SWISS First Class Cash Upgrades (Including On Partner Award Tickets)

I am just left to wonder WWED (What would Endre do?).

He doesn't bother with miles or upgrades as we all know - straight to booking class F, fully flexible, of course.

At least that was before he acquired his own fleet of jets.

Two weeks ago, I flew NCE-ZRH-LAX and during the online check in process I was offered an upgrade to First on the LAX sector for 1300 euros. Since I had a throne seat in J and intended on sleeping the entire flight, I didn't click the offer. When I got on the plane, I was surrounded by screaming children (behind me, in front of me and beside me).. I immediately asked the crew if it was still possible to upgrade. They inquired with the gate agent and came back with a chart and it was 2499 Euros and I was told the meal will still be from J. I declined.

The deal seems to be during online check in.. those deals also go away pretty quickly so if you see one you should just take it and not think about it and it expect it to be there in an hour.

@ John G -- Very interesting, thanks for the data point. For what it's worth, both of the other data points I had were from the airport rather than during online check-in, so I wonder if pricing is just higher onboard, higher ex-ZRH, or what.

I'm curious if they even sell upgrades at ZRH. It's worth noting that you can also buy into Business from Economy in the US at check-in. In January, such a Y to J upgrade EWR-ZRH cost me $809. In the past, I've seen similar prices from SFO (so, maybe 8-900 bucks).
Of course, there has to be availability, and their price might change for a variety of factors. But it never hurts to show up early and ask if they're selling upgrades.

@Ben

I would suspect the chart they came back with is likely the same used at the airport. It was a region based chart, almost like an award chart. It was printed and laminated. I saw from Y to J was 1499 Euros (because the crew member at first pointed to this then I commented and he pointed to J to F at 2499 Euros).

Also this trip out of 4 others in the past two years on LX was the only time I saw the online check in offer. First was nearly full, only two seats were left at the morning of the departure, so I suspect a few people may have took the bait as there was 4 open when I checked in.

FYI, I was on a partner award ticket as well. Forgot to mention that.

Hope this helps.

I flew ZRH-SFO early August and they offered first upgrades at the gate. I only overheard someone asking for the price and it was a little over 2000 (not sure if CHF or EUR).

Everyone is doing this now, but was also a thing pre-pandemic. I have used this at the airport check-in numerous times, often on award tickets in Business. To IAD on BA they usually want around $900.00. Air France has been around $1200.00. They seldom offer it. You normally have to ask the counter check-in agent.

In July, I had an award business class ticket CDG > ZRH > JFK booked through Lifemiles. I had every intention to ask for a F upgrade at the airport, but to my surprise, when I checked in online, they offered me an F upgrade for 1000 euros. I jumped on it, knowing how hard it is to fly that product and I thought it was very worth it (although in the end I've never flown Swiss in J so I guess I can't compare, hah). The caveat is that the F lounge was still closed so the ground services were inexistent.

I wonder if it's like those cheap discounted upgrades that Air France offers to lure people in, that they will give you once every few years, since it was my first time flying Swiss ever.

I flew SFO-ZRH in Dec 2020 on an UA award in Business, when I asked at the gate about the F upgrade, I was quoted $1500...I declined as I was perfectly happy being in the Stübli mini cabin.

ZRH->DXB award ticket in February 2021 (booked via M&M). Same-day upgrade into an empty F cabin was ~1000 CHF per person.

For comparison, cash upgrades from Y to J on the same flight were 750 CHF.

Hello Ben,
This is unrelated but may be of interest to you. I searched FRA-SIN in December and January and saw that the cheapest business class fares on QR are now P fare, not R fare. P is still listed as First Class on American Advantage. So if you are looking for a status run, this would be a good opportunity.

Confirming ORD-ZRH business to first upgrade is $999. My P2 and I both took the offer when checking in at the airport in July 2021. For the experience, it was absolutely worth it!

AF offered an upgrade from J to F on award booked directly. Was about 1700 cdg-ord. I passed

Two years ago on a paid ticket from ORD to ZRH inquired at check in and was offered $1,000 to upgrade to F. Was told that it is special pricing due to business being overbooked. Didn’t take the offer. The same was true a year prior to that on a business award booked through United.

I have a Swiss biz flight coming from Venice to Bos next May through Zurich . Would I ask when I check in at Venice airport regarding the paid upgrade to first ? Thanks

Last week LAX - ZRH with paid business class ticket, upgrade offer to F was USD 1,609 when checking in on the LH app.

Booked roundtrip P fare between ORD and ZRH for November. The online bid upgrade section is shown as unavailable. Will check what can happen during check-in

Or you could have tried to bribe the kids for 1300 Euros to shut up.

