Air New Zealand Air Points - OneUP luck..

Hi

I have used oneup on on a recent flight (stupid amount, $50 for an upgrade to LAX in Econ)

Has anyone bidded and won? Whats the lowest you have got away with for what upgrade?

Never used, but I thought oneup has a minimum bid? And it's not running until end of May??

Yeah, I believe the minimum bid they'll accept is $200 for Y-PE.

I thought the minimum was for the new system starting in May not for the pilot that was used on the US Flights.

Ah OK yes after speaking with airnz I was just part of the pilot, was unaware it wasn't live until may...

Does anyone else have any bid fail / success bid amounts? Would be good to see what's happening out there...

Does anyone else have any bid fail / success bid amounts? Would be good to see what's happening out there...

I expect that most people won't post this info.

If I'd been having success with say $222 bids and posted it, it would encourage people to bid say $233, meaning the person who posted would miss out.

Air NZ know this of course and it is no doubt designed to encourage people to put in higher bids.

I expect that most people won't post this info.

If I'd been having success with say $222 bids and posted it, it would encourage people to bid say $233, meaning the person who posted would miss out.

Air NZ know this of course and it is no doubt designed to encourage people to put in higher bids.

I am actually surprised no one has posted yet. Would you want to worry about people outbidding you or would you just choose another airline? Time will tell.

I expect that most people won't post this info.

If I'd been having success with say $222 bids and posted it, it would encourage people to bid say $233, meaning the person who posted would miss out.

Air NZ know this of course and it is no doubt designed to encourage people to put in higher bids.

That's a fairly negative attitude to take, given the relatively few people who would look on here compared to the proportion of Oneup bidders in total? I thought it wouldn't be a big deal disclosing what you bid, especially considering there is apparently a sliding bar telling you how successful you are likely to be based on historical bids. I know I would be happy to share my experience if I ever bid on it. We are here to help each other out!

Does anyone know if one can increase one's original bid? If, say, I book a couple of months ahead and put in a bid around what is said to be likely to succeed and then find closer to departure that the amount likely to succeed has increased, can I increase my bid?

Does anyone know if one can increase one's original bid? If, say, I book a couple of months ahead and put in a bid around what is said to be likely to succeed and then find closer to departure that the amount likely to succeed has increased, can I increase my bid?

Not sure about that but you can cancel one and resubmit.

Not sure about that but you can cancel one and resubmit.

Thanks for that. I guess we'll all see how it works in practice when it starts in earnest. I know how much we're all looking forward to it. NOT

It looks like a few Velocity folks have got successful bids. And OneUp seems to be booked into R class. One question remains. If there are no R class left, does it mean the cabin would prefer to be left empty than allowing standby upgrades? The whole upgrade change seems so counter productive to me.

http://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/community/virgin-australia-velocity/business-premier-upgrade-air-newzealand-38990.html

It looks like a few Velocity folks have got successful bids. And OneUp seems to be booked into R class. One question remains. If there are no R class left, does it mean the cabin would prefer to be left empty than allowing standby upgrades? The whole upgrade change seems so counter productive to me.

http://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/community/virgin-australia-velocity/business-premier-upgrade-air-newzealand-38990.html

Official Air NZ word doesn't provide much guidance, but-

In addition to the value of your offer and the value of other offers for the same cabin class, we will take into account your Airpoints™ tier status or Star Alliance frequent flyer status, the booking class of the original fare purchased, how often you may have been upgraded through this program in the past, the number of seats available in the higher cabin class and the number of passengers in the booking and any other factor to be considered at Air New Zealand’s discretion.

That makes me think that they will make their best effort to fill the cabin.

In relation to resubmitting bid offers, that's permitted- (from FAQ section)

Yes. You can change or cancel your offer up to seven days prior to the scheduled departure time of the applicable flight by going back to the OneUp™ offer website via the link in your offer confirmation email. From the 30th of May 2012, Airpoints members will also be able to change or cancel their offers via myairnz.com.

Star Alliance Golds better not get as much weight as an NZ Gold bid. :mad:

Less than a month to go now, we really should be given more information about how this will work-status weightings, what wins between a recognition upgrade and a OneUp bid, etc.

Star Alliance Golds better not get as much weight as an NZ Gold bid. :mad:

Less than a month to go now, we really should be given more information about how this will work-status weightings, what wins between a recognition upgrade and a OneUp bid, etc.


I agree

I've looked into this from a number of angles, including finding out how Plusgrade market this upgrade-selling product to airlines such as NZ and VS, and I think that I can say with some certainty that:

1) Between 0 and 4 seats per aircraft are categorised as R class and made available for Gold Elite upgrades (recognition or points) at any point after purchase.

