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
Aug 1, 2016, 1:20 pm
#1021
Join Date: May 2012
Location: GVA
Posts: 188
One quick question:
Was it somewhere (Aegean website or checkmytrip) visible when people asked to be put on the waiting list for a voucher upgrade?
I tried to upgrade multiple flights for mid-September weeks ago. Three succeeded but one didn't. When I got a call today the woman collected 30 cent tax changes but she saw only the three flights and didn't mention anything about the waiting list for the 4th flight. I'm wondering if I was on the waiting list ... maybe I should give them another call in few weeks.
Was it somewhere (Aegean website or checkmytrip) visible when people asked to be put on the waiting list for a voucher upgrade?
I tried to upgrade multiple flights for mid-September weeks ago. Three succeeded but one didn't. When I got a call today the woman collected 30 cent tax changes but she saw only the three flights and didn't mention anything about the waiting list for the 4th flight. I'm wondering if I was on the waiting list ... maybe I should give them another call in few weeks.
Aug 2, 2016, 7:08 am
#1023
Join Date: May 2012
Location: GVA
Posts: 188
As I understand it, it is believed that it's manually controlled, and it seems based on reports here that usually if you waitlist you will get a positive result within a few days, so if you don't then you might be at the mercy of last minute decisions to open up more space based on how the flight is selling. Obviously that doesn't help much if you're buying a ticket purely in the hopes of getting an upgrade. I'm not sure what you mean by just a lottery though -- are you hoping there are trends in terms of routes or time of year?
Aug 2, 2016, 7:39 am
#1024
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: YWG
Posts: 2,272
As I understand it, it is believed that it's manually controlled, and it seems based on reports here that usually if you waitlist you will get a positive result within a few days, so if you don't then you might be at the mercy of last minute decisions to open up more space based on how the flight is selling. Obviously that doesn't help much if you're buying a ticket purely in the hopes of getting an upgrade. I'm not sure what you mean by just a lottery though -- are you hoping there are trends in terms of routes or time of year?
I was under the assumption that A3 always had 2 spots for upgrades on flights. But some flights are I4/I5 while others are I0. So does A3 revenue management manually go in to create I space or is there some automatic algorithm running in the background to determine what upgrade space should be available for certain flights?
Aug 2, 2016, 8:26 am
#1025
Join Date: May 2012
Location: GVA
Posts: 188
I'm looking at 3 months down the road, not a ticket this week or next. Looking to upgrade ATH-LHR in November. October generally has I space. November does sometime but doesn't other days.
I was under the assumption that A3 always had 2 spots for upgrades on flights. But some flights are I4/I5 while others are I0. So does A3 revenue management manually go in to create I space or is there some automatic algorithm running in the background to determine what upgrade space should be available for certain flights?
I was under the assumption that A3 always had 2 spots for upgrades on flights. But some flights are I4/I5 while others are I0. So does A3 revenue management manually go in to create I space or is there some automatic algorithm running in the background to determine what upgrade space should be available for certain flights?
Hopefully someone else can advise, but I suspect we don't actually know if any machinations are manual or algorithmic.
Aug 2, 2016, 5:22 pm
#1026
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
I class is award class, so I0 could mean either seats already taken by upgrades, but also people may have made an award booking in business using points. Upgrades and miles bookings both use that award class in business.
Aug 11, 2016, 5:46 am
#1027
Join Date: Jul 2008
Programs: EBG4Life, EBD, 1MM
Posts: 1,397
Are there any confirmations of the wait list working, or is it a decision that takes a few days to process and then you risk being kicked off the "waitist" after a set time? I do not mind checking back periodically to see if any space opens up to put in a new request, but the risk for Aegean is that non-FTers will just keep putting in upgrade requests until they get the seat, potentially creating extra work for the agents handling the upgrades.
Aug 11, 2016, 7:43 am
#1028
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Heraklion, Greece
Posts: 7,566
I've been twice on a waiting list. The first time they called me 4 or 5 days before the flight, the second time it was the day before, as a matter of fact after I had checked in; the e-ticket was mailed to me within an hour. A third time when I had been waitlisted, I didn't make it but I was upgraded nonetheless while waiting in the lounge at ATH without using the coupon,
Aug 13, 2016, 1:35 am
#1029
Join Date: Jul 2008
Programs: EBG4Life, EBD, 1MM
Posts: 1,397
Thanks for the confirmation. I think that I just talked to two agents that did not really know how to put me on the waitlist. With that being said, I awoke this morning to see that the second upgrade request (which was identical to the first) succeeded. Seems like someone in the special department was in a better mood as they ended up opening up a total of 4 seats (2 from another request) on our ATH-CPH flight.
It is still not clear to me how the upgrade system works, but Aegean has done well for us again
. Looking forward to another trip on A3, renew/earn Gold status for the kids and try to figure out the best use of the new 8 upgrade vouchers. Perhaps things are clarified for next year's booking.
