How do paid upgrades at the gate work (if available) on KE? If I am booked on ATL-ICN I was wondering how much and what fare class (if any requirements) exist in order to upgrade? (For example on Delta international flights only M B Y fares are upgradeable in coach.

Thanks for the help!

from What I understand, KE doesnt do this. You eith have to have purchased it at original booking or used miles to upgrade... as most of the routes they fly are very well flown premium route.. theres about a 95% chance that the flights going out fully booked out in all classes.....and if not in all classes... almost always up front....

I don't know about KE always being booked full up front. I've been on a bunch of their intra-Asian routes, and it varies widely. Sometimes fully booked in Business, sometimes not. First Class is rarely full, and often has just one or two pax. Don't know about their USA routes. I've asked about upgrading economy class tix in the past, but the problem I had was that mine were DL codeshare tix, meaning I had to rebook to Business Class with DL.

I'll be flying KE (paid C class but bought under DL codeshare, KE metal) BKK-ICN-JFK next week, and it sounds like I'll have to stay in C, huh--since DL doesn't sell F at all on international?
Oh well....I was hoping to ask the difference between C/F on either of these routes (BKK-ICN or ICN-JFK) and hope for a buy-up.
I know C class is fine, and actually I've never flown KE, so it'll be interesting!

you can't pay upgd fee at the gate as KE doesn't do this.You can either use ur skypass miles at ckin counter under previous request or paying a difference to ur fare before checking in. as for upgd when overbooked they already know who to upgrade and that's usually ke customers(not even other skyteam platinum members) and you must have more than 40000 skymiles to be eligible to upgd.

As for F/class tkts they only sell 180....tkts (ke tkts) and they don't have any code share allotments.

Feel free to ask me anything you like about ke.

Yes, I thought so.
I wonder what the fare difference would be on BKK-ICN-JFK? Do they calculate it based on fare paid, or the general "fare difference" between F and C on ICN-JFK (since there is no F cabin sold on BKK-ICN)?
Another question--there are a few threads about BKK-ICN and the fact that, while KE often tells pax they can't sit in F because they sell F on that route, the fact is they don't sell F on BKK-ICN, at least when I'm travelling--but the first row available is Row 7, in Business (and Rows 1-2 are blocked, for the not-for-sale F Class).
Anyone know for sure what all this means?
Here is the availability for KE on ICN-BKK for the day I'm travelling:
C4 R4 I4 W4 Y4 K4 T4 M4 H4 E4 L4 X0 G4 S4 Q4
See? No F or P! But phone agents said they can't seat us in F because F is sold for this flight..... is that just the way to make me stop asking such annoying questions?

if you're booking the flight through a dl or other codesharing they won't obviously tell you a thing about F/class. As for fare difference it depends on the route it's not standard...anyway i have no seat map in front of me but row 1-2 should be exit row and they are not given away when booking. they can be de-blocked at checkin stage.but i'm 100% sure ke sells F/class tkts on that route

This recent thread tried and failed to supply a definitive answer to that question. As yet, no one on these boards knows for sure.

Well, funny enough, I just called the KE Singapore office, and asked her to try and buy a OW BKK-ICN in F. Guess what? Even though no booking engine can sell F, she said she could! I even asked what booking code, and her answer was, "F".
Mysterious!

Not funny nor mysterious at all. F class is surely sold on BKK-ICN. Go check out this http://www.koreanair.com/local/kr/ld..._bo_krifr2.jsp to see if F class actually sold or not on BKK-ICN. Certainly there should be a booking engine that can sell F, and I guess the engine is Topas.





The most likely answer for this problem is: KE is purposefully not releasing F class on any CRS/GDS but on its own CRS, Topas. The reason for doing this is to encourage travel agencies to use KE's CRS. Suppose a travel agency get a customer who wants BKK-ICN in F. Since no CRS/GDS, but only Topas can book and issue F on BKK-ICN, the agency would subscribe Topas even for just one ticket because agency commission for F is good enough to offset the subscription fee. Since Topas is based on Amadeus, those of you who have access to Amadeus might want to query KE BKK-ICN to see if F is available.

