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
May 1, 2015, 5:43 am
#466
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2014
Programs: Top Tier with all 3 alliances
Posts: 11,670
How to make money on free seat upgrades?
Like on all other activities in a loyalty program. By incentivize travelers to spend more with the airline, either by devoting a larger portion (preferably all) of their travel spendings or to actually increase their travel spendings.
Even on the freeloading gold, who only does the bare minimum 4 segments/year and has zero intent to spend more with the airline, there is potential revenue for the airline. They get to sell the same economy seat twice on a flight with high load factor in Y and low load factor in J. And if they expect to sell a lot of J, then there just isn't any I availability.
If OP takes a look at other FF-programs I think he will find upgrades to be quite a common practice.
Like on all other activities in a loyalty program. By incentivize travelers to spend more with the airline, either by devoting a larger portion (preferably all) of their travel spendings or to actually increase their travel spendings.
Even on the freeloading gold, who only does the bare minimum 4 segments/year and has zero intent to spend more with the airline, there is potential revenue for the airline. They get to sell the same economy seat twice on a flight with high load factor in Y and low load factor in J. And if they expect to sell a lot of J, then there just isn't any I availability.
If OP takes a look at other FF-programs I think he will find upgrades to be quite a common practice.
May 4, 2015, 12:25 am
#468
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: MAN,TLV
Programs: Silver:BA,VX,AB, QF. Gold:A3,RJ,AZ,GF, EY,SPG,Marriott,Choice, Carlson. Dia/Plat:HH,IHG,BW,Accor
Posts: 1,965
On a similar note, when using my upgrade coupons, and receiving the new Business class ticket, on the website it says 2 bags each of 23kg, and 1 extra because of the *A Gold. However, when speaking to the Call centre, both agents i spoke to said 2 bags of 32kg, and another bag (i think 23kg) because of the *A gold.
I assume that the allowance is as they said on the phone - as the regular business allowance is 2 x 32kg. Anyone can confirm?
I assume that the allowance is as they said on the phone - as the regular business allowance is 2 x 32kg. Anyone can confirm?
May 4, 2015, 2:10 am
#470
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: MAN,TLV
Programs: Silver:BA,VX,AB, QF. Gold:A3,RJ,AZ,GF, EY,SPG,Marriott,Choice, Carlson. Dia/Plat:HH,IHG,BW,Accor
Posts: 1,965
As long as you tell Aegean to use the upgrade coupon before the coupon expires, even if the flight will take place after the expiration date of the coupon, the flight can be upgraded - Aegean issue a new business class ticket, with a new ticket number etc.
May 4, 2015, 3:18 am
#471
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Heraklion, Greece
Posts: 7,567
Do we really know that?
May 4, 2015, 3:54 am
#472
Moderator: Aegean Miles+Bonus
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: AMS / ATH
Programs: AFKL Plat, A3 Gold
Posts: 7,342
I was at the ticketing desk in ATH yesterday. Talked to the supervisor there and she mentioned something interesting - I'm not sure if this is based on anything or just a guess on their part:
We were talking about an itinerary that involved a LH segment. She mentioned that the flight is still two months away and that she expects the M&B rules will have changed by then to include coupon-upgrades on partner airlines. So I should re-try later to have the LH segment upgraded too.
Personally I would be very surprised if this would happen; however she shared that info voluntarily. So that makes one wonder if there may be some basis for such idea...
We were talking about an itinerary that involved a LH segment. She mentioned that the flight is still two months away and that she expects the M&B rules will have changed by then to include coupon-upgrades on partner airlines. So I should re-try later to have the LH segment upgraded too.
Personally I would be very surprised if this would happen; however she shared that info voluntarily. So that makes one wonder if there may be some basis for such idea...
May 4, 2015, 4:02 am
#473
Moderator: Aegean Miles+Bonus
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: AMS / ATH
Programs: AFKL Plat, A3 Gold
Posts: 7,342
For example, I know that Greek airlines historically issue heavily discounted tickets (non-public) for merchant marine crew members flying home or back to their ships. Often, tickets of this kind are actually sold by TAs at very low prices without them having looked at, and verified the credentials of the customer. OA used to deny boarding if, at CI, you could not prove that you were a sailor!
APA 0030 210 7299660 TRAVELPLANET24.COM REF - IBE
RM *CONSOLIDATOR.MARINE
What the heck? Travelplanet24 has indeed sold me marine-tickets for use on LH and Aegean. Obviously I would not be eligible for such. Is it only OA who would ask for proof upon boarding or A3 a well?
