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Best way is to just book a business class seat on an available saver rate. Upgrading tends to be trickier
Thanks. Was trying to avoid shelling out the $$$$ by booking business direct but will keep looking at options and see
Did you check air Canada?
I did. Route wasn’t the best but will likely try different dates to see if there are any changes.
Point upgrades are not very cost effective. Most Star Alliance airlines require more than 50% of the miles of an outright award. For example, economy to business on Lufthansa would cost around 30,000 miles to upgrade whereas an outright award would be around 60,000 miles (Lufthansa Miles and More also often has 50% promos).
If you have Amex points, you should redeem them when they have promotions like 30% bonus Avios (British Airways) or Avianca Lifemiles/ Air Canada Aeroplan (usually 15% bonus).
You typically need between 50k and 70k miles for a 1 way biz class award ticket. You can redeem with ANA for around 80-90k roundtrip biz class between US and Europe.