Sep 8, 2017, 8:42 am
Last edit by: flyerby
E+ members receive two upgrade vouchers per membership year that can be used as system-wide upgrades. Vouchers are not delivered to E+ status holders in physical or electronic form and only exist on the screens of TK agents.
It is advisable to call TK to verify the number of vouchers you have prior to and after the upgrade (unless you have no vouchers left).
Upgrades are done by calling TK CS or a local TK office (by phone or email).
One voucher is needed to upgrade per direction. For example, the itinerary LHR-IST-BKK will need one voucher to upgrade, and the itinerary LHR-IST-BKK-IST-LHR will need two vouchers. If an agent tells you otherwise, HUCA.
How to find itineraries with availability for a voucher upgrade?
Find an itinerary in any class in Y that has 4 seats left in J booking class on the same itinerary as the Y. To be extra cautious, you may also check the individual legs (when applicable) for 4 seats left in J booking class. For example, for the itinerary LHR-IST-BKK, check at least that LHR-IST-BKK has 4 seats left in J booking class, and in addition, check LHR-IST and IST-BKK individually too.
You can no longer check for upgrade availability without having an e-ticket number.
A relatively low-risk method of proceeding is therefore...
1) Reserve a ticket online with TK but don't pay for the ticket yet. Just put it on hold for 48 hours for free for E+ members.
2) Book an economy class ticket on the same itinerary with a reputable USA-based OTA that offers a 24-hour cooling-off / full refund period.
3) Once you have received your e-ticket number, go to Manage Booking on the TK website and check if TK has offered a business upgrade with miles for your intineray. Any segment eligible for an upgrade with miles on the website is also eligible for an upgrade with E+ vouchers.
4) Another option would be to call TK CS and ask an agent to check if the ticket in (2) is upgradeable with your vouchers. Do not upgrade this ticket; just check.
5) Once availability is confirmed for your itinerary, pay for the ticket in (1). Upon payment and ticketing, call TK CS to ask an agent to upgrade this ticket.
6) Cancel for free the ticket in (2).
Another even lower-risk method would be to skip (1) and just upgrade the ticket in (2). If unsuccessful with the E+ upgrade, you can proceed to cancel your economy ticket within the 24-hour cooling-off period. Going with this route, you would then have to be in contact with the OTA and not TK in cases of schedule change, cancellation, or IRROP, which is not usually advisable unless you really have to.
You might be asked to enter a PIN number via an automatic system to access your vouchers; this is the PIN you use to log on to your TK M&S account.
It is advisable to call TK to verify the number of vouchers you have prior to and after the upgrade (unless you have no vouchers left).
Upgrades are done by calling TK CS or a local TK office (by phone or email).
One voucher is needed to upgrade per direction. For example, the itinerary LHR-IST-BKK will need one voucher to upgrade, and the itinerary LHR-IST-BKK-IST-LHR will need two vouchers. If an agent tells you otherwise, HUCA.
How to find itineraries with availability for a voucher upgrade?
Find an itinerary in any class in Y that has 4 seats left in J booking class on the same itinerary as the Y. To be extra cautious, you may also check the individual legs (when applicable) for 4 seats left in J booking class. For example, for the itinerary LHR-IST-BKK, check at least that LHR-IST-BKK has 4 seats left in J booking class, and in addition, check LHR-IST and IST-BKK individually too.
You can no longer check for upgrade availability without having an e-ticket number.
A relatively low-risk method of proceeding is therefore...
1) Reserve a ticket online with TK but don't pay for the ticket yet. Just put it on hold for 48 hours for free for E+ members.
2) Book an economy class ticket on the same itinerary with a reputable USA-based OTA that offers a 24-hour cooling-off / full refund period.
3) Once you have received your e-ticket number, go to Manage Booking on the TK website and check if TK has offered a business upgrade with miles for your intineray. Any segment eligible for an upgrade with miles on the website is also eligible for an upgrade with E+ vouchers.
4) Another option would be to call TK CS and ask an agent to check if the ticket in (2) is upgradeable with your vouchers. Do not upgrade this ticket; just check.
5) Once availability is confirmed for your itinerary, pay for the ticket in (1). Upon payment and ticketing, call TK CS to ask an agent to upgrade this ticket.
6) Cancel for free the ticket in (2).
Another even lower-risk method would be to skip (1) and just upgrade the ticket in (2). If unsuccessful with the E+ upgrade, you can proceed to cancel your economy ticket within the 24-hour cooling-off period. Going with this route, you would then have to be in contact with the OTA and not TK in cases of schedule change, cancellation, or IRROP, which is not usually advisable unless you really have to.
You might be asked to enter a PIN number via an automatic system to access your vouchers; this is the PIN you use to log on to your TK M&S account.