The second most likely answer is: You queried the availability in neutral mode, as opposed to airline direct access mode, on CRS. For instance, try A10AUGBKKICN*KE entry on Galileo, instead of A10AUGBKKICN/KE or A10AUGBKKICN. I understand that sometimes not all booking codes are shown unless you use airline direct access mode.

I appreciate your input---several of us here have been wondering about this. But still, I can't think of any other "mainstream" airlines that don't even offer a class of service--it doesn't even exist on ITA or several Availability Tools--so while I understand what they're trying to do, it does seem odd to me. But thanks for the info--it might kinda clear up the confusion here (and in the other thread about C/F that opened recently!
Now, here is the other thing--it's my "theory":
I think I may have figured out what happens on the intra-Asia flights on 773s with and F section and "F" for sale, albeit not everywhere:
If KE sells even ONE F ticket on the route, there is an F section with F service, and unless Y/C is oversold, it's not available for upgrade to Rows 1-2 from J.
If KE sells no F for the flight, and still has lots of open seats in Y/J, they may not open Rows 1-2, closing it off and turning out the lights, for staffing/other reasons.
If KE sells no F for the flight, and Y/J is oversold or really full, they may open Rows 1-2 for use by J pax with J service.
When I check in next week with KE for this flight, I will try to seek out the BKK Station manager to find out for sure.

Sounds like a good theory, kyushuman.

Thanks for the info, N227UA.

Well, I was right.
Talked to the KE Station manager, a very nice guy, at the gate--I decided to stay in the lounge for 4+ hours, slept a bit... then it was time for departure! After talking to him, here is the deal:
1) Still not sure if they officially sell F on this route.
2) When Y and J are full/oversold, they will put pax in Rows 1-2.
3) When not 100%, they curtain it off, turn out the lights, and nobody sits there This is what happened to me, since J was less than half full on my flight last weekend. And, something else: NEVER sit in Row 10 of J class on a 773! It's got at least 3 inches less recline than the other rows. Luckily, there were plenty of open seats, so I moved to 7D, and it was actually decent. I'd sit in Row 7 again for sure.
4) If they sell even one seat in F, I'd imagine it's even harder to get up to Rows 1-2.
As for getting that seat when they are using a "Premium J" cabin, meaning they're using the Old F for J pax and providing J service to them:
Based on my experience on the ICN-ORD route, IF they do open Old F for J pax, I think it's quite difficult to get seats anyway, unless you're KE Morning Calm Elite, since I got an onboard upgrade to seat 2J on the Old 744 to ORD (see how I did that here:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=841928
Talk about lucky--one, that I asked the right FA, and two, that they hadn't filled Rows 1-4 already!

But FYI: Even though I was on a paid C Class (albeit a DL codeshare) ticket AND am SkyTeam Elite Plus, I was not automatically placed in Rows 1-4 on that flight. I highly doubt all the other 14 pax in the Old F knew to ask ahead of time! Somebody put them there, but who knows who did it--and why?
Though I did get my first BP in BKK from a TG staffer at the KE transit desk--I also checked with KE Lounge staff, and wasn't moved to Rows 1-4 by them either, meaning seeing my BP and looking at my booking (and seating assignment) didn't ring any bells for them.
At that time, I didn't realize that was the configuration being used until I boarded. Had I known ahead of time and asked, even then I'm not sure I could have gotten it. You're pretty much stonewalled 100% of the time when asking for these seats if you're not Morning Calm Elite.
But doing your homework ahead of time will definitely help you--that is, IF they are willing to do it.

If you're talking about BKK-ICN, yes F is officially sold. If you price out on the website that I linked above, one-way C comes about USD800ish and one-way F comes about USD1100ish.