2) All available unsold inventory 72 hours prior to departure is matched to upgrade bids, and sold if possible.

3) Immediately after this, any remaining inventory becomes available for Gold Recognition Upgrades, and 24 hours prior to departure becomes available for Silver Recognition Upgrades.

Of note, the weighting for status appears to be so low as to be irrelevant. Plusgrade offer each airline a choice between public or opaque auctions, with the idea being that airlines which are willing for elites to know the premium placed upon their status would choose an open auction, rather like eBay. Air NZ chose an opaque auction, which carries a strong implication that they do not want elites to discover how little value is added to their bids, so I presume that the premium is in single figures even for Gold Elites.

Many of you will be aware that other airlines like Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific operate dual frequent flyer schemes: one for Status and the other for points earning and burning.

I think that those of us who are air NZ frequent flyers just need to understand that the program remains competitive in terms of Status (easy acquisition and complimentary recognition upgrades) but is now lousy in terms of earning and burning points.

I've learned that lesson, and I'm happy with it. And frankly, I don't care much that I have to use $ not Airpoints to buy upgrades now, because Airpoints earning rates are a joke anyway.

I've done my sums, and all of my family will qualify for Gold Elite again over the next year. The bad news for the airline is that once we do that we move all further business elsewhere for the rest of the year, because additional Airpoints earning is no incentive whatsoever anymore.

Funnily enough, I think we can use OneUp smartly to get upgrades from Premium Economy, because the competition will be minimal. So we may actually benefit.

If that's the case, that suggests to me that all recognition upgrades bar the GE ones that automatically clear into R class are pretty much going to lose, right? Air New Zealand presumably will accept as many bids are there are seats available-unless they hold some back in the hope of a sale.

...
I think that those of us who are air NZ frequent flyers just need to understand that the program remains competitive in terms of Status (easy acquisition and complimentary recognition upgrades) but is now lousy in terms of earning and burning points.

I've learned that lesson, and I'm happy with it. And frankly, I don't care much that I have to use $ not Airpoints to buy upgrades now, because Airpoints earning rates are a joke anyway.

I've done my sums, and all of my family will qualify for Gold Elite again over the next year. The bad news for the airline is that once we do that we move all further business elsewhere for the rest of the year, because additional Airpoints earning is no incentive whatsoever anymore. ...I am ~120 SP's short of the 2000 required to bank a year of GE. I'll knock that over by June; already had the booking in place before the oneup change was announced.

In the next weeks I'm planning to purchase a return transPac for later this year and early next which I'll use http://www.airnewzealand.co.nz/themes/airnz001/images/apd_symbol_blk.gif's to upgrade. However, I will be ~http://www.airnewzealand.co.nz/themes/airnz001/images/apd_symbol_blk.gif120 short of that required to upgrade and, unlike NZ residents, I cannot do a $120 onesmart transaction for them; I need to use other means which may cost me several times more than $120.

I am planning another return for June/Nov next year and will hope to use Comps for those flights.

As an Oz resident, 2014 will see the end of GE for me - not sure what to do with my 'soft landing' *G comps ... I might just let them expire.

I am ~120 SP's short of the 2000 required to bank a year of GE. I'll knock that over by June; already had the booking in place before the oneup change was announced.

As an Oz resident, 2014 will see the end of GE for me - not sure what to do with my 'soft landing' *G comps ... I might just let them expire.

I think you're over-reacting and catastrophising. I went through a similar process when OneSmart came in and I thought zero-status people would buy points and make upgrades hard to get.

Here is my rationale for keeping a substantial amount of business with Air NZ even though I'm in Australia.

1. Competition for cash upgrades will exist from Economy to Premium Economy, but PE to BP competition should be minimal.

2. There are no Confirmed Upgrades any more, which should free up more inventory, as will the ban on 2 class OneUps.

3. A substantial number of competing Gold Elites will have transferred their business elsewhere in pique at seeing their Airpoints utilisation options destroyed with the end of Confirmed Upgrades, as well as any sensible Gold, as they can't even use them for Standby Upgrades now.

4. It's much less painful for me to bid $600 cash for a PE to BP OneUp than 430 or 1030 Airpoints for a Standby or Confirmed Upgrade across the Pacific, because in Australia it's hard work earning that many Airpoints.

1. Competition for cash upgrades will exist from Economy to Premium Economy, but PE to BP competition should be minimal.

In either scenario, there's likely to be more bidders than seats though, isn't there? Whether it's 50 Y customers competing for 5 PE seats, or 20 PE customers competing for 5 BP seats.

Also, wouldn't the bids be higher amongst the PE bidders given 1) they're likely to have higher incomes than the Y travellers, and 2) the gap between PE and BP is significantly larger than the gap between Y and PE.

