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
Mar 3, 2020, 12:20 pm
#2146
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: lounge next door
Programs: *A Gold / ST Elite+ / OWS / EK G / HH Diam. / MR Tit / Hyatt GLOB / IHG Diam. / SL Jade / GHA Tit.
Posts: 1,527
You always had to pay for additional taxes. This has been the case from the start.
Of course, in most cases there are no additional taxes. Only specific destinations charge more taxes for business class. Or you have to be unlucky that the base tax has gone up, which will be re-calculated when your upgrade is processed (and ticket re-issued).
You may have been unlucky with the CS. I've called them a few times the last two weeks (Move flights around, upgrade & waitlist) and never had to wait when calling the Gold line.
Of course, in most cases there are no additional taxes. Only specific destinations charge more taxes for business class. Or you have to be unlucky that the base tax has gone up, which will be re-calculated when your upgrade is processed (and ticket re-issued).
You may have been unlucky with the CS. I've called them a few times the last two weeks (Move flights around, upgrade & waitlist) and never had to wait when calling the Gold line.
I had such experience in the past (same as you : AMAZING). Now : really so-so. Maybe you are lucky with the greek speaking CS. I can tell you that the French one is a pain and the English one is a mix bag.
Mar 3, 2020, 1:19 pm
#2147
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Wedged somewhere between BTS and VIE ✈
Programs: Star Alliance Gold (A3 Gold), Oneworld Emerald (BA Gold), Hilton Diamond
Posts: 6,338
Unfortunately this does not always work. The grid will show you the lowest number of miles for a flight, which generally is Economy. The 15K miles in your screenshot refer to the "Star Alliance Economy Award". You will have to check for the "Aegean Business class Award" (And not the "Star Alliance Business class Award") to check for I space (i.e. upgrade space).
And even if I-space is available it is not guaranteed to allow upgrading. Usually it does, but there have been cases where it was not possible...likely due to the bid-to-upgrade function which also books into the same I-space.
And even if I-space is available it is not guaranteed to allow upgrading. Usually it does, but there have been cases where it was not possible...likely due to the bid-to-upgrade function which also books into the same I-space.
I know that some people have mentioned that it doesn't always guarantee an upgradable flight, but I've never had a problem (with about 12 flights).
Mar 3, 2020, 10:34 pm
#2148
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: lounge next door
Programs: *A Gold / ST Elite+ / OWS / EK G / HH Diam. / MR Tit / Hyatt GLOB / IHG Diam. / SL Jade / GHA Tit.
Posts: 1,527
Update : It's confirmed, when you upgrade only one segment (1/2) A3 applies the taxes of the first segment.
In my case it's CDG-ATH-IST and when they upgraded the ATH-IST they have applied the C class taxes from CDG.
I have just upgraded the first leg and had nothing to pay ("the taxes was already paid when you upgraded the second segment").
It means that when you upgrade one segment only you should take care of the taxes applied to the first one.
Not very fair imho.
In my case it's CDG-ATH-IST and when they upgraded the ATH-IST they have applied the C class taxes from CDG.
I have just upgraded the first leg and had nothing to pay ("the taxes was already paid when you upgraded the second segment").
It means that when you upgrade one segment only you should take care of the taxes applied to the first one.
Not very fair imho.
Mar 4, 2020, 12:04 am
#2149
Join Date: May 2008
Location: ARN
Posts: 3,470
Update : It's confirmed, when you upgrade only one segment (1/2) A3 applies the taxes of the first segment.
In my case it's CDG-ATH-IST and when they upgraded the ATH-IST they have applied the C class taxes from CDG.
I have just upgraded the first leg and had nothing to pay ("the taxes was already paid when you upgraded the second segment").
It means that when you upgrade one segment only you should take care of the taxes applied to the first one.
Not very fair imho.
In my case it's CDG-ATH-IST and when they upgraded the ATH-IST they have applied the C class taxes from CDG.
I have just upgraded the first leg and had nothing to pay ("the taxes was already paid when you upgraded the second segment").
It means that when you upgrade one segment only you should take care of the taxes applied to the first one.
Not very fair imho.
Mar 4, 2020, 12:56 am
#2150
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Amsterdam
Programs: A3, BA, OZ,
Posts: 1,099
Has anybody had issues with crediting lately? I had upgraded flights a month ago that are not crediting and the website gives me an error when I tried to retro-credit. Just says, 'Sorry something went wrong'. I have called Aegean and they are investigating, but they didn't seem to know what the problem was so am curious if anybody else has had this.
Mar 4, 2020, 5:34 pm
#2151
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: MEL, land of Oz
Programs: QF Plat & LTG; A3*A Gold; Avianca LM; Velocity; IHG Platinum, Accor All
Posts: 421
I called from Melbourne to upgrade some friends using certificates last month and the whole process took less than 8 minutes, start to finish. Another call about my flights took about 10 minutes, but included some very helpful advice and info on a tricky topic from the CS rep (she had to put me on hold for a couple of minutes while talking to a supervisor). I find it hard to complain about that.
