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
Oct 12, 2016, 6:29 am
#1171
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: NW London and NW Sydney
Programs: BA Diamond, Hilton Bronze, A3 Diamond, IHG *G
Posts: 6,347
But if you want to buy a flexible ticket anyway, you might as well buy it when there's a sale, or am I missing something?
Oct 12, 2016, 7:36 am
#1172
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Singapore
Programs: A3 Gold, SQ Gold, AT Gold, Accor Silver, HHonors Diamond, I Prefer Elite, DISCOVERY Titanium
Posts: 472
Yes, you would earn K class miles in this case and would receive 1 A3 sector per A3 flight. You may have to retro-claim though, as they don't always post automatically once upgrade vouchers have been applied (although my last set did post without problems). Hope that helps. 
Oct 12, 2016, 7:40 am
#1173
Join Date: Dec 2009
Programs: A3*G, Marriott Gold, Hilton Honors Gold, Radisson Rewards Premium
Posts: 862
Thanks for the information. We are one of the victim of the cancelled ATC strike. Our tickets had been first cancelled then change to Swiss, cancelled then reinstated to A3. Try retroclaim but the system indicated request failed. Any similar experience? 3 more sectors in the pipeline.
Oct 12, 2016, 2:12 pm
#1174
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Singapore
Programs: A3 Gold, SQ Gold, AT Gold, Accor Silver, HHonors Diamond, I Prefer Elite, DISCOVERY Titanium
Posts: 472
Update: no need to do extra retroclaim/call. Credited on 3rd working day. Slightly longer than usual for A3 flight.
Oct 12, 2016, 3:52 pm
#1175
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: NW London and NW Sydney
Programs: BA Diamond, Hilton Bronze, A3 Diamond, IHG *G
Posts: 6,347
Oct 13, 2016, 8:10 am
#1176
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Singapore
Programs: A3 Gold, SQ Gold, AT Gold, Accor Silver, HHonors Diamond, I Prefer Elite, DISCOVERY Titanium
Posts: 472
Oct 13, 2016, 8:16 am
#1177
Join Date: Dec 2009
Programs: A3*G, Marriott Gold, Hilton Honors Gold, Radisson Rewards Premium
Posts: 862
Oct 14, 2016, 5:01 am
#1178
Moderator: Aegean Miles+Bonus
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: AMS / ATH
Programs: AFKL Plat, A3 Gold
Posts: 7,343
I just got a reply to my complaint regarding the booking-class restrictions. Very professional and clear reply indicating that:
- They confirm that this change went into effect 01 OCT without notice.
- That the program has the right to make such changes without notice, but that they very well understand the frustration.
- Since I did call them the day after the change, and the upgrade was initially processed (and then revoked), they authorized an exception to process the upgrade.
In my case this works out well - they have applied the vouchers to the U-class bookings that I tried to upgrade on OCT 02. Just received the e-tickets as well. For me Aegean came through and handled this very well after all.
- They confirm that this change went into effect 01 OCT without notice.
- That the program has the right to make such changes without notice, but that they very well understand the frustration.
- Since I did call them the day after the change, and the upgrade was initially processed (and then revoked), they authorized an exception to process the upgrade.
In my case this works out well - they have applied the vouchers to the U-class bookings that I tried to upgrade on OCT 02. Just received the e-tickets as well. For me Aegean came through and handled this very well after all.
Oct 14, 2016, 5:22 am
#1179
Join Date: Dec 2009
Programs: A3*G, Marriott Gold, Hilton Honors Gold, Radisson Rewards Premium
Posts: 862
I just got a reply to my complaint regarding the booking-class restrictions. Very professional and clear reply indicating that:
- They confirm that this change went into effect 01 OCT without notice.
- That the program has the right to make such changes without notice, but that they very well understand the frustration.
- Since I did call them the day after the change, and the upgrade was initially processed (and then revoked), they authorized an exception to process the upgrade.
In my case this works out well - they have applied the vouchers to the U-class bookings that I tried to upgrade on OCT 02. Just received the e-tickets as well. For me Aegean came through and handled this very well after all.
- They confirm that this change went into effect 01 OCT without notice.
- That the program has the right to make such changes without notice, but that they very well understand the frustration.
- Since I did call them the day after the change, and the upgrade was initially processed (and then revoked), they authorized an exception to process the upgrade.
In my case this works out well - they have applied the vouchers to the U-class bookings that I tried to upgrade on OCT 02. Just received the e-tickets as well. For me Aegean came through and handled this very well after all.
Oct 14, 2016, 8:24 am
#1180
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Wedged somewhere between BTS and VIE ✈
Programs: Star Alliance Gold (A3 Gold), Oneworld Emerald (BA Gold), Hilton Diamond
Posts: 6,339
Regarding finding the fare class (for eligible coupon upgrade classes) on Aegean's website, I was thinking that one way to be certain that what you're booking is not in the U, P, T buckets is to simply look at the miles that the search displays. Of course you'd have to cross-check on A3's calculator to make sure...but it's a pretty safe way of knowing without having to phone up (thus paying the 20 EUR charge). Of course that doesn't help if there are only lower fare buckets available on the day you want, but at least it does indicate whether they're upgradeable or not.
Although one spanner in the works I did notice is that 'E' fare is now displayed in the lowest miles earning group (but eligible for upgrade with the coupon), that's new in the lower group isn't it?
Although one spanner in the works I did notice is that 'E' fare is now displayed in the lowest miles earning group (but eligible for upgrade with the coupon), that's new in the lower group isn't it?
Oct 14, 2016, 9:32 am
#1182
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Wedged somewhere between BTS and VIE ✈
Programs: Star Alliance Gold (A3 Gold), Oneworld Emerald (BA Gold), Hilton Diamond
Posts: 6,339
Oct 14, 2016, 9:56 am
#1183
Join Date: Nov 2015
Programs: A3*G
Posts: 128
Was there an E class before? If not, is it the lowest fare or the highest low fare?
Oct 14, 2016, 11:52 am
#1184
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: PAS, Paros Greece
Programs: A3 *G
Posts: 1,375
Oct 14, 2016, 12:29 pm
#1185
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,908