Originally Posted by
Random50
I'm going to be taking a lot of business class flights from Manchester to Boston this year. Considering going with Aer Lingus for the complimentary upgrades, but that's only going to make sense if they're actually available. Can you assume you'll get the upgrade if there's plenty of business class seats available at the time of booking?
If not, I noticed there seems to be zero business class Avios reward flight availability on Dub-Bos. Are the upgrades drawn from the same pool?
Assume you are talking about the Aerclub Platinum and Concierge tier benefit upgrades. They are not drawn from the same award pool as Avios space. It seems (unconfirmed) that they hold at least 1 seat for these upgrades on flights that you can confirm immediately after calling EI with your economy confirmation but there is no easy way to know if this availability exists ahead of time for sure. There are mixed reports that you can ring up EI ask if there is upgrade space immediately available and then while on the phone execute the economy booking, hand over your confirmation code and get the upgrade confirmed. Some have reported issues with this however. If upgrade space is not immediately available then you can go on standby for the upgrade and call up ahead of time or confirm at check in (so if you are seeing a lot of J space close to your flight you can be some what confident the standby upgrade will be fine). I have used these a fair few time in the past and never had an issues either with immediate confirmation or with having to go on standby for it and getting it through at check in. Of course if you are looking at routes with high J loads typically (e.g. SFO) then you may struggle.