I think you're over-reacting and catastrophising. I went through a similar process when OneSmart came in and I thought zero-status people would buy points and make upgrades hard to get. ...I am one of those in group 3.

I have never purchased PE in my life and I'm not about to start now.

After the changes of the last few years before this one I only continued to use Airpoints for the "Confirmed" 2 class standby upgrades to business premium from economy; no good with only two Recognition upgrades per year.

It is quite difficult to attain GE when all your 810 SP's worth of "Air New Zealand" flights are in discount economy - I no longer need to worry.

See my resolution post from two months ago below.

Air NZ bookings from me in 2011: 23 actual (mainly return)
Air NZ bookings from me in 2012: 2 planned return
Air NZ bookings from me in 2013: 1 planned return
Air NZ bookings from me in 2014: 0

I don't spend as much money as some in maintaining Gold Elite status; but it is not insignificant.

Being top level with both Qantas and AirNZ I do have a choice. I find QF generally works better for me travel-wise, especially with the introduction of S2S by AirNZ. Also, with Qantas travel I have access to better lounges at AKL International, Sydney and Melbourne.

For T-T travel, QF fares have been generally comparable with NZ Works fares. However, I chose to pursue GE.

With that, last year I travelled Trans-Tasman much more on NZ than on Qantas last year (22 v. 4 times). Also, I did generally, pay the additional for works

Last year I travelled on over NZ$7500 worth of "New Zealand" flights - this could easily have been on other airlines if it were not for the need for those 810 SP's for GE requalification.

I also flew internally within NZ 9 times rather than on Jetstar+; I find prices are comparable when the plus is taken into account and booking well in advance (as 99% of my bookings are).

With this change I find no further reason to pursue Gold Elite status; I can go back to row four on Jetconnect trans-tasman 73H's and not have to pay extra for Food, Beverages, IFE and luggage.

Oh, yes, I'll also go back to earning FF points as well rather than just SP's.

I could just be that I am not the type of passenger that Air NZ is really interested in - if that is the case then so be it.

In either scenario, there's likely to be more bidders than seats though, isn't there? Whether it's 50 Y customers competing for 5 PE seats, or 20 PE customers competing for 5 BP seats.

Also, wouldn't the bids be higher amongst the PE bidders given 1) they're likely to have higher incomes than the Y travellers, and 2) the gap between PE and BP is significantly larger than the gap between Y and PE.

I think that that is what the airline thinks, and I think they are wrong!

There are two separate areas here:

1) Economy to Premium Economy
There will probably be more applications than places, but I just don't believe that the bids will be very high, otherwise people would simply buy a Premium Economy fare in the first place.

In the case of Australia-AKL-USA, the fare difference is around AUD700 each way between discount Economy and the lowest Premium Economy class. And these passengers chose not to pay that, so why would they pay more now? I think the airline has been incredibly dumb here: Standby Upgrades AKL-LAX used to net A$430 and Confirmed Upgrades netted A$1030, and their bids are not going to be anywhere close to that former revenue, or passengers would have just bought Premium economy at the outset.

It won't affect me except when my family members buy Star RTW tickets in economy. And we'll make sure we pay the supplement to be ticketed in Premium Economy, then do our OneUps from there!

The nightmare for upgrades will be long-haul 763 services to HNL and Japan, where I fear for the prospects for elites.

2) Premium Economy to Business
I find this more interesting, to be honest.

I work on the basis that there are usually 4-6 unsold seats close to departure in Business Class (typically around 4 on 77E and 6 on 744 and 77W).

I will be surprised if the number of bids from Premium Economy will exceed that.

We won't have 20 out of 36 PE passengers on a 77E bidding for an upgrade. I'll be surprised if there are 2-3 bids above the threshold.

Those PE passengers who can afford BP bought it at the outset, and those who are Gold Elite will have snaffled the I and R class upgrades, and they are the most well-heeled self-funded passengers.

To be honest, my fear is that PE to BP OneUps will be so cheap and easy that 2 class upgrades will be restored.

I work on the basis that there are usually 4-6 unsold seats close to departure in Business Class (typically around 4 on 77E and 6 on 744 and 77W).

I will be surprised if the number of bids from Premium Economy will exceed that.


Actually, I think a good proportion of those who choose to fly Premium Economy will also be looking to upgrade. The chance of an upgrade was, IMO, always the best reason to book Premium Econ on NZ!

Now that anyone can upgrade with OneUP, why would someone who's already paid a significant premium over the economy fare not try for an upgrade to BP?

I work on the basis that there are usually 4-6 unsold seats close to departure in Business Class (typically around 4 on 77E and 6 on 744 and 77W).

