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
Jan 16, 2015, 11:55 am
#256
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Paris, France
Programs: A3*G, Accor ALL Gold
Posts: 597
Same with me. I have upgraded 3 tickets, 2 from CDG to ATH and one from ATH to CDG and I was not asked a single penny.
Jan 16, 2015, 1:02 pm
#257
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Mannheim / Berlin
Programs: Gold: A3, AB, AZ
Posts: 36
We have seperate reservations, so I don't think that the rep was actually aware of that fact.
And the flights are ex-FRA and ax-ATH and I had to provide cc details for a tax adjustment of 1,15 euro per passenger.
Last edited by t566; Jan 16, 2015 at 1:03 pm Reason: clearification
Jan 16, 2015, 2:03 pm
#258
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2014
Programs: Top Tier with all 3 alliances
Posts: 11,669
I can also confirm that they can upgrade everyone now with coupons, not just the A3 G holder.
However, there seems to be a limit to how many upgradeable seats are available per flight, probably around 3-4 (but slightly variable), so, if you want to upgrade several people you may want to do it asap, because even for flights several months out the available seats may have already been taken.
The tax difference for upgrades seems to vary based on who knows what factors, I am guessing fare class and departure/arrival airport? The agent was like, "let me see if there are any tax differences". Luckily none of my upgrades from UPT go light fares from various airports had any extra taxes.
However, there seems to be a limit to how many upgradeable seats are available per flight, probably around 3-4 (but slightly variable), so, if you want to upgrade several people you may want to do it asap, because even for flights several months out the available seats may have already been taken.
The tax difference for upgrades seems to vary based on who knows what factors, I am guessing fare class and departure/arrival airport? The agent was like, "let me see if there are any tax differences". Luckily none of my upgrades from UPT go light fares from various airports had any extra taxes.
Jan 16, 2015, 3:23 pm
#260
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
So you're saying that Business Class was full (meaning there was no I-class availability), you were allocated an Economy seat and your booking class was amended to 'X'? Or was it always 'X' and you were only ever on a redemption?
It just doesn't sound from your description as if you've actually been upgraded ...
It just doesn't sound from your description as if you've actually been upgraded ...
Jan 16, 2015, 3:25 pm
#261
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
me was on 9 january, ticket + upgrade done on 8th january... when i called for the upgrade they asked me a credit card number and charged it 11 euros.
Jan 16, 2015, 11:15 pm
#262
Community Director
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Norwich, UK
Programs: A3*G, BA Gold, BD Gold (in memoriam), IHG Diamond Ambassador
Posts: 8,478
We'll probably have to wait and see.
It might also be a little early, but has the flight credited properly yet?
Jan 17, 2015, 1:55 am
#263
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
no... as as it's an A3 flight... it's weird that no miles credited yet. I guess will have to make a retro claim, will share the "result" here.
Jan 18, 2015, 6:45 am
#264
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: YYZ
Programs: A3&O6 Gold,IC AMB & HH Diamond
Posts: 14,132
Successfully, upgraded myself and my travelling companion who is also gold, using my coupons. Took 5 minutes, she divided the locator and took 4 coupons from my account to upgrade only BCN-ATH and ATH-CDG. No charges whatsoever.
Jan 19, 2015, 4:45 am
#265
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: ZRH
Programs: A3 Gold (*A), AF Gold (ST), HH Diamond, IHG Diamond, Marriott Gold
Posts: 33
Hi all,
First post in FT although this forum helped me many times in the past!
Just a quick note about "I" fare availability. I was trying to upgrade ZRH-ATH in March over the phone and I was told that there is no upgrade available anymore, but I was able to secure seats in row 3 in Y. When checking online, C seats are still available. The girl on the phone said that it is highly unlikely that upgrades slots will open since they have already all been taken by other pax.
Question is, how does she knows that upgrades have already been granted (I thought all she could see was a "I- 0" on her screen). Then if C seats are still available and not booked before the flight, what are my chances in seeing I fare bucket availability before the flight? Finally, considering I got row 3 seats, would that mean that they already decided that there will be no more that 8 pax flying C on this flight?
Thanks a lot for you answers!
First post in FT although this forum helped me many times in the past!
Just a quick note about "I" fare availability. I was trying to upgrade ZRH-ATH in March over the phone and I was told that there is no upgrade available anymore, but I was able to secure seats in row 3 in Y. When checking online, C seats are still available. The girl on the phone said that it is highly unlikely that upgrades slots will open since they have already all been taken by other pax.
Question is, how does she knows that upgrades have already been granted (I thought all she could see was a "I- 0" on her screen). Then if C seats are still available and not booked before the flight, what are my chances in seeing I fare bucket availability before the flight? Finally, considering I got row 3 seats, would that mean that they already decided that there will be no more that 8 pax flying C on this flight?
Thanks a lot for you answers!
Jan 19, 2015, 5:04 am
#266
Community Director
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Norwich, UK
Programs: A3*G, BA Gold, BD Gold (in memoriam), IHG Diamond Ambassador
Posts: 8,478
Hi all,
First post in FT although this forum helped me many times in the past!
Just a quick note about "I" fare availability. I was trying to upgrade ZRH-ATH in March over the phone and I was told that there is no upgrade available anymore, but I was able to secure seats in row 3 in Y. When checking online, C seats are still available. The girl on the phone said that it is highly unlikely that upgrades slots will open since they have already all been taken by other pax.
