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
Apr 6, 2017, 4:59 am
#1351
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: Paris
Programs: Miles&Bonus *G
Posts: 318
About 3 weeks ago booked a flight to Athens just before Easter. Availability was already quite low. I immediately tried calling to upgrade with one of my coupons, but I was told that they were not even allowed to waitlist- they basically said there's little chance I'd be able to do it.
I had looked it up on expertflyer, and I had seen 4 seats available in C (of course, zero in I). I decided to wait a bit and try again closer to the flight. I called 3 days ago, was again told that they didn't think I'd get the upgrade due to very low availability, but at least this time they waitlisted me. Again, C was showing 4 seats- this made me quite confident that it would go through (the price at this point was over 500 euro one-way - few people would pay that). Indeed, 3 days later and I received the email that I was upgraded
Moral of the story: When you can't get waitlisted, monitor C availability on some tool and try again closer to the date of the flight. I guess they are more likely to open up I space when they can't sell the seats.
I had looked it up on expertflyer, and I had seen 4 seats available in C (of course, zero in I). I decided to wait a bit and try again closer to the flight. I called 3 days ago, was again told that they didn't think I'd get the upgrade due to very low availability, but at least this time they waitlisted me. Again, C was showing 4 seats- this made me quite confident that it would go through (the price at this point was over 500 euro one-way - few people would pay that). Indeed, 3 days later and I received the email that I was upgraded
Moral of the story: When you can't get waitlisted, monitor C availability on some tool and try again closer to the date of the flight. I guess they are more likely to open up I space when they can't sell the seats.
Apr 6, 2017, 10:47 am
#1352
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: HEL
Programs: AY+Plat
Posts: 865
Booked through TA , HEL -ATH - HEL flight connecting in VIE. First and fourth leg on AY, second and third leg on A3 metal. Called A3 for coupon upgrade to be told that ticket is in AY stock and can not be upgraded. Should have read this thread before buying the ticket.
Apr 6, 2017, 12:37 pm
#1353
Moderator: Aegean Miles+Bonus
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: AMS / ATH
Programs: AFKL Plat, A3 Gold
Posts: 7,342
About 3 weeks ago booked a flight to Athens just before Easter. Availability was already quite low. I immediately tried calling to upgrade with one of my coupons, but I was told that they were not even allowed to waitlist- they basically said there's little chance I'd be able to do it.
I had looked it up on expertflyer, and I had seen 4 seats available in C (of course, zero in I). I decided to wait a bit and try again closer to the flight. I called 3 days ago, was again told that they didn't think I'd get the upgrade due to very low availability, but at least this time they waitlisted me. Again, C was showing 4 seats- this made me quite confident that it would go through (the price at this point was over 500 euro one-way - few people would pay that). Indeed, 3 days later and I received the email that I was upgraded
Moral of the story: When you can't get waitlisted, monitor C availability on some tool and try again closer to the date of the flight. I guess they are more likely to open up I space when they can't sell the seats.
I had looked it up on expertflyer, and I had seen 4 seats available in C (of course, zero in I). I decided to wait a bit and try again closer to the flight. I called 3 days ago, was again told that they didn't think I'd get the upgrade due to very low availability, but at least this time they waitlisted me. Again, C was showing 4 seats- this made me quite confident that it would go through (the price at this point was over 500 euro one-way - few people would pay that). Indeed, 3 days later and I received the email that I was upgraded
Moral of the story: When you can't get waitlisted, monitor C availability on some tool and try again closer to the date of the flight. I guess they are more likely to open up I space when they can't sell the seats.
Do keep in mind that the week before easter will have a fasting menu rather than the regular offerings. Some pictures from last year can be found in the catering thread. I too will be flying in on Thursday before easter (A3 Business) so curious to see how things will be this year
Last edited by Xandrios; Apr 6, 2017 at 12:44 pm
Apr 6, 2017, 2:10 pm
#1354
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: ANR
Programs: A3*G, OW Sapphire, IHG Diamond Amb
Posts: 61
I just booked my requalification flights for October.
I wanted to book a roundtrip for 2 pax BRU<>ZTH and use my seat upgrade coupons for the BRU-ATH segments.
