Originally Posted by SurfNorway

Has anyone noted that the minimum bid allowed (in money) has recently jumped by about 2.5x? I've only just discovered Plusgrade the last year or so, and have won probably 2 out of every 3 flights I bid on (I commute between Norway - USA via ARN). So far I've ordered the cheapest coach fare I could find that fits with my travel requirements, and then put in a Plusgrade bid on each transatlantic flight. Until two weeks ago, the bid was usually somewhere around 4-5000 SEK. Now for the same flights, at the same times of year, the minimum bid is 11-12000 SEK.

The really weird part is that I can go to SAS' website and buy a business ticket directly for the minimum bid amount, and that isn't even taking my original fare into consideration. I brought it up with both SAS and Plusgrade, but didn't receive any answer that was helpful. From my understanding, the whole system is designed to ensure that once booking is closed, an airline has the possibility to generate additional revenue by auctioning off any unbooked seats in First/Business/Plus at a discounted price, resulting in a win-win for the airline and passenger. Is this assumption flawed?

It seems like a rather unusual strategy to open bidding at the retail price of the ticket, and I wanted to ask the more experienced folks here if that's typical or not.

Thanks,
Surf