One way upgrade 99 € in Europe

Old May 30, 2009, 10:39 pm
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One way upgrade 99 € in Europe

In today's Helsingin Sanomat saying that you can upgrade your summer special prices for 99 €/one way. Unfortunately, you only get the AY Plus points for the original booking class. In this respect it seems to be an inferior offer compared with the upgrades offered by Swiss, British Airways and the recent offer from Blue1.
But, still an interesting novel approach.
I was unable to find any instructions in the www.finnair.com.

Update: I just read the ad more carefully. Upgrades are only available through the telephone service.

Last edited by nordic; May 30, 2009 at 11:49 pm
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Old May 31, 2009, 3:38 am
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Originally Posted by nordic
In today's Helsingin Sanomat saying that you can upgrade your summer special prices for 99 €/one way. Unfortunately, you only get the AY Plus points for the original booking class. In this respect it seems to be an inferior offer compared with the upgrades offered by Swiss, British Airways and the recent offer from Blue1.
But, still an interesting novel approach.
Novel approach, yes, but it just kills any interest it might have raised for me. Why pay 99€ for a mediocre lunch/dinner onboard? Wherever AY flies in Europe, you'll get gourmet dinner for that (or a nice dinner for two at many destinations). Even the seats are the same in European C and Y, so the food is the only thing you'll get for 99€.

OK, I admit that while lounge access is not an issue for me, it can be for the occasional traveller.

(How would such an upgrade credit to e.g. BA's or IB's FFP?? Can they make a distinction?)
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Old May 31, 2009, 3:52 am
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Originally Posted by nordic
In today's Helsingin Sanomat saying that you can upgrade your summer special prices for 99 €/one way. Unfortunately, you only get the AY Plus points for the original booking class. In this respect it seems to be an inferior offer compared with the upgrades offered by Swiss, British Airways and the recent offer from Blue1.
But, still an interesting novel approach.
I was unable to find any instructions in the www.finnair.com.

Update: I just read the ad more carefully. Upgrades are only available through the telephone service.
Thanks AY, but no thanks. Had AY given out tier points according to the upgraded class, I would have taken it for every upcoming flight.
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Old May 31, 2009, 3:58 am
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Originally Posted by WilcoRoger

(How would such an upgrade credit to e.g. BA's or IB's FFP?? Can they make a distinction?)
I'm quite sure they can, I'd guess AY uses the same way as they do when using vouchers/points.
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Old May 31, 2009, 4:04 am
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99 euros for a meal on mostly empty flights where you have plenty of room most likely in eco too? No thanks.
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Old May 31, 2009, 4:11 am
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For upscale leisure travel, especially for couples, it's a nice offer.

Say, on flights to the Mediterranean & Turkey or Britain, the 2 - 2 seating and rather nice catering do make some difference, plus of course lounge access and priority baggage.

For the AY Golds and Plats gathered here, things might look different than to the average leisure customer.
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Old May 31, 2009, 5:32 am
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Originally Posted by mosburger
For upscale leisure travel, especially for couples, it's a nice offer.

Say, on flights to the Mediterranean & Turkey or Britain, the 2 - 2 seating and rather nice catering do make some difference, plus of course lounge access and priority baggage.

For the AY Golds and Plats gathered here, things might look different than to the average leisure customer.
My thoughts exactly. But for a couple it's still 400€, when in May you could get 1 week for 2 in the Med area with flights and a 4* hotel for 500€, so even they may think twice.

I agree with a previous opinion - full biz points and would have upgraded all AY segments to C. AY seems to be very "Finnish" in these offers - let's offer something, as other people (airlines) also do it, but still be careful not to offer anything that might be of actual value because then people may actually take up on the offer and have some "unjust" benefits.
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Old May 31, 2009, 5:44 am
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Originally Posted by mosburger
For the AY Golds and Plats gathered here, things might look different than to the average leisure customer.
You are right here - to me this is yet another sign of AY really not caring too much of it's existing elite tier members. Some years ago, AY quite frequently had special point campaigns at least for silvers ("vauhtietu"). Those have all disappeared, and just about every campaign I see is targeted for people who are NOT Finnair Plus elite members (gold status for one return flight meeting certain conditions for central European countries, now this paid upgrade campaign, and recently some point campaigns where the extra points are not elite status earning points). To add to the list of things, FC flights bought from their web shop not earning AY points anymore is yet another thing making the program less attractive.

In addition, my personal experience from one complaint last year and one special request this year is that they really do not seem to appreciate their loyal customers at all. For my complaint I received indeed a nice letter ("we are very sorry that we messed up") and a Delicard voucher, which was worth far less than even the additional telephone expenses I incurred when sorting out the mess created by AY.

With Lufthansa having the status match offer, I am seriously considering that as an option as my *G status with SK will most likely expire this year (no time to concentrate enough flights to SK before the end of the qualification year). As my current travel amount is enough to maintain elite status on one airline, this would mean switching essentially all my business from AY to *A (in fact, I would already have done that if *A did not have the 25% earnings in discounted economy).

To Finnair - loyality programs are about loyality, but that works both ways. If you want to hold on to my business, then get your act together now.
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Old May 31, 2009, 8:24 am
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Go for the LH SEN - much easier to requalify than for AY Gold and very comparable benefits.
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Old May 31, 2009, 9:57 am
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Originally Posted by mosburger
For upscale leisure travel, especially for couples, it's a nice offer.

Say, on flights to the Mediterranean & Turkey or Britain, the 2 - 2 seating and rather nice catering do make some difference, plus of course lounge access and priority baggage.

For the AY Golds and Plats gathered here, things might look different than to the average leisure customer.
I agree with this, although it seems that you can get into the HEL business lounges for 20€ with e.g. a Stockmann card. That leaves 79 € for business check in, 2+2 seating and free drinks + better food (I don't trust priority baggage). Totally worth it in my opinion.
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Old May 31, 2009, 10:15 am
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In the unlikely event that the one without status brings an excessive amount of souvenirs, the 30 kg baggage allowance would be a benefit worth for the upgrade fee.
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Old May 31, 2009, 1:58 pm
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Originally Posted by tsastor
I don't trust priority baggage)
Does anyone?
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Old May 31, 2009, 8:44 pm
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Originally Posted by tsastor
I agree with this, although it seems that you can get into the HEL business lounges for 20€ with e.g. a Stockmann card. That leaves 79 € for business check in, 2+2 seating and free drinks + better food (I don't trust priority baggage). Totally worth it in my opinion.
Well, yes, but entry to the lounge w/a a biz class ticket is not guaranteed if it gets full. And at the other end you might not be let in at all w/a ticket.

To save some cost, I'd probably purchase the upgrade for two or more people only on the return flight.

That is when the holiday feeling is slowly coming off and long days in the office might be on the horizon...Nothing better than a smooth journey, a few bites of nice food and some enjoyable sips of quality wine to sooth the pain.

Of course most members of this board get the "elite" benefits anyway, myself included, so it's more about the cabin experience then.
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Old Jun 1, 2009, 10:46 am
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Originally Posted by mosburger
To save some cost, I'd probably purchase the upgrade for two or more people only on the return flight.
Funny, I'd do it in the opposite direction if I had to choose. Nothing better than to start your holidays with a biz class flight.
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Old Jun 2, 2009, 1:47 am
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This "upgrade" is also to Delhi 299€.
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