It is still not clear to me how the upgrade system works, but Aegean has done well for us again
. Looking forward to another trip on A3, renew/earn Gold status for the kids and try to figure out the best use of the new 8 upgrade vouchers. Perhaps things are clarified for next year's booking.
Last edited by livious; Aug 13, 2016 at 1:42 am
Aug 16, 2016, 1:34 pm
#1030
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: 39000ft
Posts: 956
Well, am not sure how waitlist works. I have done it several times and I think that every time is a different process.
For example:
* In the first case, i could not see anything different on my booking (via aegeanair.com or checkmytrip) but in the second case I could see "another" identical booking in I class (business award).
* Moreover, I think that the internal notification system does not work properly or that something is wrong. In most cases that I was waitlisted, the I seat was confirmed one day afterwards but noone called me back. In the first case, the request expired so we had to ask for the I-seat again, so in all other cases I am always calling 1-2 days after the request to ask what is happening. In all these occasions they told me that the upgrade was confirmed and the ticket was issued immediately.
So my empirical guidelines are:
* Call to request upgrade
* Make sure that you can see a I-sector identical to the original one at your booking (aegeanair.com or checkmytrip)
* Call 1-2 days afterwards to confirm
For example:
* In the first case, i could not see anything different on my booking (via aegeanair.com or checkmytrip) but in the second case I could see "another" identical booking in I class (business award).
* Moreover, I think that the internal notification system does not work properly or that something is wrong. In most cases that I was waitlisted, the I seat was confirmed one day afterwards but noone called me back. In the first case, the request expired so we had to ask for the I-seat again, so in all other cases I am always calling 1-2 days after the request to ask what is happening. In all these occasions they told me that the upgrade was confirmed and the ticket was issued immediately.
So my empirical guidelines are:
* Call to request upgrade
* Make sure that you can see a I-sector identical to the original one at your booking (aegeanair.com or checkmytrip)
* Call 1-2 days afterwards to confirm
Aug 23, 2016, 8:45 am
#1031
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: C2, BTS, VIE
Programs: A3 *G, AA Exec Plat Pro, Accor Silver, IHG Plat, HH Diamond, PP
Posts: 321
Flew VIE-ATH-JTR on friday and JTR-ATH-BUD during the weekend, with the first and last lag upgraded with coupons, ATH-JTR was credited the next day, unfortunately the upgraded VIE-ATH leg wasnt, retroclaim online didnt work either, a helpful lady on the MB hotline assured me, it will be taken care of, hopefully it will work out.
Aug 23, 2016, 11:12 pm
#1032
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: PAS, Paros Greece
Programs: A3 *G
Posts: 1,372
Flew VIE-ATH-JTR on friday and JTR-ATH-BUD during the weekend, with the first and last lag upgraded with coupons, ATH-JTR was credited the next day, unfortunately the upgraded VIE-ATH leg wasnt, retroclaim online didnt work either, a helpful lady on the MB hotline assured me, it will be taken care of, hopefully it will work out.
In any case - it's only been FIVE DAYS since your earliest flight. It's no wonder online retroclaim didn't work. Relax for a few days/weeks and see what happens.
Aug 24, 2016, 8:26 am
#1033
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: ZRH, CGN
Programs: AA Gold, *G
Posts: 257
data point:
called in 3 days before departure to apply coupon
no I space was available
asked to be put onto waitlist (I had 4 segments but agent said I can only be on waitlist for 2 segments at one time)
1.5 day before departure the upgrade cleared
called in 3 days before departure to apply coupon
no I space was available
asked to be put onto waitlist (I had 4 segments but agent said I can only be on waitlist for 2 segments at one time)
1.5 day before departure the upgrade cleared
Aug 24, 2016, 9:10 am
#1034
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: C2, BTS, VIE
Programs: A3 *G, AA Exec Plat Pro, Accor Silver, IHG Plat, HH Diamond, PP
Posts: 321
The has been a lot of discussion about this before and the consensus is that it now mostly works, but sometimes takes a little longer. The suggestion was that somebody in the M&B department may sit down once a week (or whenever) and manually check/credit the upgraded flights but, of course, nobody really knows.
In any case - it's only been FIVE DAYS since your earliest flight. It's no wonder online retroclaim didn't work. Relax for a few days/weeks and see what happens.
In any case - it's only been FIVE DAYS since your earliest flight. It's no wonder online retroclaim didn't work. Relax for a few days/weeks and see what happens.
Actually, today my 1st upgraded segment credited.
After I checked my friends account who was traveling with me, she only has the not-upgraded leg credited, so probably the phone call helped (called only because of me)...
Anyway, will wait and see what happens to the return flight, that has not credited yet, neither the upgraded or regular segment
Aug 24, 2016, 9:37 am
#1035
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Heraklion, Greece
Posts: 7,566
