Aer Lingus Gold Circle Club - Newly qualified EI Gold Circle Elite

So ive just qualified as EI Elite. I imagine thats quite a small club, given that the EI system is notoriously stingy.

Any experiences of using the 4 upgrade vouchers? I havent been home to collect my new card package, so are there physical vouchers inside it or are these electronic and done over the phone?

Any other hints/tips about this wonderous new status level?:rolleyes:

So ive just qualified as EI Elite. I imagine thats quite a small club, given that the EI system is notoriously stingy.

Any experiences of using the 4 upgrade vouchers? I havent been home to collect my new card package, so are there physical vouchers inside it or are these electronic and done over the phone?

Any other hints/tips about this wonderous new status level?:rolleyes:

Nothing different about the pack that you receive. It's the standardised pack as with Gold and Prestige Level.

You also don't receive any physical vouchers for the (4) Upgrades. Instead, they are logged on your account and deducted accordingly upon redemption.

In my experience, it is much more difficult to redeem these Upgrades when compared with a standard GC points redemption. It's not impossible by any means, it just requires a little more persistence ;)

EI Premier

In my experience, using the four upgrades has been straightforward. All I did was ring GC admin and they did it for me. They keep an electronic record. On most occasions they have done it instantly, even two days before in one instance. Used this years upgrades as follows. Bought Premier ticket to MCO for myself for July 2012. Used the spouse free for my wife, just paying the tax. Used 12000 GC points for my two kids just paying the tax. Then used my 4 free upgrades for them. Worked out at EUR 2,090 in total. Would have paid EUR 8,900 had I paid full fare. Flights confirmed within 24 hours. Service from GC Admin fantastic. Remember to use your free GC membership for your spouse or colleague. If you get to the end of your membership year and for some reason you have not used your upgrades, give me a shout, I'll definitely use them. This year I gifted 2 upgrades to a fellow Airliners.net poster. One good turn deserves another!!!!

I'll be doing my best to use them, but it seems EI availability isnt great in C. I remember booking a reward flight in Y and the agent seemed to be releasing the seat from revenue rather than taking it from an allocation. She put me on hold while she "got clearance to release the seat":confused:

In my experience, using the four upgrades has been straightforward. All I did was ring GC admin and they did it for me. They keep an electronic record. On most occasions they have done it instantly, even two days before in one instance. Used this years upgrades as follows. Bought Premier ticket to MCO for myself for July 2012. Used the spouse free for my wife, just paying the tax. Used 12000 GC points for my two kids just paying the tax. Then used my 4 free upgrades for them. Worked out at EUR 2,090 in total. Would have paid EUR 8,900 had I paid full fare. Flights confirmed within 24 hours. Service from GC Admin fantastic. Remember to use your free GC membership for your spouse or colleague. If you get to the end of your membership year and for some reason you have not used your upgrades, give me a shout, I'll definitely use them. This year I gifted 2 upgrades to a fellow Airliners.net poster. One good turn deserves another!!!!

Agreed with all of your points - however, redemptions have soared recently making award inventory very difficult to come by. Recently, I have noticed a waiting period of a week or more with continued requests placed with Revenue Management before a redemption has been granted.

I'll be doing my best to use them, but it seems EI availability isnt great in C. I remember booking a reward flight in Y and the agent seemed to be releasing the seat from revenue rather than taking it from an allocation. She put me on hold while she "got clearance to release the seat"

Indeed - as per my post above, I have found this to be the case recently.

Regards,

EI Premier