the Star Alliance upgrade (I class), search for free Business Class award space on Asiana’s website. But you have to get a frequent flyer mileage account to login. Or, check United’s website (no login required). (I always like to check award space one-way to keep things fast and simple).
Step Two: Once you have found the dates and flights you want, book the economy B class ticket on Asiana’s website. (You can also call Asiana at 800-227-4262 or do this through a travel agent.) The screenshot below shows where to find the B class booking code online.
Once the ticket is booked, the Asiana confirmation page will show the ticket number and flight details. This is all you need to request an Alliance Upgrade from Air Canada or United.
Step Three: Go to the United online request form or Air Canada. Both our lab experiments took less than 1 minute to confirm success.
Step Four:Go back to the Asiana website with your confirmation number and confirm that your booking has been upgraded to Business Class. You can request your seat assignment at this point.
In Other Words:
- Use FCF’s availability chart to expedite where to find availability (5 or 10 minutes), then
- Book the economy ticket on Asiana.com (5 or 10 minutes), then
- Request the Upgrade with either Air Canada or United (less than 5 minutes), then
- Confirm all is good and select your Business Class seats.
Key Points
- Infrequent Flyers: Combine one-way free awards and upgrades on Asiana: The solution to finding round-trip, free mileage award space: Book a one-way B-fare on Asiana to Seoul ($1,185 plus tax and 25,000 Air Canada or 30,000 United miles), and book a one-way return using miles with another program.
- Earn Miles Back: B fares earn 100% base miles—and elite status credit—on United and Air Canada as well as many other Asiana partners, whereas free award travel does not.
- Elite Qualifying Miles (EQMs): B fares also earn 100% EQMs on both United and Air Canada as well as some other partners, whereas free award travel does not. Seattle- Bangkok requires 70,000 United miles round-trip for an upgrade on Asiana, but you earn 14,964 miles back for the paid ticket, so the actual net mileage cost is 55,035. That same ticket as a free mileage award costs 160,000 United miles. So the Alliance Upgrade saves 104,965 miles.
- Premier Qualifying Dollars (PQDs): United elite members currently do not receive PQDs when flying on partner airlines unless one flight segment is on United. In that case, the ticket can be validated on United’s ticket stock (code 016). I’m working on a workaround to this and hope to report good news shortly; won’t matter to those elites that don’t lack PQDs in the meantime and if the trend that United does whatever it sees Delta do, this won’t be an issue for long as Delta has started crediting MQDs to its elites for travel on partners.
[aside headline="Member of a different alliance? Not flying to Asia?" alignment="alignright" width="half" headline_size="default"]FCF is planning to do many more of these deep-alliance-upgrade-opportunity dives in coming months for the major alliances and major destinations that have an unusual deal.[/aside]
- New Business Class Seats: Asiana’s new flatbed Business Smartium seat (with direct aisle access) is now available from Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco.
- Last-Minute Travel: Asiana B fares are great for the business or last-minute leisure traveler, who is already paying a higher fare.
- Connection Bonus: Many B fares allow a free stopover in the connecting city.
- Australia: A destination with high Business Class fares and few free award tickets; Asiana offers a way around this. Fly LAX-Sydney in June with a 50-day advance on United in Business Class and you’ll pay $7,931r/t, but the B fare on Asiana is $2,713.
- No Co-Pay: Star Alliance B-fare upgrades do not have a co-pay, which on some airlines (e.g. United) can be as high as $1,200.
- Lower Change/Cancel Fees: Most low economy fares have high cancelation/change fees—in many cases, there’s not even a refund—whereas B fare change fees range from nothing to $150 on Asiana. Great for business travelers, or leisure travel mind-changers, and hedgers.
- A380 Service: Asiana has two routes from the U.S., Los Angeles and New York to Seoul.
- Getting Miles: Details on getting miles on major Star Alliance carriers.
Sweet Redeem Survey: Asiana to/from Seoul via Star Alliance Business Class Upgrades
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