Elite Plus upgrade voucher
Nov 17, 2015, 9:52 am
#211
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: RIX
Programs: SAS Lifetime Gold, HHonors Lifetime Diamond, TK*G Elite+, airBaltic VIP, Sixt Plat, Hertz Gold
Posts: 1,079
Nov 18, 2015, 4:44 am
#212
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Brasil
Programs: TK Elite
Posts: 68
To request the complimentary upgrade, should I have my ticket issued or owning a reservation is good enough? I'd like to try my first Elite Plus Complimentary Upgrade before buying/paying the ticket.
Otherwise, if upgrade is not granted, I would go and buy business class ticket directly.
Thanks
Otherwise, if upgrade is not granted, I would go and buy business class ticket directly.
Thanks
Nov 18, 2015, 6:13 pm
#213
Join Date: Feb 2011
Programs: TK E+
Posts: 602
To request the complimentary upgrade, should I have my ticket issued or owning a reservation is good enough? I'd like to try my first Elite Plus Complimentary Upgrade before buying/paying the ticket.
Otherwise, if upgrade is not granted, I would go and buy business class ticket directly.
Thanks
Otherwise, if upgrade is not granted, I would go and buy business class ticket directly.
Thanks
Nov 18, 2015, 7:44 pm
#214
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: ASIA
Programs: TK Elite, ALL Plus Diamond, Marriott Platinum, Hertz PC
Posts: 3,530
To request the complimentary upgrade, should I have my ticket issued or owning a reservation is good enough? I'd like to try my first Elite Plus Complimentary Upgrade before buying/paying the ticket.
Otherwise, if upgrade is not granted, I would go and buy business class ticket directly.
Thanks
Otherwise, if upgrade is not granted, I would go and buy business class ticket directly.
Thanks
Having said that, getting it to work flawlessly is hit and miss when you arrange this through the call centre. IF you have the option, I suggest to do the complete booking/upgrade procedure at a TK office.
Dec 1, 2015, 6:58 pm
#217
Join Date: Feb 2011
Programs: TK E+
Posts: 602
Dec 7, 2015, 11:07 am
#221
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: ZRH / YUL
Programs: UA, TK, Starwood > Marriott, Hilton, Accor
Posts: 7,295
For general entertainment, a transcript of my most recent go at redeeming E+ upgrade vouchers:
1. call: Everything goes well, but at the very end of the call the agent says "oops, now we have redeemed 120'000 miles from your account for the upgrades instead of the vouchers. We'll fix that, call us back in 4h to use your vouchers."
- indeed, 120'000 miles disappear and re-appear from my account within a few hours.
2. call: Yes, you can use your vouchers but 2 vouchers can only upgrade 2 segments (YUL-IST-ZRH) and not 2 directions (YUL-IST-ZRH and ZRH-IST-YUL). HUCA.
3. call: Sorry, the system is down, call back later.
4. call: See 2. call
5. call: Yes, you can use your vouchers and of course each voucher will upgrade one direction, including a connection. Upgrade is done.
Call 2 was placed to the E+ line in Turkey, but was immediately connected to what I presume to be the same offshore call center as all others.
Oh the joys of dealing with TK.
1. call: Everything goes well, but at the very end of the call the agent says "oops, now we have redeemed 120'000 miles from your account for the upgrades instead of the vouchers. We'll fix that, call us back in 4h to use your vouchers."
- indeed, 120'000 miles disappear and re-appear from my account within a few hours.
2. call: Yes, you can use your vouchers but 2 vouchers can only upgrade 2 segments (YUL-IST-ZRH) and not 2 directions (YUL-IST-ZRH and ZRH-IST-YUL). HUCA.
3. call: Sorry, the system is down, call back later.
4. call: See 2. call
5. call: Yes, you can use your vouchers and of course each voucher will upgrade one direction, including a connection. Upgrade is done.
Call 2 was placed to the E+ line in Turkey, but was immediately connected to what I presume to be the same offshore call center as all others.
Oh the joys of dealing with TK.
Jun 21, 2016, 8:33 pm
#222
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: DTW
Programs: TK E+, WY, Radisson R
Posts: 2,360
Got my vouchers redeemed (upgraded 2 trips JFK-NRT, IST-YYZ) this membership year when I passed by downtown Chicago earlier today, IMO, well worth the effort going there in person.
My steps (version 2016)
1. Booked the flights and held them (Pay Later option) but didn't get it ticketed yet.
2. Checked and ensured there were J seats available by going into http://matrix.itasoftware.com, one could do mock booking of 9 J tickets to gauge the availability.
3. Got the reference number and handed it to the person in Chicago office, she told me I needed to pay and had it ticketed in order to upgrade.
