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 19, 2017, 3:03 am
#1396
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: Paris
Programs: Miles&Bonus *G
Posts: 318
Just to follow up, now that I had the flights:
The outbound SKG-ATH flights: When I booked 3 weeks prior and 8 seats in C class were available, they denied my waltlist. Fair enough, maybe they thought they would sell them. The day before travel in the morning I called again to have waitlisted again, seeing again 8 seats in C available. They asked me to call back in the evening. I called and waitlist was still unprocessed in the booking.They told Revenue Management (?) which handles the Waitlist are available til 11pm so I shall call back tomorrow. Next morning I see waitlist was taken out of the booking, so they denied the upgrade again.
A couple of hours later in the flight C Class was completely empty. I wonder why they didn't allowed the upgrade, and was thinking that they were also completely empty on the way out and didn't wanted to load catering and have all these extra things to take care of for only one upgraded pax.
I was not impressed by their economy class. While their crew can't be faulted, the hot food was of ridiculous size, smaller than an iphone... I thought this makes a very penny pinching experience. I know it's not what they mean to do, but maybe better rather just give a sandwich...
The outbound SKG-ATH flights: When I booked 3 weeks prior and 8 seats in C class were available, they denied my waltlist. Fair enough, maybe they thought they would sell them. The day before travel in the morning I called again to have waitlisted again, seeing again 8 seats in C available. They asked me to call back in the evening. I called and waitlist was still unprocessed in the booking.They told Revenue Management (?) which handles the Waitlist are available til 11pm so I shall call back tomorrow. Next morning I see waitlist was taken out of the booking, so they denied the upgrade again.
A couple of hours later in the flight C Class was completely empty. I wonder why they didn't allowed the upgrade, and was thinking that they were also completely empty on the way out and didn't wanted to load catering and have all these extra things to take care of for only one upgraded pax.
I was not impressed by their economy class. While their crew can't be faulted, the hot food was of ridiculous size, smaller than an iphone... I thought this makes a very penny pinching experience. I know it's not what they mean to do, but maybe better rather just give a sandwich...
As for the food, I agree with the others. It's a 45 minute domestic flight. When I fly within Germany with LH (even if it's 1 hour), I get a packet of chips. With LX within Switzerland it's the same deal, maybe even worse (just a chocolate).
May 19, 2017, 4:27 am
#1397
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 244
We were talking about 2,5 hours flight, hope that makes more sense.
I agree LH wouldn't serve you hot food at all probably, I was just under the impression that serving a minuscule tray as a hot meal may give people the impression that they are trying too much to cut costs, and rather give them a sandwich what all other airlines do would probably not seem cheap and still not make a possibly penny pinching impression to guests.
May 19, 2017, 4:29 am
#1398
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 244
As written above, my bad, I meant DUS-SKG, but I think that's still a valid reason and makes sense. Just wanted to report back that an empty business class cabin will not guarantee you an upgrade
May 19, 2017, 8:54 am
#1399
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: Paris
Programs: Miles&Bonus *G
Posts: 318
Thanks for sharing your experience- it made me realize that a totally empty business cabin may in fact lessen your chances. I guess if there are 1-2 paying pax you have a much better chance. Good to know!
Jun 1, 2017, 12:12 pm
#1401
Moderator: Aegean Miles+Bonus
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: AMS / ATH
Programs: AFKL Plat, A3 Gold
Posts: 7,342
Just called in to have a flight upgraded. I noticed that the procedure has changed a little bit, for the better. I noticed the same last month for another flight, so it seems to be a pattern.
They state the rules in detail regarding changes (You have to call in and there is a 20 euro service fee), cancellation, no-show and so on. They also explained that with a change there needs to be availability in 'I' class to re-use the coupon, else it is lost. Also they now ask to confirm (yes/no) if you agree with these rules.
Since she went into detail I decided to ask if, besides 'I' class availability, there are any other factors that would make an upgrade impossible. She explained about PUT Golight but explicitly said that besides this there are no further limitations.
Surprisingly the lady, at the end of the call, reminded me of her name - in case there would be any issues I could call back and ask for her personally. I have never seen such thing at an airline callcenter, as employees generally try to not be accountable for their actions. So I was pleasantly surprised, Aegean has some great people working the phones it seems!
They state the rules in detail regarding changes (You have to call in and there is a 20 euro service fee), cancellation, no-show and so on. They also explained that with a change there needs to be availability in 'I' class to re-use the coupon, else it is lost. Also they now ask to confirm (yes/no) if you agree with these rules.
Since she went into detail I decided to ask if, besides 'I' class availability, there are any other factors that would make an upgrade impossible. She explained about PUT Golight but explicitly said that besides this there are no further limitations.
Surprisingly the lady, at the end of the call, reminded me of her name - in case there would be any issues I could call back and ask for her personally. I have never seen such thing at an airline callcenter, as employees generally try to not be accountable for their actions. So I was pleasantly surprised, Aegean has some great people working the phones it seems!
Jun 5, 2017, 1:17 am
#1402
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: ZRH
Programs: A3
Posts: 49
ZRH ATH...Denied for upgrade using coupon via phone....called multiple times... Check in agent is now saying that there are two open business seats...apparently I'm still on the waiting list and it's confusing their system...most likely will stay economy and leave business seats empty, disappointing.
Jun 5, 2017, 5:30 am
#1405
Moderator: Aegean Miles+Bonus
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: AMS / ATH
Programs: AFKL Plat, A3 Gold
Posts: 7,342
ZRH ATH...Denied for upgrade using coupon via phone....called multiple times... Check in agent is now saying that there are two open business seats...apparently I'm still on the waiting list and it's confusing their system...most likely will stay economy and leave business seats empty, disappointing.
Jun 5, 2017, 5:44 am
#1406
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Heraklion, Greece
Posts: 7,567
Jun 5, 2017, 12:04 pm
#1407
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: ZRH/SFO
Programs: A3*G - AZ CFP- HH DIA
Posts: 3,666
. The station manager will surely not take care of ticketing issues that Swissport can not solve...
Jun 7, 2017, 6:06 am
#1408
Join Date: Feb 2005
Programs: Miles and More
Posts: 155
I booked flights ZRH-ATH and ATH-ZRH for November 2017 and wanted to use my upgrade vouchers. While the upgrade for ZRH-ATH went through no upgrade is currently possible for the ATH-ZRH segment. Currently, there is no I class availability for this route for all flights in November.
Is there a possibility to push A3 revenue management to open some I class?
Is there a possibility to push A3 revenue management to open some I class?
Jun 7, 2017, 6:49 am
#1409
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: Paris
Programs: Miles&Bonus *G
Posts: 318
I booked flights ZRH-ATH and ATH-ZRH for November 2017 and wanted to use my upgrade vouchers. While the upgrade for ZRH-ATH went through no upgrade is currently possible for the ATH-ZRH segment. Currently, there is no I class availability for this route for all flights in November.
Is there a possibility to push A3 revenue management to open some I class?
Is there a possibility to push A3 revenue management to open some I class?
Note that, under certain circumstances, there may be no waitlist for a particular flight - the A3 customer rep will let you know if this is the case.
