This spring brought moans to the halls of FSI…no more business class on PCS flights over 14 hours. Yes, a great gnashing of teeth…but frankly it makes sense: business class from LAX to New Delhi costs $4800/ticket and the contract fare is ~$900. Throw in a rest stop and they’re still saving over $3800 per ticket. But spread along with the moaning was a falsehood: no upgrades are possible. That’s wrong. There are several ways to upgrade part or all of your trip, and I’ll get into them below. Hang on…this is going to be a long post.

Government Fare Classes

Before we can even start talking about upgrades, we first need to get into the specifics of how these tickets are booked. In general, the USG has contracts with the airlines for tickets called “YCA.” The “CA”doesn’t mean C and A classes (biz and first), but rather “Contract Award.” This means the USG can get a ticket at a discount price up to and including the very last economy seat. Y class is the highest fare class in economy, and therefore has the highest cost and fewest restrictions (including upgrade rules). However, the contract specifies that the tickets have to be fully refundable. That said, it would frequently be cheaper for the government to book tickets in a lower booking class like G or T class. Essentially, the government can book a GCA ticket that is refundable but that has more restrictions on upgrades. For more fare code info, see Wikipedia. Generally, the airline has fewer seats at the lower classes, so those sell out more quickly. The dirty hint: the later you book the more likely that the only class left will be Y, which gives you considerably more flexibility than other classes. To see what’s left, check out SeatCounter.

Before we go on to the good news…a bit of bad news first. Government fares DO NOT enjoy complimentary upgrades that regular Y fares might have. You can’t go up at the gate and put yourself on the list for a bump. You’re going to have to pay one way or another, so you need to decide how important biz is to you. On an 18-hour flight, 6-foot me wants to lay down, and get good food, so I’ll “pay” a premium.

Option 1: Straight-up upgrade

To get this, you pretty much have to be booked in Y or B class, as airlines generally DO NOT allow upgrades from lower coach classes to biz on international flights (they do if you are flying domestic). The only exception to this rule is that lower classes can sometimes be upgraded to biz using a “System-wide Upgrade,” which you only get with super elite status. If you had that status, you’d have stopped reading this long ago. So, either you book late enough to get a YCA ticket or cost construct to get a regular Y ticket. You’ll pay the difference out of pocket (it may be substantial) but you’ll be able to tick up.

Once you’re booked in a Y class seat, you just follow your airline’s rules for upgrading. In general, you’re looking at 15,000 miles per seat with the exception of North America, which sets you back 8k.

Option #2: Love to fly…and show it

If you’re a Delta Awards card holder (AMEX), they have a new program that lets you use miles to bring down the cost of an ticket, so you could use the cost construct value plus your miles to purchase a regular biz class ticket. The mechanics of that with Carson Wagonlit might be difficult, as you have to pay on your AMEX, but could be worth it if you have a crapload of Delta miles.

The boo and hiss of Options 1 and 2

As of this writing, you will accrue NO miles if you opt for option one or option two. You’re SOL. If you used to be a courier and you have 10 million miles, no big deal (you probably have about 100 SWUs, too), but you’ll want to think about the long-term value. This can, of course, be offset by the prudent accrual of miles through other means (which I’ll address in a separate post). If you’re going to be flying a lot in one year (say, from Kabul or Iraq), it may be better to suck it up and fly economy to earn super elite status for the next year to make future upgrades cheaper and easier.

The nuclear option

If you absolutely MUST fly business, you can always cost construct and pay the difference. If you’re not an ambassador arriving or departing post (the one standing exception in the FAM), that’s the only sure-fire way to make it happen.

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