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
Nov 7, 2017, 3:48 pm
#1547
Join Date: May 2012
Location: London, UK
Programs: A3 Gold
Posts: 158
I've had a strange situation today.
I have flights CAI-ATH-LHR booked through the Aegean website in "Q" booking class (designated as a "saver" ticket). The first sector is A31303 (codeshare, operated by Egyptair), the second sector is A3602.
I asked to upgrade the second sector A3602. Initially the agent said she couldn't find the flights because the reference number wasn't an Aegean reference. Later, she found the flights but I was told I wasn't able to use the seat upgrade coupon in this situation because the one of the flights in the booking was not operated by Aegean.
I pressed for more information, because I've used seat upgrade coupons several times with similar bookings (in face, almost identical bookings on the same flight combination earlier this year) and was told the rules were changed to disallow this in September this year.
Based on what was written earlier in this thread about upgrading at check-in (or in my case, transfer desk) I asked if the rules would be any different if I attempted to use the seat upgrade coupon at the check-in desk on the day of the flight. I was told the same rules apply then and it wouldn't be possible in my situation.
Has anyone else experienced this? I'm minded to phone up and try again with a different agent later. But if there's a rigid rule that disallows this I won't bother. Maybe this information is useful for someone...
I have flights CAI-ATH-LHR booked through the Aegean website in "Q" booking class (designated as a "saver" ticket). The first sector is A31303 (codeshare, operated by Egyptair), the second sector is A3602.
I asked to upgrade the second sector A3602. Initially the agent said she couldn't find the flights because the reference number wasn't an Aegean reference. Later, she found the flights but I was told I wasn't able to use the seat upgrade coupon in this situation because the one of the flights in the booking was not operated by Aegean.
I pressed for more information, because I've used seat upgrade coupons several times with similar bookings (in face, almost identical bookings on the same flight combination earlier this year) and was told the rules were changed to disallow this in September this year.
Based on what was written earlier in this thread about upgrading at check-in (or in my case, transfer desk) I asked if the rules would be any different if I attempted to use the seat upgrade coupon at the check-in desk on the day of the flight. I was told the same rules apply then and it wouldn't be possible in my situation.
Has anyone else experienced this? I'm minded to phone up and try again with a different agent later. But if there's a rigid rule that disallows this I won't bother. Maybe this information is useful for someone...
Nov 7, 2017, 6:28 pm
#1548
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Heraklion, Greece
Posts: 7,564
Indeed, these are the rules: you can't upgrade with coupons unless your entire itin is booked on bona fide A3 or OA flights.
I don't know when they introduced this, but it was not last September since the rule was always there in the beginning of August, preventing my son from using his coupons. No idea, though, how they'd handle it when upgrading at CI or the gate.
Originally Posted by M+B rules on upgrade coupons
...Seat upgrade is not permitted when the ticket includes any other Airline...
Nov 8, 2017, 3:59 am
#1549
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: lounge next door
Programs: *A Gold / ST Elite+ / OWS / EK G / HH Diam. / MR Tit / Hyatt GLOB / IHG Diam. / SL Jade / GHA Tit.
Posts: 1,523
Upgrade coupons question
Hi,
I still have 2 coupons and don't have plans to fly A3 before 24th november. Is it possible to use those coupons for a reservation after this date?
I still have 2 coupons and don't have plans to fly A3 before 24th november. Is it possible to use those coupons for a reservation after this date?
Nov 8, 2017, 5:06 am
#1550
Community Director
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Norwich, UK
Programs: A3*G, BA Gold, BD Gold (in memoriam), IHG Diamond Ambassador
Posts: 8,473
. It's the redemption date that counts, always.
Nov 9, 2017, 6:06 am
#1551
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Singapore
Programs: A3 Gold, SQ Gold, AT Gold, Accor Silver, HHonors Diamond, I Prefer Elite, DISCOVERY Titanium
Posts: 472
Nov 9, 2017, 6:15 am
#1552
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: BSL, ZRH, FRA,
Programs: A3*G, Accor Plat
Posts: 16
Brief report on recent voucher use and miles credit:
To combine required work travel with getting 4 A3 segments in, I booked GVA-ATH-RHO and back for 6-7 Nov, having checked I-class availabilty (open for the outbound legs only). So I booked these segments in flex and the return in light. Called A3 immediately after booking and used two vouchers. This took 3mins on the phone only, very friendly and efficient.