Question is, how does she knows that upgrades have already been granted (I thought all she could see was a "I- 0" on her screen). Then if C seats are still available and not booked before the flight, what are my chances in seeing I fare bucket availability before the flight? Finally, considering I got row 3 seats, would that mean that they already decided that there will be no more that 8 pax flying C on this flight?
Thanks a lot for you answers!
First post in FT although this forum helped me many times in the past!
Just a quick note about "I" fare availability. I was trying to upgrade ZRH-ATH in March over the phone and I was told that there is no upgrade available anymore, but I was able to secure seats in row 3 in Y. When checking online, C seats are still available. The girl on the phone said that it is highly unlikely that upgrades slots will open since they have already all been taken by other pax.
Question is, how does she knows that upgrades have already been granted (I thought all she could see was a "I- 0" on her screen). Then if C seats are still available and not booked before the flight, what are my chances in seeing I fare bucket availability before the flight? Finally, considering I got row 3 seats, would that mean that they already decided that there will be no more that 8 pax flying C on this flight?
Thanks a lot for you answers!
Upgrades completely rely on I (redemption) fare buckets being available. As you've already intimated, these are limited and do not include the whole of the C cabin.
Will more be made available? Possibly, but if so it'll only be very close to the departure date when A3 revenue management decides it won't sell whatever remains free in the rest of the cabin and believes it might get some money from *A partners in redemption costs. The fact that the cabin is very small anyway at 8 seats probably doesn't stack the odds in your favour. If the C cabin remains the size it is, it's extremely unlikely more redemption inventory will appear. If it's expanded, it's probably because there's more demand for paid C seats, which would likely mean there's no need to offer more redemption space - and also that you will be seat shifted backwards.
There will be far greater experts than me who are based in Greece and therefore fly A3 a great deal who would be much better able to comment on the chances of either of these scenarios happening.
Jan 19, 2015, 5:59 am
#267
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Paris, France
Programs: A3*G, Accor ALL Gold
Posts: 597
Hi all,
The girl on the phone said that it is highly unlikely that upgrades slots will open since they have already all been taken by other pax.
Question is, how does she knows that upgrades have already been granted (I thought all she could see was a "I- 0" on her screen).
The girl on the phone said that it is highly unlikely that upgrades slots will open since they have already all been taken by other pax.
Question is, how does she knows that upgrades have already been granted (I thought all she could see was a "I- 0" on her screen).
If the agent sees "I=0", it means that the 2 upgrades have already been awarded.
Jan 19, 2015, 6:22 am
#268
Community Director
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Norwich, UK
Programs: A3*G, BA Gold, BD Gold (in memoriam), IHG Diamond Ambassador
Posts: 8,478
To put it in perspective, many *A widebody Business Cabins (e.g. on AC) only have two redemption seats available per flight - so the percentage of seats A3 make available (albeit it would be difficult to reasonably allocate less than that!) is actually enormous already. That probably makes it even more unlikely that further seats will be placed into Starnet.
Jan 19, 2015, 12:19 pm
#269
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Athens Greece, Brighton UK
Programs: A3*Gold
Posts: 64
LGW-ATH My second upgrade in the bag. With the Greek elections this weekend, I never expected any "I" availability.
34 days since my last upgrade and miles still not credited. The agent said not to expect to see them till the end of the month. Incidentally, no extra charges for LGW-ATH upgrades.
34 days since my last upgrade and miles still not credited. The agent said not to expect to see them till the end of the month. Incidentally, no extra charges for LGW-ATH upgrades.
Last edited by hermes1; Jan 19, 2015 at 12:35 pm
Jan 19, 2015, 1:12 pm
#270
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: ZRH
Programs: A3 Gold (*A), AF Gold (ST), HH Diamond, IHG Diamond, Marriott Gold
Posts: 33
To put it in perspective, many *A widebody Business Cabins (e.g. on AC) only have two redemption seats available per flight - so the percentage of seats A3 make available (albeit it would be difficult to reasonably allocate less than that!) is actually enormous already. That probably makes it even more unlikely that further seats will be placed into Starnet.
Thank you all for your replies! I have another flight scheduled on the same route for next month (February) and then almost all A3 flights ZRH-ATH have 3 open spots in "I", according to expertflyer. Regarding flights in April (when I will be flying with my wife), no upgrades available. Funny thing is that on this specific route it seems that all other flights +/- 10 Days have no I fares available anymore (I haven't checked the whole month though). Also, the plane seems quite empty :
A3 825 ZRH 11:00a → ATH 2:40p
C4 D4 Z3 A0 I0 R0 Y7 B7 M7 H7 Q7 V7 W7 O6 L7 K7 J4 E0 S7 T0 U0 P0 G0 N0 X0 F0
Would it be possible that A3 decides to open upgrades on some routes no more than two month in advance? How likely is it that all the flights on that route are blackout in "I" for an entire month?
I am flying with my wife in April and was willing to use the coupons then, but if not possible I will use them for myself when flying Y for work (company policy is no C tickets for European flights...), just don't want to wait for nothing.
Thanks again for your insight!
EDIT : I just checked flights for this route in May, most of them have upgrades available as well... I guess people just used a lot of coupons for flights in April (maybe because of Easter), anyway, I guess no luck for me! Thanks anyway.
Last edited by ben434; Jan 19, 2015 at 1:30 pm