4. Again, asked her to verify all segments could be upgraded and then proceeded to ticketing.
5. Paid for the ticket and completed the upgrade process, ticket agent made photocopy of my E+ card.
The whole thing was completed in less than 10 minutes without any errors nor fuss. I was also able to upgrade 2 segments JFK-IST-NRT (again, you need to make this as first connection available, no stopover) by redeeming only 1 voucher, and another for IST-YYZ, unfortunately I wasn't sure if I was going to Japan again so I left the return segment open with IST-YYZ.
My steps (version 2016)
1. Booked the flights and held them (Pay Later option) but didn't get it ticketed yet.
2. Checked and ensured there were J seats available by going into http://matrix.itasoftware.com, one could do mock booking of 9 J tickets to gauge the availability.
3. Got the reference number and handed it to the person in Chicago office, she told me I needed to pay and had it ticketed in order to upgrade.
4. Again, asked her to verify all segments could be upgraded and then proceeded to ticketing.
5. Paid for the ticket and completed the upgrade process, ticket agent made photocopy of my E+ card.
The whole thing was completed in less than 10 minutes without any errors nor fuss. I was also able to upgrade 2 segments JFK-IST-NRT (again, you need to make this as first connection available, no stopover) by redeeming only 1 voucher, and another for IST-YYZ, unfortunately I wasn't sure if I was going to Japan again so I left the return segment open with IST-YYZ.
Last edited by vincewy; Jun 22, 2016 at 3:21 pm
Jun 21, 2016, 11:59 pm
#223
Join Date: Feb 2011
Programs: TK E+
Posts: 602
My latest experience using vouchers, a month ago:
1) Called the TK call center and talked to a surprisingly friendly and serviceminded girl that spoke close to perfect English. After about 10 min. of tapping on her computer the upgrade were done, and I was redirected to the automatic phone system for entering my MS pin code. I did so, but the system did not work. The girl apologized and told me she would hold the upgrade and have someone call me back.
2) Non-surprisingly no one from TK ever called me back, and I never received any upgrade confirmation or the usual email saying that 0 miles have been deducted from my account, for the upgrade. However, when I checked my ticket online, it now included the booked seat in Y + a seat in J.
3) I wanted to push my luck, so I didn't call TK back or do anything else. On departure day, when I showed up for check-in, the usual girl was there and greeted me as usual and then asked me: "I see you got one booking in economy and one in business, which one of the bookings do you want to use?". I replied that I would prefer the business seat, and I got it.
4) Now a month later, I still haven't heard anything from TK, so yesterday when I was at the airport anyway, I stopped by their ticket office and asked if they could check how many vouchers I had left. I did indeed have one voucher left (so TK never used a voucher for my previous upgrade).
Time will tell if TK discover the mistake and deduct me one voucher in the future, but somehow I doubt they do any auditing on upgrades and I might have gotten a "free" upgrade.
1) Called the TK call center and talked to a surprisingly friendly and serviceminded girl that spoke close to perfect English. After about 10 min. of tapping on her computer the upgrade were done, and I was redirected to the automatic phone system for entering my MS pin code. I did so, but the system did not work. The girl apologized and told me she would hold the upgrade and have someone call me back.
2) Non-surprisingly no one from TK ever called me back, and I never received any upgrade confirmation or the usual email saying that 0 miles have been deducted from my account, for the upgrade. However, when I checked my ticket online, it now included the booked seat in Y + a seat in J.
3) I wanted to push my luck, so I didn't call TK back or do anything else. On departure day, when I showed up for check-in, the usual girl was there and greeted me as usual and then asked me: "I see you got one booking in economy and one in business, which one of the bookings do you want to use?". I replied that I would prefer the business seat, and I got it.
4) Now a month later, I still haven't heard anything from TK, so yesterday when I was at the airport anyway, I stopped by their ticket office and asked if they could check how many vouchers I had left. I did indeed have one voucher left (so TK never used a voucher for my previous upgrade).
Time will tell if TK discover the mistake and deduct me one voucher in the future, but somehow I doubt they do any auditing on upgrades and I might have gotten a "free" upgrade.
Sep 21, 2016, 1:35 am
#224
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Atlanta, GA / San Francisco, CA
Programs: BA Gold, TK Elite Plus
Posts: 1,150
Just a data point - I just went to TK ticketing office, first we made sure upgrades are available, then I booked a ticket through them, and they processed the upgrade. Used 2 vouchers for 4 legs so 1 per direction. Worked glitch-free.
Sep 30, 2016, 12:22 am
#225
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: CA USA
Programs: UA 1K 2.85MM // AS MVPG100K // TK Elite Plus // AA EXP // Bonvoy TE // Hyatt Explorist
Posts: 356
Validity of E+ Upgrades?
I'm a new Elite Plus and I am wondering when my first 2 vouchers will expire. Are they Jan-Dec or are they valid for one year from the time I earned E+ (July-June)?
Thanks!
Thanks!