Mar 9, 2015, 6:33 am
Last edit by: Gnopps
*** MOD NOTE: Please do not remove ***
A friendly reminder that Flyertalk is not a marketplace, and nothing may be offered (or solicited) for sale or barter within the general forums - which includes offering vouchers for free. For those with sufficient posts and length of membership, trading/exchange is allowed solely within Coupon Connection, and then only in accordance with the specific rules of that forum.
Please do not attempt to solicit, sell or trade upgrade vouchers within this forum. Posts will be deleted and the members concerned potentially subject to disciplinary action. **Please note that this includes directly using the PM system to do so without first posting in Coupon Connection**. Thanks for your co-operation.
A friendly reminder that Flyertalk is not a marketplace, and nothing may be offered (or solicited) for sale or barter within the general forums - which includes offering vouchers for free. For those with sufficient posts and length of membership, trading/exchange is allowed solely within Coupon Connection, and then only in accordance with the specific rules of that forum.
Please do not attempt to solicit, sell or trade upgrade vouchers within this forum. Posts will be deleted and the members concerned potentially subject to disciplinary action. **Please note that this includes directly using the PM system to do so without first posting in Coupon Connection**. Thanks for your co-operation.
Criteria
- You must be travelling on A3 or OA metal - codeshares are not included.
- The original ticket must be issued on either A3 (390) or OA (050) ticket stock.
- Only revenue (paid) tickets, in fare classes other than U, P & T on a GoLight fare basis, can be upgraded, but not redemption tickets.
- All flights on the ticket must be on A3 or OA metal.
- There must be award availability in I-class for the upgrades to clear. You can check this by logging in to M&B then going to https://en.aegeanair.com/milesandbon...t/spend-miles/ The results page will initially be a calendar. To see Business availability, you have to click through to the next step. (You can also use a free or paid tool such as ANA website, UA website (looking for saver award space), Aeroplan, AwardNexus or ExpertFlyer to check for availability.)
- One coupon per person per journey leg is required - so, for example, TXL-ATH-SKG and return via the same route would require four coupons per person.
- Anyone can be upgraded using the coupons - you do not have to be travelling on the same booking or even the same plane.
Procedure
- Call A3 to request the upgrade. The phone numbers are listed at https://aegeanairlines.custhelp.com/ (most of them should go to the same call centre in Greece).
- If successful, a new ticket will be issued (with a new number). The PNR will remain unchanged.
- You are liable for any extra taxes applicable to Business Class (e.g. APD from the UK). Sometimes this gets charged, sometimes it doesn't - if it's due and you're not charged because the agent forgets, you've just been lucky.
- If there's no immediate I-class availability, you can ask to be waitlisted for upgrade. The ability to waitlist was reported to have been removed in August 2016, but was again possible in September. Check with the agent - option available on May 2018.
- in case you requested to be waitlisted for upgrade and want to check if the customer care agent made the changes on your booking you can check the reservation on checkmytrip.com (click here), the leg you requested the upgrade will be shown here as ”Waitlisted”.
- If you wish to upgrade one segment of a multi-segment trip (e.g. XXX-ATH-YYY) and there is availability on the leg you wish to upgrade, you may still have to be waitlisted due to married segment issues. The process of clearing the waitlist is somewhat confusing and may result in frustration due to the availability seeming to disappear but in reality, this may mean that the segments have been "unmarried" and the availability has been allocated to your reservation. See post 2272 and the update in post 2294 for more details.
Benefits
- No matter what the fare basis of the original ticket, you receive full Business Class benefits after upgrade.
- This includes lounge access (useful if you're upgrading someone other than yourself who has no status, or if you've run out of Silver lounge vouchers) and full baggage allowance (it applies for first leg as well, in case you are upgraded only on the 2nd leg of your trip - confirmed on the etix).
- Because the ticket books as a redemption, the free car hire is not included.
Mileage/segment earning
- You will earn at the underlying rate of your purchased ticket in economy, not at a business class rate. Because status miles are awarded, this also counts as a segment for re-qualification purposes.