Miles for the non-upgraded segments posted within 24 hrs. For the two I-class segments, miles posted automatically within 48hrs.
Well done A3, a pleasant experience alltogether.
To combine required work travel with getting 4 A3 segments in, I booked GVA-ATH-RHO and back for 6-7 Nov, having checked I-class availabilty (open for the outbound legs only). So I booked these segments in flex and the return in light. Called A3 immediately after booking and used two vouchers. This took 3mins on the phone only, very friendly and efficient.
Miles for the non-upgraded segments posted within 24 hrs. For the two I-class segments, miles posted automatically within 48hrs.
Well done A3, a pleasant experience alltogether.
Nov 13, 2017, 1:54 am
#1553
Join Date: Feb 2005
Programs: Miles and More
Posts: 155
Nov 13, 2017, 2:40 am
#1554
Moderator: Aegean Miles+Bonus
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: AMS / ATH
Programs: AFKL Plat, A3 Gold
Posts: 7,333
Nice!
Make sure to not let the other two coupons go to waste! (Assuming you had 4) 
I was told yes, but that (at least in AMS) they would involve (call?) the ticketing desk. Not sure how that would work at an outstation without ticketing desk, perhaps there is some hotline to ATH that can handle ticketing issues for them.
I was told yes, but that (at least in AMS) they would involve (call?) the ticketing desk. Not sure how that would work at an outstation without ticketing desk, perhaps there is some hotline to ATH that can handle ticketing issues for them.
Nov 13, 2017, 3:10 am
#1555
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: BSL, ZRH, FRA,
Programs: A3*G, Accor Plat
Posts: 16
Indeed I did have 4, now just 2. However, using the remaining 2 is easier said than done, with no A3 flights upcoming for me nor any friend/colleague...
I am not overly motivated to fly A3 to ATH and back just to burn coupons and get 2 A3 legs for the 2018 requalification.
Nov 13, 2017, 6:51 am
#1556
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Rhineland-Palatinate
Programs: *A Gold (A3), HHonor Gold
Posts: 5,681
- there are a lack of details concerning T&C and procedure, as we are relying on hearsay and experience from people
- we do not know if this is a trial or a new permanent change
Nov 15, 2017, 3:16 pm
#1557
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Maribor SLO
Programs: MM silver, Flying blue Platinum, A3 gold, Marriott platinum, IHG gold
Posts: 132
I tried to upgrade 2 flights (VIE-ATH and ATH-VIE) with my remaining 2 coupons. I was told I was put on waiting list. What is the usual amount of time for upgrade in this case? My flights are on 7th and 9th December...
Last edited by Mbcan; Nov 16, 2017 at 8:10 am
Nov 15, 2017, 4:39 pm
#1558
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Heraklion, Greece
Posts: 7,564
You do mean December, don't you? At any rate, no stats available for a "usual" waiting time...
Nov 15, 2017, 10:51 pm
#1559
Join Date: Feb 2005
Programs: Miles and More
Posts: 155
My waitlisted upgrade request for my flight on Sunday 19 November has not cleared yet. Business class seems to be still empty.
Nov 16, 2017, 12:46 am
#1560
Join Date: Dec 2009
Programs: A3*G, Marriott Gold, Hilton Honors Gold, Radisson Rewards Premium
Posts: 851
I've been on the waitlist for ATH-VIE in December for weeks and it hasn't cleared yet either. The VIE route is completely bereft of award availability (in both classes) until the end of the year at least from what I've seen when checking. I'm hoping mine will clear but not holding my breath. Do let us know if you clear the waitlist (and when), as it would be very interesting to compare data points on the same route. Also don't forget to try asking at check-in if the waitlist doesn't clear. It is supposedly possible then if there are any seats left in business, I class not required. I'll be trying this too if my waitlist doesn't clear.
