Mar 9, 2015, 6:33 am
Last edit by: Gnopps
*** MOD NOTE: Please do not remove ***
A friendly reminder that Flyertalk is not a marketplace, and nothing may be offered (or solicited) for sale or barter within the general forums - which includes offering vouchers for free. For those with sufficient posts and length of membership, trading/exchange is allowed solely within Coupon Connection, and then only in accordance with the specific rules of that forum.
Please do not attempt to solicit, sell or trade upgrade vouchers within this forum. Posts will be deleted and the members concerned potentially subject to disciplinary action. **Please note that this includes directly using the PM system to do so without first posting in Coupon Connection**. Thanks for your co-operation.
A friendly reminder that Flyertalk is not a marketplace, and nothing may be offered (or solicited) for sale or barter within the general forums - which includes offering vouchers for free. For those with sufficient posts and length of membership, trading/exchange is allowed solely within Coupon Connection, and then only in accordance with the specific rules of that forum.
Please do not attempt to solicit, sell or trade upgrade vouchers within this forum. Posts will be deleted and the members concerned potentially subject to disciplinary action. **Please note that this includes directly using the PM system to do so without first posting in Coupon Connection**. Thanks for your co-operation.
Criteria
- You must be travelling on A3 or OA metal - codeshares are not included.
- The original ticket must be issued on either A3 (390) or OA (050) ticket stock.
- Only revenue (paid) tickets, in fare classes other than U, P & T on a GoLight fare basis, can be upgraded, but not redemption tickets.
- All flights on the ticket must be on A3 or OA metal.
- There must be award availability in I-class for the upgrades to clear. You can check this by logging in to M&B then going to https://en.aegeanair.com/milesandbon...t/spend-miles/ The results page will initially be a calendar. To see Business availability, you have to click through to the next step. (You can also use a free or paid tool such as ANA website, UA website (looking for saver award space), Aeroplan, AwardNexus or ExpertFlyer to check for availability.)
- One coupon per person per journey leg is required - so, for example, TXL-ATH-SKG and return via the same route would require four coupons per person.
- Anyone can be upgraded using the coupons - you do not have to be travelling on the same booking or even the same plane.
Procedure
- Call A3 to request the upgrade. The phone numbers are listed at https://aegeanairlines.custhelp.com/ (most of them should go to the same call centre in Greece).
- If successful, a new ticket will be issued (with a new number). The PNR will remain unchanged.
- You are liable for any extra taxes applicable to Business Class (e.g. APD from the UK). Sometimes this gets charged, sometimes it doesn't - if it's due and you're not charged because the agent forgets, you've just been lucky.
- If there's no immediate I-class availability, you can ask to be waitlisted for upgrade. The ability to waitlist was reported to have been removed in August 2016, but was again possible in September. Check with the agent - option available on May 2018.
- in case you requested to be waitlisted for upgrade and want to check if the customer care agent made the changes on your booking you can check the reservation on checkmytrip.com (click here), the leg you requested the upgrade will be shown here as ”Waitlisted”.
- If you wish to upgrade one segment of a multi-segment trip (e.g. XXX-ATH-YYY) and there is availability on the leg you wish to upgrade, you may still have to be waitlisted due to married segment issues. The process of clearing the waitlist is somewhat confusing and may result in frustration due to the availability seeming to disappear but in reality, this may mean that the segments have been "unmarried" and the availability has been allocated to your reservation. See post 2272 and the update in post 2294 for more details.
Benefits
- No matter what the fare basis of the original ticket, you receive full Business Class benefits after upgrade.
- This includes lounge access (useful if you're upgrading someone other than yourself who has no status, or if you've run out of Silver lounge vouchers) and full baggage allowance (it applies for first leg as well, in case you are upgraded only on the 2nd leg of your trip - confirmed on the etix).
- Because the ticket books as a redemption, the free car hire is not included.
Mileage/segment earning
- You will earn at the underlying rate of your purchased ticket in economy, not at a business class rate. Because status miles are awarded, this also counts as a segment for re-qualification purposes.
- The flights may credit automatically, but may take longer to credit than tickets that have not been changed. They may also credit as 0 miles, and later change to the correct rate. If the flights have not credited properly after a few weeks then calling A3 will rectify this rapidly.
Expiry
- The vouchers expire at the end of your membership year - they do not carry over, even if status is retained. A new set is issued every year.
