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 19, 2017, 3:08 am
#1518
Join Date: Sep 2010
Programs: AZ FA+, A3 G, AB G | IHG RA, HGP D, FPC P, Accor P, BW D, HH D, Eleva, GHA P, 1862 Voyager
Posts: 1,852
Ok I'm curious about this - flying IST - ATH - LCA on Sat morning (21st)
IST - ATH has no C cabin on my flight and I'm on WL for ATH - LCA.
When I arrive in ATH where should I head to to request for the upgrade? Transfer desk or Main check in area?
Still hoping the WL clears, this way I can get extra baggage allowance before taking the flight
IST - ATH has no C cabin on my flight and I'm on WL for ATH - LCA.
When I arrive in ATH where should I head to to request for the upgrade? Transfer desk or Main check in area?
Still hoping the WL clears, this way I can get extra baggage allowance before taking the flight
Oct 19, 2017, 7:49 pm
#1519
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Heraklion, Greece
Posts: 7,565
Ok I'm curious about this - flying IST - ATH - LCA on Sat morning (21st)
IST - ATH has no C cabin on my flight and I'm on WL for ATH - LCA.
When I arrive in ATH where should I head to to request for the upgrade? Transfer desk or Main check in area?
Still hoping the WL clears, this way I can get extra baggage allowance before taking the flight
IST - ATH has no C cabin on my flight and I'm on WL for ATH - LCA.
When I arrive in ATH where should I head to to request for the upgrade? Transfer desk or Main check in area?
Still hoping the WL clears, this way I can get extra baggage allowance before taking the flight
Oct 19, 2017, 8:48 pm
#1520
Join Date: Aug 2013
Programs: CX DM, A3 Gold
Posts: 96
My experience some weeks ago. My ticket was LHR-ATH-Mykonos, request for upgrade (only for LHR-ATH) around 2 months out, checked EF it was I9. Agent said she cannot do it although she saw it is available on LHR-ATH, but because my ticket is to Mykonos, it is like a married segment, so she has to send to another department. Called and checked one month out, it is still waitlisted. Called one week out, T-48hrs, T-24hrs...no luck (EF still showing I3), agent asked me to check at airport. At the check in desk, the agent told me there is still 3 seats left and asked me to check at the gate. At the gate around 10mins before boarding time, agent said flight is closed, and she made some phone call, minutes later, she gave me my new boarding pass and told me because it is last minute, they may not have a meal for me. Not a problem, but later on the plane, I even got my first choice. And it was booked in C, so I got the extra miles from C. And of course, avoided the extra fee/tax for premium cabin.
Oct 20, 2017, 1:13 am
#1521
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
Oct 20, 2017, 1:24 am
#1522
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: PAS, Paros Greece
Programs: A3 *G
Posts: 1,370
I have also upgraded many times and never had to pay extra (out of ATH, AMS, ARN, CPH, WAW). It only applies at airports that charge an extra rate of tax for C class tickets over Y class. LHR is one of the few. For example, the UK APD on an economy class ticket LHR-ATH on A3 is 14.57 Euro whereas it is 29.13 Euro in business class, so you would have to pay the difference. There's a similar situation at CDG where the 'Air Passenger Solidarity Tax' goes up from 1.13 Euro to 11.27 for C class. You can check all this out on ITAMatrix.
Oct 20, 2017, 10:48 am
#1524
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Rhineland-Palatinate
Programs: *A Gold (A3), HHonor Gold
Posts: 5,691
Oct 20, 2017, 11:03 am
#1525
Join Date: Dec 2009
Programs: A3*G, Marriott Gold, Hilton Honors Gold, Radisson Rewards Premium
Posts: 854
Oct 21, 2017, 3:29 am
#1526
Moderator: Aegean Miles+Bonus
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: AMS / ATH
Programs: AFKL Plat, A3 Gold
Posts: 7,339
Im waiting at the A3 gate in AMS at the moment; so decided to aak the GA.
Its not possible to do it at the gate, however he confirmed that it is now possible at check in. No need for I availability, any empty seat in business is enough. Though he could not confirm if you would be put in I or C booking class in the end. It does go through the ticket desk, and presumably the A3 callcenter as not all airports have a ticket desk available locally.
Its not possible to do it at the gate, however he confirmed that it is now possible at check in. No need for I availability, any empty seat in business is enough. Though he could not confirm if you would be put in I or C booking class in the end. It does go through the ticket desk, and presumably the A3 callcenter as not all airports have a ticket desk available locally.