Into which booking class does it book? Did you get any miles for that, if yes, earning as F cabin?

@Peter it remained in I, the original class, and I didn't earn any additional miles. I believe that's pretty standard for check in/discounted upgrades, at least with the other airlines that I regularly do that with.

Since First Class appears to be a dying breed, I've been making it a point to spend the extra miles/cash to be able to experience it while I can, and then long-term down the road I'll be happy to fly in Business Class all the time. This is something I'd probably pay for just once to be able to experience it, and then I probably wouldn't do so again, unless the experience absolutely rocked my socks off.

Swiss (& Lufthansa) really tries hard to sell their premium products these days. From Tokyo where I'm based now, the return fare to Johannesburg via Europe is sold from US$6,300 in F and US$2,700 in J, where all 4 segments are 10hr+ flight. The itinerary can also be split between half Swiss and half Lufthansa as well.

Flew ZRH-SFO J class and the price was around 1600 CHF if I recall correctly. I considered it, and passed. I would do it for about $1,000, not more. I do think that LX F class is absolutely delightful, though.

I’ve normally used the bid upgrade on LX/LH and usually offer either 1100 USD/ 1100 EUR as this is what I find worthwhile for LAX-ZRH/FRA or SIN-ZRH/FRA. Not much more. And thus far, 100% of the time I got the bid. Because if one is to pay more, may as well just buy the F fare directly instead of J. Nowadays, often we can find F fares roundtrip for about 6000 USD or 5000 EUR from smaller EU destinations such as OPO/LIS/NCE. I’ve never tried to ask for cash upgrade at check in though. Will ask next time when I fly out of ZRH at the end of September.

I get it that if you're already ticketed in J on Swiss, the following comparison won't help but I still think it's fair.

LH F will normally cost you extra 24K-44K miles over J depending on how you book it. I would much rather pay these miles than $1000+ for a similar upgrade on LX.

Monetary $1000 will buy you 2-3 great meal experiences, each way better than LX F food.

So really hard for me to see how this upgrade makes sense. And yes, a bunch of screaming kids in J is no fun but I presume it was their initial reaction and they quickly calmed down once the plane took off.

im confirming, johannesburg to zürich (business class ticket using miles) was 1000 usd to upgrading to first.

I’m sure the parents would have agreed to a much lower bribe than that hahaha

There is an entire thread on FT about this. 1k USD is the cheapest for sure. Lowest I’ve seen from MTL is 1500 CAD for the night flight. Keep in mind the E First Class lounge is closed. I would say it’s way more interesting flying F FROM Zurich on a day flight but the prices from Zurich are not as low and in CHF.

I personally would not worry about First class disappearing on SWISS, it is probably Europe’s most premium heavy carrier and the Flagship of Central Europe’s Lufthansa Group. Of all the global carriers even including Emirates (post a380), I can see SWISS most likely keeping First class, it is actually Asian carriers who are following America in dumping International First at a rapid rate eg Malaysian and Korean. Whereas Air France, Lufthansa and BA do still seem to be planning keeping both First Class specific amenities and lounges and smaller First class cabins on their new next generation aircraft.

If you are wanting to try some current First Class before it disappears, better trying it in Asia eg Thailand, Korea and Japan. As like the states, I can actually see it going in the East on international aircraft before Europe.

While this not about Swiss but about Air France but I was offered an upgrade to La Premiere on a business award ticket from IAH to CDG for $2,300.

Not necessarily, I took a buy up offer from Economy to Business on Qatar and it was reticketed into a discount business class fare, I received the appropriate mileage.

But yeah, It was mentioned in the offer online for LX- no additional mileage or elite credits.

I flew IAD-ZRH-FCO one way on a United reward ticket last week and they offered a me a business to first upgrade for $1,499.

They lost my bags too…

Was quoted $2k for SFO > ZRH late 2019 (paid business ticket issued by United). On return the cabin was full but day before departure one seat opened—I called United to reprice the ticket with second leg in First, fare difference was $187 🙂 best $187 I’ve ever spent

During Covid, I book all seats in First Class to have more privacy.

Over this labor day, the upgrade at check in for EWR-ZRH was 1700 USD from business to first, and 1729 CHF from ZRH-JFK. If it matters both flights were direct, like I was traveling to Zurich/Lucerne from NYC.

I got my wife spoiled during the good old days when great first class fares were sold out of CMB, RTW fares were a great value from, BKK, JNB , Mru etc. those days are gone. Mostly.
We are both way past retirement age and are still working. We went back to work to help during the pandemic . With Covid we have traveled more domestically to hospitals in crisis to take care of covid patients all over the USA. But we have not traveled internationally since February of 2020.
We will take our hard earned money and spend it buying fist class tickets internationally
Still cheaper than paid business class, in some situations.
If we live through the pandemic after our exposure working in Hospitals full of people with Covid. Why not live a little. We have seen too many people deprived of life.
Get your Jabbs and stay out of my hospitals! Leave the hospitals for people who are sick and have no alternatives!
Life is too short to fly coach.

