And the other three questions mileage upgraders should be asking.
Who this special report is for:
- New Yorkers bound for Europe*
- Leisure travelers with advance-booking flexibility
- Business travelers who can book a little ahead
*But the thinking and formula applies to anyone seeking an upgrade, no matter the departure city.
You’d think the question posed in the headline would be easy to answer. Just crunch the numbers and out pops the airline. But it’s not so simple because there are a number of factors involved, such as:
- Which carrier charges the fewest miles for an upgrade?
- Which one has the most availability?
- Which carrier offers upgrades on the lowest economy fares?
- What co-pays (surcharges) are imposed?
Horses for Courses
Ever heard that phrase? Some racehorses are better in the mud, others on a fast surface. Some prefer longer distances, others prefer running clockwise, not counterclockwise.
The same goes for airlines. There is no simple answer. And although we do have a winner—an answer to the question—still, depending on your particular circumstances, the horse that placed second may be your best option.
Are you an ‘elite’ frequent flyer?
This special report isn’t for elites per se, as they tend to be Business travelers and book closer to departure. This report is for travelers who can book further out and are flexible with travel dates, and are thus often able to get the lowest economy fare.
That said, elites can certainly put the thinking to use, if only to realize that they shouldn’t be playing the elite game anymore. Why play elite games, say with Delta, if you’re not going to pay for a Business Class ticket? Upgrading is a waste of time and using miles for free tickets is a no-no because you don’t earn elite credit.
You’d think Delta would do a little more to conceal that it has no interest in being competitive when it comes to elite status. If you want a deal, and you want to be an elite status player, you don’t fly Delta.
C’mon FCF, just tell me the answer!
OK, it’s American Airlines. But you need to know our methodology so you know how your particular situation fits that outcome.
For example, Delta often has the lowest upgradeable fare because it doesn’t charge a co-pay, but it charges the highest amount of miles for that ticket. Get this: 130,000 for a round-trip upgrade! That’s crazy when you consider that a free ticket on Delta to Europe costs 140,000 miles.
United charges the fewest miles (40,000 round-trip for an upgrade), but it has the highest co-pay—$1,100 for an upgrade on the lowest economy fares. So even if a ticket is only $400 (that’s really cheap on a U.S. airline from New York to Europe), your out-of-pocket cost starts at $1,500+. Depending on the route, that might not be much of a savings from NYC in some cases, as the lowest Business Class fares start at $2,100. Because other fares start at $3,600, United mileage upgrade can sometimes be a deal.
Why Are We Talking About The Big Apple?
There are countless routes to Europe from the U.S. of course, so we had to concentrate on one gateway. New York made sense because it is such a major gateway. But the thinking can be applied to any other U.S. city. The numbers will change, but they’ll be relative to each other for the most part.
New Yorkers also have access to the three major U.S. airlines as all three offer a lot of non-stop flights to Europe, so we were able to compare apples-to-apples here: We looked at six non-stops in all from New York. All that said, the formula for determining which airline you should / should not consider is the same, and we will be looking at other routes in coming reports.
The Winner
In our horse race, based on six non-stop New York-Europe routes (to Dublin, London, Madrid, Milan, Paris, and Rome) American came out first. It won in all three categories:
– Lowest cash cost, and
– Value per mile, and
– Most availability.
The average lowest upgradeable fare, including the $700 round-trip co-pay, is about $1,200 to $1,400 (depending on the route and economy fare available), plus 50,000 miles round-trip. Happily too, many routes had upgrade space. So congrats AA, grab your trophy on the way out.
Runner Up
Come on down, United. UA allows upgrades on all economy fares (same as AA), and it charges the fewest miles (40,000 round-trip) for an upgrade—10,000 fewer than AA. United’s drawback however, is its $1,100 co-pay on the lowest economy fares. That means cash costs are often $1,500 to $1,900. Our search also found that on average, United had less upgrade space than American, depending on the route. On New York-Milan, American had eight months in which upgrades were available, whereas United had only one month. The same was true for Madrid: AA had seven months, United one.
TRAILS THE FIELD
As you may have deduced, it’s Delta. It gives you no value on mielage upgrades, no matter the fare or the availability, because of the cost: 130,000+ miles. Many airlines charge less for a free award. (See here where you can get a Delta ticket for 80,000 miles through one of its partners—50,000 fewer miles than the upgrade, which also requires purchasing a coach ticket.)
Delta charges 140,000 miles for a free award to Europe, making the value-per-mile almost always less than one cent. Remember that number. Delta sounds enticing at first glance because it charge no co-pay. Even so, the value is just not there. Many people have points in multi-airline credit cards so transfer your points to airlines that offer the best value.
Why Should I use miles for an Upgrade and not a Free Ticket?
Good question. Leisure travelers should use miles for an upgrade for two reasons:
Airlines frequently offer a lot more availability of upgrades than free seats. They often don’t make it easy to search for upgrade availability online, so few travelers are aware of this. Most travel websites don’t discuss upgrades much because they cater to people who are only interested in things that are free, and with upgrades you must purchase an economy ticket and pay a cash surcharge.
The upgrade almost always requires fewer miles than a free award ticket, so for those of you who don’t have a bulging mileage account, an upgrade is a way to make them fly farther, especially for those that fly often and/or with many people at a time.
When to Use Miles TO UPGRADE?
In general, the highest return on mileage upgrades are when Business Class fares are high. If a route offers a low Business Class fare, even American and United don’t offer a great return on miles.
So what’s the best DEAL TO EUROPE?
To London with American. The cash outlay starts at about $1,288 (the upgradable economy fare at $588 + the $700 round-trip co-pay), while the lowest Business Class fare starts at $3,617, giving you a savings of $2,329 (64%). The return-on-miles is 4.7¢ (the savings divided by the miles used, $2,329 ÷ 50,000).
Upgrade Comparisons: New York-London
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Plus, our research showed that almost every month this year had days with upgrade space. The upgrade award even yields a higher return on miles then a free ticket does, at times. The math for NYC-London: $3,617 (cash) ÷ 115,000 (free award miles with American) equals 3.1¢.
All three airlines had great upgrade space on the NYC-London route compared to the other five routes.
Upgrade Availability from/to New York
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Upgrade Availability from/to New York
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Upgrade Availability from/to New York
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