- The flights may credit automatically, but may take longer to credit than tickets that have not been changed. They may also credit as 0 miles, and later change to the correct rate. If the flights have not credited properly after a few weeks then calling A3 will rectify this rapidly.
Expiry
- The vouchers expire at the end of your membership year - they do not carry over, even if status is retained. A new set is issued every year.
- It is the date when you use the voucher that matters. It can upgrade a flight that takes place after expiry as long as you apply the voucher before.
- On upgrade from Silver to Gold, any remaining Silver upgrade coupons expire, but they are replaced by four Gold ones which expire at the end of the Gold membership year.
BEWARE
- Once you have upgraded your seat, your ticket will be reissued. Suddenly, this ticket may be VERY expensive to change. If, for instance, you later decide to travel on a different date, you will probably be required to rebook into Business, even if Economy was available for new bookings. A3 will charge you the difference from your original Economy fare to a NEW Business fare. Plus fees, taxes and whatnot. Update 18/08/2021: this appears to no longer be the case, as an upgraded ticket was changed and the underlying Economy fare was used for the upgraded segments. The coupon was "removed" from the old dates and "reapplied" to the new dates.
- Coupons will not be returned/reinstated. Once a coupon is applied, it is gone for good (the T&Cs printed on the coupons allow for date and time changes, but not route changes).
- If you want to provide your coupons to upgrade a friend's travel, it is advisable to call in yourself. Your friend can call in if they know your name, birthdate, M&B-number and the email address associated with your account. That means: Anyone who knows these particulars can use your coupons without your knowledge. They do NOT need the coupon numbers.
- Crediting upgraded segments to another program will likely fail, as it will be reported as I-class. It may be possible to retro-claim the miles.
Seat upgrade coupons
Nov 26, 2015, 4:53 am
#811
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: LON, ATH
Programs: A3*G, BA Gold, OA Gold (in memoriam), Hertz #1 Gold
Posts: 548
Nov 26, 2015, 8:56 am
#812
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: NW London and NW Sydney
Programs: BA Diamond, Hilton Bronze, A3 Diamond, IHG *G
Posts: 6,344
Nov 26, 2015, 1:43 pm
#813
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Wedged somewhere between BTS and VIE ✈
Programs: Star Alliance Gold (A3 Gold), Oneworld Emerald (BA Gold), Hilton Diamond
Posts: 6,338
Nov 26, 2015, 3:21 pm
#814
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: LON, ATH
Programs: A3*G, BA Gold, OA Gold (in memoriam), Hertz #1 Gold
Posts: 548
I uprgaded I think once or twice, in the beginning of my FF career when an AUP only cost 65 quid and came with 80 TP for ATH-LHR
Last time I asked, they quoted something like 220 euros ex ATH
Disgrace!
Last time I asked, they quoted something like 220 euros ex ATH
Disgrace!
Nov 28, 2015, 5:04 pm
#815
Join Date: Aug 2010
Programs: TK Elite Plus, SAS EBG, QR Platinum, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 2,297
I'm currently looking at booking ARN-ATH-IST with A3. There's only I availability on the second leg, but none on the first. So my plan is to upgrade the 2nd leg and waitlist ARN-ATH. So my question is, how does the waitlisting work. Will my upgrade clear automatically once I opens up, or do I have to call them again to make the upgrade once they release more I seats? Is it otherwise possible to upgrade on the day of departure, assuming there are empty seats in Business Class?
Nov 28, 2015, 8:07 pm
#816
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Heraklion, Greece
Posts: 7,565
I was recently waitlisted for coupon-upgrades for two flights. For the first one, they sent me an email 3 days before the flight that my upgrade didn't go through (although I got upgraded 35 minutes before the flight while in the lounge w/o the coupon), while three days before the second upgrade I received the pertinent email with the good news. No need to call them.
Nov 29, 2015, 1:24 pm
#818
Join Date: Aug 2010
Programs: TK Elite Plus, SAS EBG, QR Platinum, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 2,297
I see. How big is the chance that A3 releases more upgrade seats? The flight is in March, so surely they would release another I seat. In fact the flight went from I2 to I0 overnight, so I suspect that revenue management deliberately removed those upgrade seats.
