2. This changed when Aer Club weren’t able to tell immediately if an upgrade was available but Aer Club members could book the flights and if upgrades were not granted, then the member could cancel the flights (even on a saver ticket) and receive a full refund and try and book some other dates.
That would be a great outcome - if EI would just restore that rule, it would immediately mean the upgrade vouchers could deliver on their promise and resolve all reasonable complaints that have been expressed here
Originally Posted by
FlightDetective
Obviously I know this is FlyerTalk and everyone here tries to game the system as far as possible - I know I certainly happily fit my dates around the fare, upgrade, and frequent flyer seat availability - but that's not the case for most people.
I think we're agreeing - what you're saying you want (to fit your dates around the upgrade), is exactly what everyone here is asking for. I think nobody here is asking Aer Lingus make an upgrade available that they don't want to - everyone is just asking for Aer Lingus accommodate a little finding a flight they're happy for us to use the upgrades on. This isn't 'gaming the system'. As I said in my earlier post, I actually think EI is very generous at releasing the upgrades, and they should be commended for that, it's just the process is really poor.
By comparison, as an Exec Platinum on AA, AA would
never make an upgrade available to use an SWU on just because I requested it (whereas that's exactly what Aer Lingus do for Concierge, I think unique in this industry and fair play to them). On the other hand, AA would
always tell me the number of seats still for sale on the flight, the number of upgrades already requested and the number in the queue that I would be, whereas Aer Lingus just give you radio silence. Going a little further, if I changed my flight after applying a Systemwide Upgrade and there was no upgrade available on the new flight, the upgrade would be automatically redeposited in my account so I could use it another time (versus EI, where the upgrade is lost)
Originally Posted by
FlightDetective
It's good Aer Lingus offer upgrades as part of the programme. When I was researching an alternative for BA, I found that Royal Jordanian also do the same for their top frequent flyers. That brings the total airlines that do it that I know of to two. It would be a crying shame if EI moved closer to BA/IB and decided to ditch the upgrades to align with their IAG partners. Let's eriohope that never happens! (Be nice if it was the alternative - your EI upgrades are now also valid on BA and IB!
- a man can dream!)
I agree - I think it's a great benefit, although rather than calling it an usually strong offering, I'd more say it's more of a necessary cornerstone of the offering given how EI not being a full-service airline or part of an alliance means the other benefits of AerClub are fairly slim.
I prefer to think of AerClub as its own thing in the 'plucky little airline that has no choice but to do things its own way and tries its best" mould. Comparing benefits to OneWorld carriers like RJ and BA that offer benefits EI customers can only dream of make AerClub look fairly sad, so I try not to think about what they're doing!