SJU/JFK instant upgrade questions

[mini_fig]

I am looking at doing an SC run with the hope of reaching QF Platinum.
The flights would be in June so I know I wont get my best value for money booking so late.

This run would be entirely on AA and I have been looking at Instant Upgrade fares. Are these too risky?
If I book instant upgrade on SJU-(viaMIA)-LAX it comes out at $430. Would the SC for this be calculated on just the total trip or for both individual legs? And if so what class would it be calculated at? The ticketed seat would be Business from SJU-MIA and First from MIA-LAX. If this is booked as two separate flights it comes to $512 total.

My calculations show that if I book every sector separately as mentioned above I get 720SCs for US$1654.

Any other suggestions would be great.

 

[mini_fig]

I suppose more simply put my question is, how are Yup fare SCs calculated? If a particular booking involves 2 flights, one in business and one in first, is the entire trip calculculated at one level (and if so which) and if so am I Breyer off booking the two flights and paying an extra $82 each way.

Also are Yup fares on F SCs all the time even if the highest on that flight is J?

 

[Boris spatsky]

No, it all depends on which fare bucket each leg books into. Most domestic YUPPs book into A or P buckets i believe which give F SCs. International legs book into I or J which give J SCs. Each leg is calculated for SCs depending on its own fate bucket. Whilst SJU is good overall, the leg too and from will only get J SCs. But once there, you can get great runs to LAX. Serfty is the man in the know with respect to these runs.

 

[serfty]

See this thread:

http://www.australianfrequentflyer....dvantage/instant-upgrades-p-ticket-36021.html