DebitNM

We are flying SFO-CPH on March 24 and CPH - SFO on April 9. In checking yesterday on flysas.com there seems to be no seats available in any fare price. We were hoping to get Optiontown upgrade to either Plus or Business.

This will be our 3rd RT between US and CPH; we have successfully been upgraded on all 4 legs of the previous 2 flights [from ORD] using Optiontown.

Are we SOL as far as getting any upgrade based on my not seeing any available seats??

We purposely chose to fly "backwards" via SFO so that we could get a good nights sleep with a longer flight to CPH - seems like that might have just turned out to be a nightmare.

I know some of you know how to check the real seat availability, but I don't know how to do that other than attempting to "buy" a seat.

Thanks for any insights~~

cph_flyer

I just made a dummy booking for the above dates on sas.dk, and found seats in all fare classes.Must have been an " it glitch" , so suggest you give it another try.

AndoniDK

There are many seats available:

SFO-CPH 24MAR13
First: n/a
Business: 9 (at least)
Coach: 9 (at least)
Other: 9 (at least)
Fare Classes: C/9 D/9 Z/9 R/0, J/0 Y/9 S/9 P/0 A/0 E/9 M/9 H/9 Q/9 V/9 W/9 U/9 K/9 L/9 T/9 O/0 G/9 N/0, B/9

CPH-SFO 09APR13
First: n/a
Business: 9 (at least)
Coach: 9 (at least)
Other: 9 (at least)
Fare Classes: C/9 D/9 Z/9 R/0, J/0 Y/9 S/9 P/0 A/0 E/9 M/9 H/9 Q/9 V/8 W/0 U/0 K/0 L/0 T/0 O/0 G/0 N/0 , B/9

DebitNM

It wasn't an IT glitch; it was operator error! While on flysas.com; I looked at the flight SFO-ORD-CPH and the reverse CPH-ORD-SFO flight and that said no availability.

I was able to find the same info as AndoniDK. Thanks! Now if it just stays that way....

fassy

You should hope that the economy cabin fills up, otherwise it is not likley the OT upgrade will clear.

Do not worry! The SFO flights are usually pretty full anyway.

AndoniDK

How much is usually an OT upgrade for Scandinavia-USA to Plus or Business?

fassy

I would say Plus for ~150€, Business ~300€. +/- 10-30€

DebitNM

$460 approx to business; $200 approx. for plus

We had 2 separate confirmation number this time ( last 2 times they were on same #) so I booked my Optiontown first. Then I did my husbands and the price went up $25 for each segment. I called Optiontown to ask about it, they said that happens, as the rate changes like an airfare - dynamic prices. I thought that was BS but wasn't going to argue. Still a great deal. And you don't piss off anyone at Optiontown for fear you won't get upgrade.

fassy

So my guestimate wasn't too bad

I'm not 100% sure but I think using OT with two pax on different PNRs has a high risk you will get separated. As far as I understand they will upgrade either all passengers on the same PNR or none - so you're travel in the same class is guaranteed. I think that won't apply for different bookings.

DebitNM

I have called and talked to CS reps at both SAS and OT and while there is no guarantee that both of will get upgrades, the request is noted on OT records and our SAS record locators and confirmations are cross matched. It was the best we could do.

We ended up with separate confirms because we each had points from our previous 2 trip on SAS with OT upgrades to Z plus a bit of cash - to get reward tickets. Fingers crossed.

kauppias

Since when can you upgrade reward tickets with optiontown?

fassy

If you pay with Cash+Points it will book a 'normal' ticket - not a reward booking class, so in theory these tickets should not be seen as special ticket by OT as they probably look at the booking class. It might drop out of the upgrade if they notice that the booking was done Cash+Points, or the OP is very lucky and they won't notice.

In general I'm not sure if the Cash+Points option is a good deal. Booking an Eco ticket They will give you round about 100€ for 10.000 points. So for a very cheap flight SFO-CPH-SFO e.g. 30.000 points + 400€. For Business it even looks worse, 10.000 points give you 80€ off the ticket.

In addition these tickets will not give any points/miles. Even if you only put in 300 points, which seems to be the lower limit for Y class. Would be interessting to see how OT and SAS would handle this in case the upgrades clear. I guess this is partly the reason why those tickets are not upgradeble in the first place. Pay with points to earn points? Doesn't sound like a good deal for SAS.

(http://www.flysas.com/upload/Eurobon...%20SA_AA_2.pdf)

@DebitNM,
please report if you were upgraded and if you actually got points from those flights back.


It is a pretty expensive way to burn points in my opinion but on the other hand - flying out of SFO there is 0 award awailability anyway. So there might not be a better option to spend the points.

DebitNM

We used 28,000 points and $400 for each ticket. It was a points burn combined with good price. I am not sure if these are considered "reward" ticket, I used that term since I used points. The full fare was $800.

I hadn't thought about them not being eligible for upgrades, actually. I will report back - trip isn't till late March.

fassy

OT accepted the booking codes, so it could work out for you.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you - let us know how it worked out.

DebitNM

I just noticed this on the confirmation. Supports what fassy said; fingers still crossed.

SAS Go Saver

Please note,
this is a regular ticket, subject to regular rules and conditions. For EuroBonus award tickets, other rules and conditions apply.