Wishing you better luck in the future.
Last edited by tallboy; Mar 4, 2020 at 5:36 pm Reason: typo
Mar 5, 2020, 2:51 am
#2152
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: lounge next door
Programs: *A Gold / ST Elite+ / OWS / EK G / HH Diam. / MR Tit / Hyatt GLOB / IHG Diam. / SL Jade / GHA Tit.
Posts: 1,527
I agree with Xandrios, you seem to have had misfortune with CS. Whenever I call them, sometimes from Australia (so I am mindful of not spending too long on the call), my call has been answered promptly (English speaking) and my enquiry has been dealt with very efficiently, usually with success.
I called from Melbourne to upgrade some friends using certificates last month and the whole process took less than 8 minutes, start to finish. Another call about my flights took about 10 minutes, but included some very helpful advice and info on a tricky topic from the CS rep (she had to put me on hold for a couple of minutes while talking to a supervisor). I find it hard to complain about that.
Wishing you better luck in the future.
I called from Melbourne to upgrade some friends using certificates last month and the whole process took less than 8 minutes, start to finish. Another call about my flights took about 10 minutes, but included some very helpful advice and info on a tricky topic from the CS rep (she had to put me on hold for a couple of minutes while talking to a supervisor). I find it hard to complain about that.
Wishing you better luck in the future.
Overall A3 is an amazing airline.
But ground service is still the weak point (boarding is a zoo in athens for exemple).
Mar 5, 2020, 3:15 pm
#2153
Join Date: May 2008
Location: ARN
Posts: 3,470
May 22, 2020, 12:10 am
#2154
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Wedged somewhere between BTS and VIE ✈
Programs: Star Alliance Gold (A3 Gold), Oneworld Emerald (BA Gold), Hilton Diamond
Posts: 6,338
Has anyone recently been able to get a U,P,T Flex fare upgraded using a coupon?
Yesterday I called Aegean, but still haven't received the new e-ticket - which I usually received within hours in the past. The last time that I didn't receive one (after provisionally being booked into Business), they eventually told me that bookings into S fare using the 'zero charges' policy were not eligible for upgrade. Now I am a bit suspicious that they are going to change the policy - i.e. no U, P, T upgrades in Flex either.
EDIT (85 minutes later): Panic over, after chasing them up on Twitter this morning, e-ticket issued minutes later. So at least it's a data point that U,P,T Flex are still eligible.
Yesterday I called Aegean, but still haven't received the new e-ticket - which I usually received within hours in the past. The last time that I didn't receive one (after provisionally being booked into Business), they eventually told me that bookings into S fare using the 'zero charges' policy were not eligible for upgrade. Now I am a bit suspicious that they are going to change the policy - i.e. no U, P, T upgrades in Flex either.
EDIT (85 minutes later): Panic over, after chasing them up on Twitter this morning, e-ticket issued minutes later. So at least it's a data point that U,P,T Flex are still eligible.
Last edited by headingwest; May 22, 2020 at 1:35 am
May 22, 2020, 10:27 am
#2155
Moderator: Aegean Miles+Bonus
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: AMS / ATH
Programs: AFKL Plat, A3 Gold
Posts: 7,339
Well, the current UTP Flex fares are more expensive that GoLight, right? Youre p[aying for the Flex upgrade like you would/did in the past.
Note that VAT was lowered for transport, so that may be one reason that prices don't exactly match up with previous ones.
Note that VAT was lowered for transport, so that may be one reason that prices don't exactly match up with previous ones.
May 22, 2020, 11:52 am
#2156
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Wedged somewhere between BTS and VIE ✈
Programs: Star Alliance Gold (A3 Gold), Oneworld Emerald (BA Gold), Hilton Diamond
Posts: 6,338
Actually I've been seeing some cheaper fares than some of the old Light fares (with OTA discounts), but only very selective dates/routes.
May 22, 2020, 12:54 pm
#2157
Join Date: Jul 2019
Posts: 1,317
If so, don't airport taxes include any kind of VAT? I'm asking because there's definitely no reduction there so far...
I was watching the news a couple of days ago and they threw in a couple of examples of what kind of effect the upcoming "measures" in favour of tourism will have on airfares and what they showed was certainly a much more aggressive reduction than what we're seeing (if we are seeing any).
(for example a HER-ATH route was showing something in line with a 33% price-drop in the "before-after" comparison)
May 23, 2020, 10:50 am
#2159
Join Date: Jul 2019
Posts: 1,317
Well I don't know exactly what kind of reduction it should be and like I said I don't know if it already is in effect... I was watching a Y fare at just over 400€ and it hasn't changed, so even if it was only a VAT reduction from 24% to 11% only on the ticket price (no airport taxes change) this should still have caused the price of that fare to drop by about 40€, which it hasn't. Unless it only applies on domestic flights, in which case it is an extremely small benefit, since a 100€ ticket will only see a price drop of about 6-7€.
Anyway...
Anyway...