May 4, 2015, 5:09 am
#474
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Amsterdam
Programs: A3, BA, OZ,
Posts: 1,099
On a similar note, when using my upgrade coupons, and receiving the new Business class ticket, on the website it says 2 bags each of 23kg, and 1 extra because of the *A Gold. However, when speaking to the Call centre, both agents i spoke to said 2 bags of 32kg, and another bag (i think 23kg) because of the *A gold.
I assume that the allowance is as they said on the phone - as the regular business allowance is 2 x 32kg. Anyone can confirm?
I assume that the allowance is as they said on the phone - as the regular business allowance is 2 x 32kg. Anyone can confirm?
May 4, 2015, 6:01 am
#475
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: PAS, Paros Greece
Programs: A3 *G
Posts: 1,375
I was at the ticketing desk in ATH yesterday. Talked to the supervisor there and she mentioned something interesting - I'm not sure if this is based on anything or just a guess on their part:
We were talking about an itinerary that involved a LH segment. She mentioned that the flight is still two months away and that she expects the M&B rules will have changed by then to include coupon-upgrades on partner airlines. So I should re-try later to have the LH segment upgraded too.
Personally I would be very surprised if this would happen; however she shared that info voluntarily. So that makes one wonder if there may be some basis for such idea...
We were talking about an itinerary that involved a LH segment. She mentioned that the flight is still two months away and that she expects the M&B rules will have changed by then to include coupon-upgrades on partner airlines. So I should re-try later to have the LH segment upgraded too.
Personally I would be very surprised if this would happen; however she shared that info voluntarily. So that makes one wonder if there may be some basis for such idea...
May 4, 2015, 6:16 am
#476
Community Director
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Norwich, UK
Programs: A3*G, BA Gold, BD Gold (in memoriam), IHG Diamond Ambassador
Posts: 8,480
I was at the ticketing desk in ATH yesterday. Talked to the supervisor there and she mentioned something interesting - I'm not sure if this is based on anything or just a guess on their part:
We were talking about an itinerary that involved a LH segment. She mentioned that the flight is still two months away and that she expects the M&B rules will have changed by then to include coupon-upgrades on partner airlines. So I should re-try later to have the LH segment upgraded too.
Personally I would be very surprised if this would happen; however she shared that info voluntarily. So that makes one wonder if there may be some basis for such idea...
We were talking about an itinerary that involved a LH segment. She mentioned that the flight is still two months away and that she expects the M&B rules will have changed by then to include coupon-upgrades on partner airlines. So I should re-try later to have the LH segment upgraded too.
Personally I would be very surprised if this would happen; however she shared that info voluntarily. So that makes one wonder if there may be some basis for such idea...
Sorry, can you just clarify for me as it's not totally clear. By "coupon upgrades on partner airlines" were you discussing being able to upgrade A3 operated flights that were booked with a LH codeshare flight number or ACTUAL LH operated flights? In the latter situation I assume it would only be LH flights that carried an A3 codeshare and were booked as such or are we talking ANY partner flights? Thanks for clarification.
However, given how bad LH European Business Class is - coupled with rubbish earnings - I'd personally think there's more value in flying and upgrading an A3 domestic!
May 4, 2015, 10:18 am
#477
Moderator: Aegean Miles+Bonus
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: AMS / ATH
Programs: AFKL Plat, A3 Gold
Posts: 7,342
Sorry, can you just clarify for me as it's not totally clear. By "coupon upgrades on partner airlines" were you discussing being able to upgrade A3 operated flights that were booked with a LH codeshare flight number or ACTUAL LH operated flights? In the latter situation I assume it would only be LH flights that carried an A3 codeshare and were booked as such or are we talking ANY partner flights? Thanks for clarification.
Keep in mind though; this is just one remark by one employee. We will only know for sure if the rules are indeed updated over the next two months.
May 4, 2015, 11:05 am
#478
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Heraklion, Greece
Posts: 7,567
May 4, 2015, 2:34 pm
#479
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
On a similar note, when using my upgrade coupons, and receiving the new Business class ticket, on the website it says 2 bags each of 23kg, and 1 extra because of the *A Gold. However, when speaking to the Call centre, both agents i spoke to said 2 bags of 32kg, and another bag (i think 23kg) because of the *A gold.
I assume that the allowance is as they said on the phone - as the regular business allowance is 2 x 32kg. Anyone can confirm?
I assume that the allowance is as they said on the phone - as the regular business allowance is 2 x 32kg. Anyone can confirm?
May 4, 2015, 11:49 pm
#480
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: MAN,TLV
Programs: Silver:BA,VX,AB, QF. Gold:A3,RJ,AZ,GF, EY,SPG,Marriott,Choice, Carlson. Dia/Plat:HH,IHG,BW,Accor
Posts: 1,965