Aer Lingus Gold Circle Club - Aer Lingus (EI) seat selection and upgrade questions

First time on EI in May and have a couple of questions for the season EI travelers...

1) My travel agent (in this case, Citibank Thank You / Connexions Travel) requested a seat for me (trying to be near friends on same flight) but said he wouldn't be able to confirm them - just request them. I looked on the EI website and not only won't it accept my PNR, but it appears that they charge $30 each way just to select any (non-premium) seat? Is that right? Is there any way to just view an itinerary on the site?

2) It says you need 4,000 Golden Circle points to upgrade to business. How would I know if seats were actually available for upgrade (before starting a Coupon Connection post). Is it the U class listed on Expert Flyer? Or is it simply if there are any available J seats?

I hear the new EI product is quite nice so I'm not really minding the chance to try a new airline (for me) even though it means not getting miles or bennies on my usual airlines of choice...

Thanks!

You may not be able to access seat selection online with a booking not made directly with Aer Lingus, but calling them might work. Seat assignment on transatlantic flights (as you are discussing business class I assume you are traveling long haul) is free, apart from exit rows. Paid for seating refers to short haul routes within Europe.

Can't help with GC points but they sometimes offer quite reasonable paid upgrades to business class. I don't know if it's possible with travel agency tickets but if you call about the seats it might be worth enquiring about pricing.

Thanks, colmc.

I called just now and learned that a) my seat assignments from Thank You didn't transfer, but she did indeed assign the seats free of charge, b) there is no advance upgrade for $ (I asked) - just via Gold Circle points and apparently Barclay's points (??). She said gate upgrades for $$ were possible but couldn't say how much they would be.

Also - interestingly, she said that upgrades were not available outbound, but they are inbound. I confirmed that it comes from U class, but Expert Flyer shows U zeroed out on my return date, when she said there were a few upgrade seats available and I could upgrade right now (if I actually had Gold Circle points).

Anyone have a reliable way to check upgrades availability, then, without asking on the phone?

Thanks, colmc.

I called just now and learned that a) my seat assignments from Thank You didn't transfer, but she did indeed assign the seats free of charge, b) there is no advance upgrade for $ (I asked) - just via Gold Circle points and apparently Barclay's points (??). She said gate upgrades for $$ were possible but couldn't say how much they would be.

Also - interestingly, she said that upgrades were not available outbound, but they are inbound. I confirmed that it comes from U class, but Expert Flyer shows U zeroed out on my return date, when she said there were a few upgrade seats available and I could upgrade right now (if I actually had Gold Circle points).

Anyone have a reliable way to check upgrades availability, then, without asking on the phone?

Ask for price of ££ upgrade at check in, can be fairly competitive (start at $600 IIRC)
Seat selection in Y is free on TATL, use online check-in at T-24hrs to get best seats.

Next time you may wish to book directly on www.aerlingus.com. (I've not flown TATL with Aer Lingus in 12 years, so I don't know if travel agents give competitive quotes these days for Aer Lingus TATL travel - but for European/short-haul travel, it's always considerably cheaper to book direct from EI than via a third party.)

That way you will be also able to play around with all the "Manage my Booking" options on their website - one of which is "Upgrade to Business Class".

FWIW, I asked about a J upgrade on my recent (otherwise excellent) flight from ORD to DUB, and I was quoted $2500. YMMV.

Anyone have experiences on gate upgrades ($) JFK-DUB? I'd happily pay a few hundred - definitely NOT $2500!

I don't think they tend to do cut price upgrades so much these days. Expect to pay full price, but you can always ask them at the check in desk.

Anyone have experiences on gate upgrades ($) JFK-DUB? I'd happily pay a few hundred - definitely NOT $2500!

I'm not aware of Aer Lingus offering cut-price gate upgrades.

I have heard of it being done ex MCO. I believe the fee was $750.

EI allow paid business class upgrades on their website:

https://www.aerlingus.com/cgi-bin/obel01im1/bookonline/retrievePNRToChange.do?option=managePNRUpgradeCabi n

(never used it so not sure what prices they will charge or if there are limitations on certain types of bookings)

Thanks everyone. Does sound like it won't be cheap if possible at all.

Starflyergold, it seems that page only works if you booked on their website direct. I used TY points to book so while it's a standard revenue ticket, that option isn't available for me to even check what it would be - but I assume in advance like this it would be steep!

What I find most interesting is that I've had a thread going (bumping) in Coupon Connection for like 2 months now and it doesn't seem like EI points are the most common thing to find on FT.