How to use an Alaska Airlines MVP Gold Guest Upgrade

Want a cheap way to be upgraded to first class on Alaska Airlines? You’re in luck, as Alaska Airlines provides each Mileage Plan member who reaches MVP Gold with four MVP Gold Guest Upgrades that expire at the end of the year after your qualification. These can be used to upgrade anyone’s flight in one direction as long as their flight qualifies through Alaska’s requirements. They are a wonderful tool to get a cheap first class ticket when certain conditions are met. Keep reading to learn more about how to use them.

How to get a Gold Guest Upgrade

All Alaska Airlines MVP Golds and above will be issued four Gold Guest Upgrade codes per year upon qualification. These GGUs can be used by anyone, including yourself.

If you are not an MVP Gold but you know someone who is a MVP Gold member, you could have them give you a code to use. That is why they are called Gold “Guest” Upgrades.

Alaska does not allow the sale or barter of these codes, but inevitably there is probably a black market somewhere for it. I don’t recommend going down this route because you probably don’t want to be banned from an airline’s frequent flyer program, so don’t risk it!

Gold Guest Upgrade requirements

Per Alaska Airlines:

“Flights must be marketed and ticketed by Alaska Airlines. Each guest upgrade code is valid for one-way travel for one person. Connecting flights must have no more than a 4-hour stopover between them.”

The full terms are at the website: https://www.alaskaair.com/content/mileage-plan/membership-benefits/guest-upgrades

While those are the basic terms of the Gold Guest Upgrade program, the biggest caveats remain in the fine print. We’ll break them down for you below.

Gold Guest Upgrades can’t be used on every flight!

The biggest caveat to watch for with Gold Guest Upgrades are how tricky they can be to actually use.

In Alaska jargon, it can be explained very easily: there must be U fare class space available for a flight and the ticket you purchase must be in the N fare class or above to utilize the Gold Guest Upgrade.

That, of course, makes no sense to most people. So let’s break that down into more simpler terms.

• The biggest caveat is that not all flights actually have space. Only flights that already have upgrade space will allow you to upgrade. You can see which flights have upgrade space as described below.
• Even if you find a flight with upgrade space, your ticket has to be a certain fare class or above. In other words, Alaska has to guarantee you aren’t buying a Saver ticket or a super cheap discount economy fare. They want you to cough up extra money to actually redeem your Gold Guest Upgrade.

Finding flights with upgrade space

When searching for flights, the quick book box on the home page isn’t enough. Use the page that contains all search options by clicking on the small link on the bottom left corner of the box that says “All search options”:

Once you’re there, on the right side, there’s a dropdown for upgrade type:

Select the bottommost option, which is “MVP® Gold guest”.

Search for some options.

You’ll see that some flights say “First Class upgrade available” while others say they’re not available. (In Alaska jargon, the text “First Class upgrade available” indicates there are some U fare class seats available, and those would allow for a Gold Guest Upgrade to be used immediately to upgrade.)

Typically, flights that Alaska has identified with less demand will have the “First Class upgrade available” designation. (Also, keep in mind that the staff at Alaska who control which tickets are sold for which flights have the ability to release or withdraw First Class upgrade space at any time, and the upgrade space might be snatched up by other travelers, so be mentally prepared for changes in what that flight’s upgrade space status could be in the future!)

To redeem a Gold Guest Upgrade immediately, you’ll probably want to avoid booking on the flights without First Class upgrades available. (Booking on those flights means your fare makes you eligible to upgrade with a Gold Guest Upgrade, but it will be possible if and only if upgrade space opens up AND other people aren’t upgraded into those seats automatically before you get a chance to manually apply your GGU.)

So you’ll want to choose the option that says “First Upgrade”. “Main” would get you a fare that’s cheap but ineligible for GGUs to be applied. Sometimes, “Main” is unavailable and only “First Upgrade” fares is available. That does not mean you will certainly be upgraded; it just means the cheaper fares that aren’t eligible for Gold Guest Upgrades are sold out and you are stuck paying the more expensive fares that are eligible.

Confused? I was also very confused at first. Here’s what’s happening:

There is a difference between the “First Class upgrade available” text versus the “First Upgrade” text. The former indicates actual availability of seats that you can use a Gold Guest Upgrade on immediately, and this one matters more. The latter means that you’re only buying a fare that would make you eligible to redeem a Gold Guest Upgrade, but doesn’t imply there is upgrade space available.

If you want to redeem a Gold Guest Upgrade, you have to buy a “First Upgrade” fare on a “First Class upgrade available” flight. Both must be true or a GGU cannot be used.

A word of caution: sometimes, bona fide First Class tickets on the rightmost column are cheaper than the First Upgrade fare. In this case, you obviously should not select the First Upgrade fare; either go with Main or First and save those GGUs for later.

Applying the Gold Guest Upgrade

When booking your flight as an elite member, you’ll see an option on whether you wish to be waitlisted for a complimentary upgrade, apply a Gold Guest Upgrade, or do neither. If you’re not an elite member, you won’t see this option, but after booking, there will be an option on your booking to apply a Gold Guest Upgrade code.

As an elite member, if you want to use your own Gold Guest Upgrade, it’s pretty easy for you, as you never have to find the code yourself. Once you finish paying for your upgrade-available flight (that has U class space) in an eligible fare (N class or above), you’ll be redirected to the following page where you’ll have the option to choose which flights to apply your upgrade to.

Simply select the checkboxes for which you want to apply the upgrade. Then, select the GGU code you wish to use. Of course you should try to use the codes that expire first!

Once you press upgrade, the codes will be deducted from your account and you’ll get a confirmation that you’re confirmed in First Class for your flights.

Closing thoughts

While Gold Guest Upgrades are not blanket passes to get an upgrade on any flight you want for no extra money, they can let you enjoy First Class without having to pay a fortune when the stars align.

Oh, by the way, sadly these Gold Guest Upgrade fares won’t let you enter the Alaska Lounge. However, you are welcome to enjoy the rest of the First Class experience on Alaska. Enjoy!