- It is the date when you use the voucher that matters. It can upgrade a flight that takes place after expiry as long as you apply the voucher before.
- On upgrade from Silver to Gold, any remaining Silver upgrade coupons expire, but they are replaced by four Gold ones which expire at the end of the Gold membership year.
BEWARE
- Once you have upgraded your seat, your ticket will be reissued. Suddenly, this ticket may be VERY expensive to change. If, for instance, you later decide to travel on a different date, you will probably be required to rebook into Business, even if Economy was available for new bookings. A3 will charge you the difference from your original Economy fare to a NEW Business fare. Plus fees, taxes and whatnot. Update 18/08/2021: this appears to no longer be the case, as an upgraded ticket was changed and the underlying Economy fare was used for the upgraded segments. The coupon was "removed" from the old dates and "reapplied" to the new dates.
- Coupons will not be returned/reinstated. Once a coupon is applied, it is gone for good (the T&Cs printed on the coupons allow for date and time changes, but not route changes).
- If you want to provide your coupons to upgrade a friend's travel, it is advisable to call in yourself. Your friend can call in if they know your name, birthdate, M&B-number and the email address associated with your account. That means: Anyone who knows these particulars can use your coupons without your knowledge. They do NOT need the coupon numbers.
- Crediting upgraded segments to another program will likely fail, as it will be reported as I-class. It may be possible to retro-claim the miles.
Seat upgrade coupons
Dec 6, 2018, 7:31 am
#1846
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 4,477
Just to report back that recently I flew 4 A3 sectors (beginning of December). And since the renewal on 23rd November, I was able to use my upgrade vouchers to upgrade all my flights. It seems A3 released I class availabilities about 3 days before the flight and I managed to upgrade all my flight in that time frame. It looks like early December is a great period to use upgrade vouchers and summer is the worst.
Dec 8, 2018, 9:04 am
#1848
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: PAS, Paros Greece
Programs: A3 *G
Posts: 1,374
I class now also supplies the availability for the paid bid upgrades, so they hold some back for that too. How it's decided whether to release the seat immediately or hold it back is (rightly so) the secret of 'revenue management'. Sometimes the upgrade goes through right away, as mine recently did for ATH-LIS in January (booked and upgraded on the same day in November).
Dec 8, 2018, 12:49 pm
#1849
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 4,477
as soon as I class showed up, I called A3 and managed to get ticket reissued. Call them. Did you?
Dec 9, 2018, 2:10 am
#1850
Join Date: Jun 2016
Programs: aegean gold , klm explorer
Posts: 508
I class now also supplies the availability for the paid bid upgrades, so they hold some back for that too. How it's decided whether to release the seat immediately or hold it back is (rightly so) the secret of 'revenue management'. Sometimes the upgrade goes through right away, as mine recently did for ATH-LIS in January (booked and upgraded on the same day in November).
Dec 10, 2018, 2:20 am
#1853
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: OTP/KRK
Programs: M&M FTL, Miles+Bonus Gold
Posts: 664
Dec 10, 2018, 3:35 am
#1854
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 4,477
You need to call A3 to manually issue the ticket. They say that once I class is available they will issue the ticket for you. But the reality is that it is not automatically reissued. You HAVE to CALL if you want grab the seats before they are gone. Don't waste time here complaining and asking questions. Just grab the damn phone and call A3 FFP department. They won't refuse your request as long as there is I class available.
Dec 10, 2018, 6:48 am
#1855
Moderator: Aegean Miles+Bonus
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: AMS / ATH
Programs: AFKL Plat, A3 Gold
Posts: 7,342
I think that is exactly what Yreal has done: Call to upgrade while I class was available. He was waitlisted anyway.
So it seems both coupon upgrades and upgrade-bids come out of the same I-class availability pool. And they can refuse the voucher upgrade eve though there is I-availability (Because it may be reserved for upgrade-bids already).
So it seems both coupon upgrades and upgrade-bids come out of the same I-class availability pool. And they can refuse the voucher upgrade eve though there is I-availability (Because it may be reserved for upgrade-bids already).