I will be surprised if the number of bids from Premium Economy will exceed that.
My last LAX-AKL-LAX 77W flights had PE as almost completely empty - no more than five passengers. BP was completely full.

The flights were at R6 a few days before departure - so clearly very undersold in BP to begin with as well.

Isn't R used for any GE upgrade (so PE also?)

R is business/business premier upgrades
A is Premium Economy Upgrades

If a GE books a flight in economy/PE with availability in A or R class they can 'immediately' upgrade to Business (R) or PE (A).

'til 30th May it can be with http://www.airnewzealand.co.nz/themes/airnz001/images/apd_symbol_blk.gif's or "Recognition Upgrades" - after then it's "Recognition Upgrades" only (for 'immediate').

I won't mention the confirmed upgrades since the fare to enable one to so are right up there and often PE is cheaper.

R is business/business premier upgrades
A is Premium Economy Upgrades

If a GE books a flight in economy/PE with availability in A or R class they can 'immediately' upgrade to Business (R) or PE (A).

'til 30th May it can be with http://www.airnewzealand.co.nz/themes/airnz001/images/apd_symbol_blk.gif's or "Recognition Upgrades" - after then it's "Recognition Upgrades" only (for 'immediate').

No serfty, you're wrong.

At present there are THREE ways Gold Elites can upgrade into Business Premier:

1) Recognition Upgrades from E or PE into R class Business Premier, which are confirmable immediately upon ticketing if R inventory is available.
2) Standby Upgrades from E or PE into R class Business Premier, which are confirmable immediately upon ticketing if R inventory is available.
3) Confirmed Upgrades from YMBH Economy or U Premium Economy into Z class Business Premier.

From June this changes for Gold Elites into:
1) Recognition Upgrades from E or PE into R class Business Premier, which are confirmable immediately upon ticketing if R inventory is available.
2) Standby Upgrades from E or PE into R class Business Premier, which are confirmable immediately upon ticketing if R inventory is available.
3) OneUps from any Premium Economy subclass to any unsold Business Premier seats 72 hours before departure.

From June this changes for Gold Elites into:
1) Recognition Upgrades from E or PE into R class Business Premier, which are confirmable immediately upon ticketing if R inventory is available.
2) Standby Upgrades from E or PE into R class Business Premier, which are confirmable immediately upon ticketing if R inventory is available.
3) OneUps from any Premium Economy subclass to any unsold Business Premier seats 72 hours before departure.

2), Two class upgrades will not be available anymore. You need to buy PE to upgrade into R class.
3), Can't be sure about any unsold C seats. Will they keep a few C seats in case they can sell them from 3 days to up to departure? In any case, I don't think OneUp can be a dumber idea. Standby upgrades have made perfect sense. Let's hope this guy Luxon will not make CEO.

No serfty, you're wrong.
...Not wrong, more like incomplete as I was only referring to GE "standby Upgrades" being confirmed up to 355 days out.

I did omit some things as they were not relevant.

a) oneUp upgrades as I won't be entering the lottery - hence my abandonment of AirNZ.

b) "Confirmed Upgrades" as only the more expensive fares qualify and often PE is less expensive in the first place.

2) All available unsold inventory 72 hours prior to departure is matched to upgrade bids, and sold if possible.

3) Immediately after this, any remaining inventory becomes available for Gold Recognition Upgrades, and 24 hours prior to departure becomes available for Silver Recognition Upgrades.

Except that Air NZ have publicly stated and reiterated via email that current standby upgrades will be taken into account before One-Ups (ones that have been requested before Standby's for Jade/Silver/Gold disappear) and all recognition upgrades have priority over One-Ups.

They have said they will take recognition u/gs into account before OneUp bids, but given that the process is deliberately non-transparent, how will we ever know?

They have said they will take recognition u/gs into account before OneUp bids, but given that the process is deliberately non-transparent, how will we ever know?

I suppose we'd know for sure if our recognition upgrades were declined but we were able to place a bid in OneUp.

Except that Air NZ have publicly stated and reiterated via email that current standby upgrades will be taken into account before One-Ups (ones that have been requested before Standby's for Jade/Silver/Gold disappear) and all recognition upgrades have priority over One-Ups.

This is an interesting point... Because if true, I would be better to request a standby before 31 May, than do a Oneup bid for a flight in Sept (being jade). Where have they stated this? Maybe I'll hedge my bets and do a one up for one leg and a standby for the other leg...

I'm not sure where it's stated publicly but it's what I have in an email from NZ and been told over the phone twice.

I suppose we'd know for sure if our recognition upgrades were declined but we were able to place a bid in OneUp.

This would be very interesting to find out. Especially after OneUp goes into full force. I'm sure we'd all be pretty angry if this was the case. :mad: