Question about upgrading with frequent flier miles?

Question

So I'm purchasing a ticket from Tampa to Amsterdam with a layover in Atlanta using my Delta Skymiles and have the option of flying with Northwest Airlines or KLM. I have about 12,000 Continental Miles which I would like to use to upgrade my flight (just going there) from economy to business class. On Continental's website they say it costs only 10,000 miles to upgrade but every time I call them I can never get a straight answer about if there are upgradeable seats available or if this would even work. The main reason I'm having trouble is because I haven't booked the ticket yet through Delta (because I want to make sure there are upgradeable seats on the flight).

Does anyone know if I can use my Continental miles to upgrade a flight (on KLM or NWA, which are partners with both Delta and Continental) purchased with Delta miles? I don't know if it has anything to do with what fare ticket is it (y, d, etc). Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

Answer 1

Unfortunately, Continental miles can't be used to upgrade on KLM or Northwest.  However, if you purchased the ticket through Continental (but on KLM or Northwest as a codeshare) and specified you'd like to upgrade at the time of booking, this is allowed.

Answer 2

I don't believe that this will be allowed. You can use Continental miles to upgrade on KLM if you pay a full economy fare or some (but not all) discount economy fares. However, they have no provision for upgrading a ticket that was bought through another airline using another airline's miles.

You will need enough miles on Delta to obtain a business class award ticket if you want to do this.

Continentals' frequent flier upgrade rules for US-Europe routes can be found here: http://www.continental.com/web/en-US/con...

Sorry!