Oct 21, 2017, 1:52 pm
#1527
Join Date: Sep 2010
Programs: AZ FA+, A3 G, AB G | IHG RA, HGP D, FPC P, Accor P, BW D, HH D, Eleva, GHA P, 1862 Voyager
Posts: 1,852
So to update on my experience. I went to the ticketing desk in ATH and spoke to the agent about my upgrade. She said the I inventory did not open up but I could check at the gate to see if I get upgraded.
At that point there were still seats unsold in the Business Cabin
When I reached the gate, the agent said the Business Cabin was full. So it seems they upgraded someone else instead.
Perhaps I arrived later to the gate and they upgraded others who asked first. I’m not sure if they have a system in place to process the upgrades.
At that point there were still seats unsold in the Business Cabin
When I reached the gate, the agent said the Business Cabin was full. So it seems they upgraded someone else instead.
Perhaps I arrived later to the gate and they upgraded others who asked first. I’m not sure if they have a system in place to process the upgrades.
Oct 25, 2017, 4:15 am
#1529
Join Date: Sep 2010
Programs: AZ FA+, A3 G, AB G | IHG RA, HGP D, FPC P, Accor P, BW D, HH D, Eleva, GHA P, 1862 Voyager
Posts: 1,852
New data points if anyone is interested:
I'm flying LCA ATH VIE today
Last night I had problems sending my BP to my email - kept erroring out. Then I tried sending it to my mobile and it worked. When I opened it, it showed seat 3C instead of my exit row seat.
On the iPhone Wallet boarding pass card it showed 3C Economy.
At the checkin desk, agent printed paper BP with 3C and said Business.
However on Checkmytrip the info still shows booking class S. Hence I don't think they used my upgrade coupon nor changed the booking class. They only internally upgraded my flight.
But this shows that the upgrade can be given the night before.
Flight in Economy seemed really full, possibly 100%. In Business there were 4 rows and 4 empty seats.
-----------
Now I have my next sector in 1 hour, I'm going early to the gate to try and get an upgrade. Seems there are still 2 unsold seats in C.
Wish me luck!
I'm flying LCA ATH VIE today
Last night I had problems sending my BP to my email - kept erroring out. Then I tried sending it to my mobile and it worked. When I opened it, it showed seat 3C instead of my exit row seat.
On the iPhone Wallet boarding pass card it showed 3C Economy.
At the checkin desk, agent printed paper BP with 3C and said Business.
However on Checkmytrip the info still shows booking class S. Hence I don't think they used my upgrade coupon nor changed the booking class. They only internally upgraded my flight.
But this shows that the upgrade can be given the night before.
Flight in Economy seemed really full, possibly 100%. In Business there were 4 rows and 4 empty seats.
-----------
Now I have my next sector in 1 hour, I'm going early to the gate to try and get an upgrade. Seems there are still 2 unsold seats in C.
Wish me luck!
Oct 26, 2017, 3:09 am
#1530
Join Date: Sep 2010
Programs: AZ FA+, A3 G, AB G | IHG RA, HGP D, FPC P, Accor P, BW D, HH D, Eleva, GHA P, 1862 Voyager
Posts: 1,852
So I did get upgraded for ATH - VIE... thanks A3!
Went to the gate right when boarding was about to start and the gate agents already had a new BP waiting for me.
The previous time I did not get upgraded out of ATH I was using the LH lounge and was wondering if it had affected my chances.
However this time round I used it again and did get the upgrade so it does not matter.
So I'm thinking if you're flying out of ATH, best would be to go early to the gate and ask the agents politely.
---------
On this flight there were 2 rows of C, and there were 4 empty seats. Flight was probably about 80+% full
Service was excellent throughout the flight
=======
edit: flights now posted to my account and they show up as booking class C, received double mileage for both flights!
So now I have 3 extra upgrade coupons that I probably won’t end up using for the year lol
Went to the gate right when boarding was about to start and the gate agents already had a new BP waiting for me.
The previous time I did not get upgraded out of ATH I was using the LH lounge and was wondering if it had affected my chances.
However this time round I used it again and did get the upgrade so it does not matter.
So I'm thinking if you're flying out of ATH, best would be to go early to the gate and ask the agents politely.
---------
On this flight there were 2 rows of C, and there were 4 empty seats. Flight was probably about 80+% full
Service was excellent throughout the flight
=======
edit: flights now posted to my account and they show up as booking class C, received double mileage for both flights!
So now I have 3 extra upgrade coupons that I probably won’t end up using for the year lol
Last edited by lsed; Oct 26, 2017 at 9:32 am Reason: Updated mileage posting