Nov 29, 2015, 2:21 pm
#819
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 133
If it your date is not around any major events or holidays i'd recommend getting on the waiting list. The worst thing that could happen you don't get the upgrade and retain the vouchers.
From personal experience - A3 limits C availability around holidays and new year, so there is only one I space on most of the flights. As we're traveling in two, i secured one upgrade on first call and was put on waiting list for the second pax. The upgrade went through within 2-3 days, so clearly they release more upgrade space even far in advance.
Nov 29, 2015, 4:27 pm
#821
Moderator: Aegean Miles+Bonus
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: AMS / ATH
Programs: AFKL Plat, A3 Gold
Posts: 7,339
On a related note, I am very curious to see what they will serve on board the days before Easter
Nov 30, 2015, 8:44 am
#823
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 133
Maybe they do the Rev Management thing on shorter basis - not as far as Easter in advance?
Just a thought...
Nov 30, 2015, 9:01 am
#824
Community Director
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Norwich, UK
Programs: A3*G, BA Gold, BD Gold (in memoriam), IHG Diamond Ambassador
Posts: 8,476
I think, purely anecdotally, there possibly is some greater control over which flights have award seats on them.
I've been looking at the ATH-LHR routing recently - availability for two seats on pretty much any of the Sundays I've selected for the first two flights of the day (morning and lunchtime), but nothing on what is probably the most popular revenue departure in the early evening.
I haven't yet gone through lots and lots of dates with the ANA tool to verify whether this spreads to midweek departures, so as yet it's not a comprehensive picture, but certainly there seems to be a degree of capacity control at work.
I've been looking at the ATH-LHR routing recently - availability for two seats on pretty much any of the Sundays I've selected for the first two flights of the day (morning and lunchtime), but nothing on what is probably the most popular revenue departure in the early evening.
I haven't yet gone through lots and lots of dates with the ANA tool to verify whether this spreads to midweek departures, so as yet it's not a comprehensive picture, but certainly there seems to be a degree of capacity control at work.
Dec 1, 2015, 4:41 am
#825
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: PAS, Paros Greece
Programs: A3 *G
Posts: 1,372
My latest upgrade coupon experience:
My flight to LHR is in 7 days and the ANA availability tool was showing no I-class availability. Still I decided to call anyway, to see if I could be waitlisted for upgrade as the A3 site showed at least six C class seats available.
The phone was answered before it actually rang - both on the initial contact with the automated system and when I got through to an agent. I explained what I wanted, gave my ticket number and the agent replied "OK sir, you are on the wait list for the upgrade. We will let you know if success, thank you for calling". The total length of the call from dialing was 42 seconds! I was actually a bit disconcerted that the agent didn't even ask my name or read back the flight details to make sure we had the correct booking, but it all worked out...
I just now received a phone call (26 hours later) confirming the upgrade and the email with the new E-ticket arrived during that call.
So, all in all, a VERY fast easy service for an upgrade I thought I had little chance of actually getting at short notice. I think they need to be a bit more careful about confirming ID and personal details etc. but all in all, no real complaints.
My flight to LHR is in 7 days and the ANA availability tool was showing no I-class availability. Still I decided to call anyway, to see if I could be waitlisted for upgrade as the A3 site showed at least six C class seats available.
The phone was answered before it actually rang - both on the initial contact with the automated system and when I got through to an agent. I explained what I wanted, gave my ticket number and the agent replied "OK sir, you are on the wait list for the upgrade. We will let you know if success, thank you for calling". The total length of the call from dialing was 42 seconds! I was actually a bit disconcerted that the agent didn't even ask my name or read back the flight details to make sure we had the correct booking, but it all worked out...
I just now received a phone call (26 hours later) confirming the upgrade and the email with the new E-ticket arrived during that call.
So, all in all, a VERY fast easy service for an upgrade I thought I had little chance of actually getting at short notice. I think they need to be a bit more careful about confirming ID and personal details etc. but all in all, no real complaints.