Flying ZRH-BOS biz on a LifeMiles award. upgrade to F at Check-in was 1499 chf

Any chance to have a paying upgrade from miles and more business award?

MIA to ZRH
Upgrade $1499 - 10 hour flight. I stayed in business.

I asked about this (upgrading a biz ticket booked with United miles) on a ZRH-ORD flight in late October 2021. I was informed that the price to upgrade from biz to first was $1749 CHF. I played dumb and said that I had heard it was only $949 CHF, but was told that this promo price only applied when biz was oversold and that $1749 was the "normal" price. I was unable to get them to budge, even after quizzing four different agents (ticketing, check-in, customer service, and biz lounge). I will say that all were quick to quote the price when I asked, so they definitely knew what I was talking about. I declined the upgrade.

SFO- CPH Dec 24, offered upgrade $1289 to first class from business booked on LifeMiles 68,000.

Hello Tom. Am looking to do a paid award upgrade on LH to F, for a SIN-FRA itinerary. I am wondering if it will usually be 1100EUR based on your experience? Thank you.

I just upgraded from business to First with cash, Zurich to Chicago, on an award ticket booked through United. Cost was 889 CHF (about $990 USD at time of writing). I recommend doing the upgrade at the transfer desk at the Zurich airport as I they had some system issues at the gate when trying to do the upgrade. They eventually escorted me to the transfer desk to complete the transaction. Happy travels to all!

Sorry I meant $910 USD not $990

I want to share my experience attempting to upgrade to Swiss First from Business on JFK to GVA and to clarify misconceptions for a recent flight in July 2022.

I booked an award I class ticket with Aeroplan miles and was getting an option on the website/app to upgrade for an astounding $1920! But I decided to wait until the airport to ask...

At the airport, I spoke with a clueless Hawaiian agent who wasn't clear at all on what to do for an upgrade to first. After he spoke with someone at Swiss--who intentionally made themselves scarce--I got a quote for $1920 yet again! Shockingly, the price hadn't dropped out hours from departure. Keep in mind, only 3 F seats had been sold out of 8 and the business cabin was full. Economy was very empty.

After declining the offer, I went through security and thought that at the gate the price might be lower. Instead, Charles, the gate agent with Swiss told me that the ticket was NOT upgradeable nor could a cash co-pay be used to upgrade I class. I told him this was false, but he didn't believe me and was confrontational.

Overall, the ground staff at Swiss have "attitude". The check in process is chaotic.

I ultimately asked to speak to a supervisor. The supervisor told me that ONLY when the cabin is oversold (he didn't specify which cabin but I can assume economy) do they do "kiosk" dumps / airport cash upgrades for prices around $999. So in summary, the price for these could range from probably around $1000 to $2000 depending on the situation.

Just checked for JFK to ZRH. Couldn’t find out since the checkin agent told me “there are only two classes on this flight and you are already in Business.” This morning, the F cabin showed 50% unoccupied.

1,580 CHF quoted during online checkin to upgrade from business to first on ZRH-ORD on a ticket booked with LifeMiles. Business was showing 9+ seats available at the time.

I’m wondering if you have data points on Economy to Business upgrade price? I’m looking at SFO to ZRH and only plan to upgrade that overnight leg. I’ve seen in the past it’s cheaper to pay economy and upgrade each leg, or just upgrade the overnight leg 🙂

ORD-ZRH, offered upgrade J->F for &1,080 per person. Ticket booked via SQ KrisFlyer.

$1000 is what i paid for 5 nights at the Rizt CArlton Berlin off season... so no..6 hours to sleep in a wider bed... haha., no. The food is crap..its airplane food.

AMS-ZRH-DEL in P business - upgraded ZRH-DEL for €530 via bidding last June. Got accepted 2 days before the flights.

Route was MXP-ZRH-ORD booked on Aeroplan. Didn't do online check in and didn't ask about an upgrade since I spent a bit too much on holiday already and had little time at ZRH so couldn't have gotten a proper F lounge experience. There was a woman at the gate at ZRH who was making an announcement about how upgrades to F were available in very poor German (like 1st year American high school student) but did not specify the price.

Last August I upgraded from J (booked via LifeMiles) to F on GVA-JFK for about $890 USD. Was prompted via email the day before check-in. Would do it again.