Dec 10, 2018, 6:50 am
#1856
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: PAS, Paros Greece
Programs: A3 *G
Posts: 1,374
You need to call A3 to manually issue the ticket. They say that once I class is available they will issue the ticket for you. But the reality is that it is not automatically reissued. You HAVE to CALL if you want grab the seats before they are gone. Don't waste time here complaining and asking questions. Just grab the damn phone and call A3 FFP department. They won't refuse your request as long as there is I class available.
Dec 10, 2018, 10:21 am
#1857
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 4,477
Sorry, I've done this on two occasions and have been told a firm NO. Sometimes the I class seats are blocked for bid upgrades if they think they are likely to sell those, so it doesn't always work like you say. You may just have been lucky. I've been put on the wait-list several times when I class was available at the time of my request and I've also had upgrades 'automatically' get issued later without having to call.
So that occurs to me, if Yreal is not Gold, but Silver, or a friend gifted a voucher, would that make a physical difference in upgrade wait listing? I mean maybe I get lucky every time because I am a Gold since 2012, and Yreal is relatively new or maybe not a Gold member?
Dec 11, 2018, 9:11 am
#1858
Join Date: Jun 2016
Programs: aegean gold , klm explorer
Posts: 508
Yes I have been extremely lucky. However, I do not use A3 site to check availability. I use EF to see if the I class is shown availability or not in GDS. And every single time within few hours to 24 hours when I class appears in GDS, I call. And my ticket is reissued manually by the agent. Never fail.
So that occurs to me, if Yreal is not Gold, but Silver, or a friend gifted a voucher, would that make a physical difference in upgrade wait listing? I mean maybe I get lucky every time because I am a Gold since 2012, and Yreal is relatively new or maybe not a Gold member?
So that occurs to me, if Yreal is not Gold, but Silver, or a friend gifted a voucher, would that make a physical difference in upgrade wait listing? I mean maybe I get lucky every time because I am a Gold since 2012, and Yreal is relatively new or maybe not a Gold member?
I called after seeing I available and got waitlisted.
but rejoice, I got my confirmation that I got upgraded today. Woohoo.
verry excited, my first time up front. Only did sas plus so far.
Dec 11, 2018, 2:08 pm
#1859
Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: ARN
Programs: A3*G, SK*G
Posts: 336
but rejoice, I got my confirmation that I got upgraded today. Woohoo.
verry excited, my first time up front. Only did sas plus so far.
verry excited, my first time up front. Only did sas plus so far.
No cubes there (no reason to worry), but rather a proper three-course meal, and complimentary spirits and liqueur. Plus an occasional seasonal treat (during the World Cup they offered mini chocolate footballs; in Christmas I have been offered those little brown Greek Christmas cakes that are absolutely addictive, and so on). But most importantly the service on board is usually very professional, friendly, and eager to help
Enjoy your flight and safe travels!
Dec 12, 2018, 1:22 am
#1860
Join Date: Jun 2016
Programs: aegean gold , klm explorer
Posts: 508
No, there aren't different vouchers, but when upgrade requests clear, priority is given to A3*Gs, then A3*Ss, then M&B Blue members, and finally non-members. Within each of these groups allocation is decided on a first-request-first-serve basis.
No comparison with SAS Plus. SAS Plus is just a Premium Econ, not a Business product, and ...well it's SAS. A3 offers IMHO perhaps the best short-/medium-haul Business class in Europe, and when it comes to the soft product, among the top in the world, at least given my experience.
No cubes there (no reason to worry), but rather a proper three-course meal, and complimentary spirits and liqueur. Plus an occasional seasonal treat (during the World Cup they offered mini chocolate footballs; in Christmas I have been offered those little brown Greek Christmas cakes that are absolutely addictive, and so on). But most importantly the service on board is usually very professional, friendly, and eager to help
Enjoy your flight and safe travels!
No comparison with SAS Plus. SAS Plus is just a Premium Econ, not a Business product, and ...well it's SAS. A3 offers IMHO perhaps the best short-/medium-haul Business class in Europe, and when it comes to the soft product, among the top in the world, at least given my experience.
No cubes there (no reason to worry), but rather a proper three-course meal, and complimentary spirits and liqueur. Plus an occasional seasonal treat (during the World Cup they offered mini chocolate footballs; in Christmas I have been offered those little brown Greek Christmas cakes that are absolutely addictive, and so on). But most importantly the service on board is usually very professional, friendly, and eager to help
Enjoy your flight and safe travels!
and tbh, I find the cubes to be fairly acceptable :P