Spent a couple of evenings pricing out different options, trying different OTAs, using Matrix (not a hero with that) to find upgradeable booking classes... To make it more difficult my dates were very fixed and I also wanted a 2 day stopover in ATH on the way back. Finally found a combination of one-ways that was bookable online for about 360 euros per person in total.
Note that a plain return BRU-ATH in the cheapest booking classes is about 140 euros according to Google Flights.
Decided to give Aegean a call to see if they could price out the itinerary on one ticket. What followed was the best customer experience I ever had over the phone. The agent was very helpful, got my itinerary right immediately, and understood all the requirements for the seat upgrade coupons.
She picked S class flights for the outbound journey, and P class flights for the inbound. She explained that the inbound flights were still eligible for upgrade since they became Flex fares when the stopover in ATH was added.
She put it all in one ticket that turned out to be 50 euros cheaper (including the phone booking fee of 20 euros) - 310 euros.
Then she was able to use 2 of my vouchers immediately to upgrade one part and waitlist me for the other part. Great!
I wanted to book a roundtrip for 2 pax BRU<>ZTH and use my seat upgrade coupons for the BRU-ATH segments.
Spent a couple of evenings pricing out different options, trying different OTAs, using Matrix (not a hero with that) to find upgradeable booking classes... To make it more difficult my dates were very fixed and I also wanted a 2 day stopover in ATH on the way back. Finally found a combination of one-ways that was bookable online for about 360 euros per person in total.
Note that a plain return BRU-ATH in the cheapest booking classes is about 140 euros according to Google Flights.
Decided to give Aegean a call to see if they could price out the itinerary on one ticket. What followed was the best customer experience I ever had over the phone. The agent was very helpful, got my itinerary right immediately, and understood all the requirements for the seat upgrade coupons.
She picked S class flights for the outbound journey, and P class flights for the inbound. She explained that the inbound flights were still eligible for upgrade since they became Flex fares when the stopover in ATH was added.
She put it all in one ticket that turned out to be 50 euros cheaper (including the phone booking fee of 20 euros) - 310 euros.
Then she was able to use 2 of my vouchers immediately to upgrade one part and waitlist me for the other part. Great!
Apr 8, 2017, 12:39 am
#1356
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: Paris
Programs: Miles&Bonus *G
Posts: 318
Thanks for updating us.
Do keep in mind that the week before easter will have a fasting menu rather than the regular offerings. Some pictures from last year can be found in the catering thread. I too will be flying in on Thursday before easter (A3 Business) so curious to see how things will be this year
Do keep in mind that the week before easter will have a fasting menu rather than the regular offerings. Some pictures from last year can be found in the catering thread. I too will be flying in on Thursday before easter (A3 Business) so curious to see how things will be this year
I usually look forward to the trio of deserts, they can be so good. At least your fish was good, I'll be going for that too
Service aside, the main reason I wanted this upgrade badly was to avoid the economy class rush to find space in the overhead bins, and general discomfort of flying in a packed plane just before Easter. I've been on work trips for the last 3 weeks, flying in cramped LX/LH/ANA seats (and will be flying long-haul the day before my A3 flight), so I could use a little 'luxury'...
Last edited by blackball; Apr 8, 2017 at 12:47 am
Apr 8, 2017, 6:26 pm
#1357
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2014
Programs: Top Tier with all 3 alliances
Posts: 11,669
Oh! I have lots of colleagues in Med School charging their Monday and Friday flights in C to/from ATH to their grants from the Pharma Industry. They will now be sitting in the back with their patients and potential patients who will be bothering them with their booboos and ouchies. I like that!
Apr 8, 2017, 8:46 pm
#1358
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Heraklion, Greece
Posts: 7,567
As for my colleagues, remember that in Germany they're called "Halbgoetter in weiss", so they think they can't be with the plebs...
Apr 9, 2017, 4:48 am
#1360
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
''Only revenue (paid) tickets, in fare classes other than U, P & T on a GoLight fare basis, can be upgraded, but not redemption tickets.''
It would be great if you could!
Apr 9, 2017, 4:50 am
#1361
Moderator: Aegean Miles+Bonus
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: AMS / ATH
Programs: AFKL Plat, A3 Gold
Posts: 7,342
The member is required to have a valid and paid Economy Class ticket with confirmed reservation either with Aegean as the validating carrier (stock number 390) or with Olympic Air as the validating carrier (stock number 050).