NRT-ZRH booked via UA miles was ~$2000 at the counter. (a few months ago)

LAX - ZRH on a United Biz Award. Upgrade was not proactively offered, I had to ask. They first looked at me like I was crazy, but then after 5 minutes on the computer and a phone call they said one was available for $1200. I felt bad for making them jump through so many hoops only to decline the offer. But I was tempted.

We had a booked ARN-MUN-DEL on Lufthansa (flying two weeks ago), the first segment was cancelled the morning of the flight. After some quick chatting with customer support we managed to get on the routing ARN-ZRH-DEL on Swiss. At the airport we there was 6/8 first class seats available and inquired at the service desk about paid upgrades. Ended up paying 1200 CHF per ticket to upgrade then went direct to the first class lounge. Interestingly at the gate they then made several calls for “great upgrade offers to first class” ... it ended up 5/8 seats occupied en route. Well worth the cost for the experience and a terrific flight.

It depends on the load in F and J. If J is oversold upgrade is about 1000-1500 depending flight distance. If not oversold or F is already booked more than 4 seats it gets more like 1500-2500. best chance for a in ZRH at the transfer desk not at the check in nor the gate.

Enjoy it Bear, you've earned it!

Mirrors my experiences. I've seen as low as 1500 CAD from YUL but its always much more expensive from ZRH. You have a much better chance of there being upgrades available on YUL-ZRH or BOS/JFK-ZRH than longer flights.

SFO>ZRH offered CHF 1,280 (about $1450) on a LifeMiles J ticket during online check-in. The last three upgrades I have taken have all been offered to me during online check-in, which is great, and for SFO/LAXZRH have all been about the same price.

Very true. Lounge and airplane food even in first not up to restaurant quality. But it’s a fun hobby nevertheless.

I’d be willing to pay $1200 to upgrade from Y to F on SWISS. I would be willing to pay $50-$75 for a premium meal in Y if I was originating in ZRH. I don’t fly SWISS.

I prefer the other way better leaving Europe back to the states. A morning flight in Europe when it’s the middle of the night back home ; a flat bed would be great.

HKG-ZRH booked with Miles and More in Business.
Flight Beginning for December was completely full in C, just 3 F seats were free. Upgraded the whole family for 1100 USD per person.
Not bad for a 14hr flight!

Where can I buy 889 CHF with 910 USD? The rate should be 1CHF = 1.16 USD, which concerts 889 CHF as 1,031 USD.

Great deal and excellent data point. Congrats!

23rd Dec ZRH-DEL. United ticketed D class paid fare. $725 J-F. Might do it. It’s been same upgrade amount for past 2 months.

I was quoted a similar price to upgrade ZRH-SFO on a paid Swiss business ticket in the P fare class during online check in. I had a great seat in business so I did not take the offer. Otherwise I would have been tempted.

I inquired on my EZE to GRU flight as there was no one booked in first but they said it was $1300 on the 3 hour flight, and they did not have any food catered for first. That was a hard pass. Business was relatively empty and my wife, infant, and I had forward mini cabin to ourselves. (Apparently infants aren’t allowed there typically but the FA let us move there as there was no one there)

ORD-ZRH J->F $1,080 USD per person; offered for our party of four. Ticket booked with SQ KrisFlyer

ORD-ZRH J->F $1,080 USD per person; offered for our party of four. Ticket booked with SQ KrisFlyer

One experience I have for cash upgrades at the airport one being denied when booked on UA prefix and UA ticket stock as revenue.

I own a small business which is connected to PartnerPlus Benefits, the LHG small business program. I am also a M&M Senator. Pre-Covid I would upgrade almost 10 segments a year from Z-class to A-class mostly via PartnerPlus. The other segments using either bidding.

There is one more trick: 96 hrs for HON and 72hrs for SEN, you can buy an upgrade as long as A-class if offered via SEN and HON hotlines in Basel. The price last time was €1,000.

In general I find the ZRH-YUL sector Eastbound being the easiest to clear.

On June 27th I was booked in Business Class for the Chicago-Zurich flight. I enquired at check-in and was offered an upgrade to first class for $888USD. I accepted and had the best flight of my life.

My family of 4 flew in Business Class ZRH-ORD on 12/31/23. Avianca Life Miles award ticket. 30 min before departure I asked gate agent about buy-up to First. Gate agent said there were 5 open seats. She asked to see my boarding pass. As I was handing it she said my current ticket basis affects buy-up price. She took less than 5 seconds to look at computer and said "2010 per person". She couldn't finish her sentence before I said No thank you. I assume that's CHF. So, with todays conversion that would have been $2365 ...per person. Whaaa??

$1,140 Zürich to JFK on parter paid ticket.

CHF1699 GVA-JFK on a partner reward ticket offered through online check in