Q: My wife and I are frequent fliers with several airlines since we split our time between Greece, Hong Kong and London. My company’s new travel policy requires that I should travel in economy at the best possible price – and business class only in exceptional circumstances. However, the policy states that any staff member may upgrade using their frequent flier miles, which I understand are in any case the traveler’s property.
With this in mind, I dutifully booked a flight to Paris at the best available economy fare on a KLM flight. When I asked Flying Blue if we could upgrade to business class we were told that Air France/KLM allow upgrades only on full-price economy tickets. Does this rule apply to all airlines? If so it seems to make the ‘concession’ about miles in our company’s travel policy rather pointless.
A: You raise the old question of ‘who owns frequent flier miles: the company or the traveler?’ that I have not reported on for several years. But in these dire economic times, companies are seeking to claw back what they can, without alienating their employees. According to Ravindra Bhagwanani, managing director of Global Flight (www.globalflight.net), companies can save about 10 percent of their air travel costs by using miles for corporate travel. There was a court ruling in Germany declaring miles the property of companies; in Austria, companies have to pay tax if traveling executives use their miles for personal trips.
You will find that most airlines only allow upgrade awards on the most expensive fares in each class. A round-trip upgrade often costs more miles than a round-trip business class ticket! – particularly with Star Alliance carriers. On short-haul flights in Europe the price of a fully flexible economy (Y) fare is typically only about 10 percent less than a business class (C) fare. Only buy the full Y fare if you want to use it to upgrade; otherwise if you’ve got to travel in cattle class, shop for the cheapest ticket.