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
Jan 29, 2018, 6:38 pm
#1606
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: TLV/ATH/LON/EZE/NYC/UIP
Programs: BA*GGL, A3*G, AF*P, VS*S
Posts: 1,011
I am flying CDG-ATH-TLV on Thursday. I called to get an upgrade on the CDG-ATH with a coupon, they put me on standby, and told me there would be a small extra tax payable (about 10 EUR) if it cleared. When they called back to say a seat had opened up, they asked me for 40 EUR instead. They claim that although I only want to upgrade CDG-ATH, they had to charge the higher departure tax through to the final destination.
As a result (and because the vouchers are actually quite hard to use up) I decided to use a second voucher but I'm quite miffed at having to do so. I've upgraded just the CDG-ATH leg on this exact route on a single itinerary before and was charged the lower amount.
I had a look on ITA and they are right that the tax difference CDG-ATH-TLV is 40 EUR, but CDG-ATH alone would be 8 EUR.
Any thoughts as to what's going on and if I can drop back into Y on the ATH-TLV and get the coupon and 25-30 EUR difference refunded, or did I just get lucky the first time?
In fact I can see from KVS that both flights are pretty empty, so I'm tempted to just cancel the upgrade altogether if they'll let me get the cash and coupons back, and use them ex-TLV where there is no tax difference and where despite what it says on the A3 website, Golds cannot use the security fast track but biz class can.
As a result (and because the vouchers are actually quite hard to use up) I decided to use a second voucher but I'm quite miffed at having to do so. I've upgraded just the CDG-ATH leg on this exact route on a single itinerary before and was charged the lower amount.
I had a look on ITA and they are right that the tax difference CDG-ATH-TLV is 40 EUR, but CDG-ATH alone would be 8 EUR.
Any thoughts as to what's going on and if I can drop back into Y on the ATH-TLV and get the coupon and 25-30 EUR difference refunded, or did I just get lucky the first time?
In fact I can see from KVS that both flights are pretty empty, so I'm tempted to just cancel the upgrade altogether if they'll let me get the cash and coupons back, and use them ex-TLV where there is no tax difference and where despite what it says on the A3 website, Golds cannot use the security fast track but biz class can.
Jan 29, 2018, 11:46 pm
#1607
Moderator: Aegean Miles+Bonus
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: AMS / ATH
Programs: AFKL Plat, A3 Gold
Posts: 7,339
So if I understand you correctly both legs were upgraded, and therefore the higher tax charged?
There was talk about a rule requiring all legs to be upgraded at once, and not allowing only one connecting leg to be upgraded any more. It sounds like that rule was applied here.
Personally I don't think they will be willing to refund the taxes and coupon, I believe somewhere in the fineprint it says that they are non-refundable. You can try of course, but I would expect a negative answer. And for next time keep the tax in mind; departing from France or UK (and maybe a few more?) have a higher tax in business - if you don't want to upgrade the full roundtrip it is indeed cheaper to only upgrade the return flights.
There was talk about a rule requiring all legs to be upgraded at once, and not allowing only one connecting leg to be upgraded any more. It sounds like that rule was applied here.
Personally I don't think they will be willing to refund the taxes and coupon, I believe somewhere in the fineprint it says that they are non-refundable. You can try of course, but I would expect a negative answer. And for next time keep the tax in mind; departing from France or UK (and maybe a few more?) have a higher tax in business - if you don't want to upgrade the full roundtrip it is indeed cheaper to only upgrade the return flights.
Jan 30, 2018, 7:00 am
#1608
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: TLV/ATH/LON/EZE/NYC/UIP
Programs: BA*GGL, A3*G, AF*P, VS*S
Posts: 1,011
They wanted to charge me the same tax for both legs even if I only upgraded the first leg, which was the one I wanted. So I felt obliged to upgrade both or neither. I'm asking if anyone else had this experience of being charged the business level tax on the whole journey even if only one leg was upgraded.
Feb 11, 2018, 4:31 am
#1610
Moderator: Aegean Miles+Bonus
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: AMS / ATH
Programs: AFKL Plat, A3 Gold
Posts: 7,339
I flew on an upgraded flight (AMS-ATH) this week and something weird happened at the gate.
First I was called to the desk and handed a new boarding pass. Moved from 2C (business) to 3E (Economy). My first comment was directly interrupted with a rude "Thats how it is, the flight is full, we can't change it" reply. When I pushed and told them that I was booked in business she started typing and after 5 minutes handed me a new BP for my original seat 2C.
Up untill a few hours before boarding most of the business cabin was empty. However during boarding it seemed that one family was either booked or upgraded to business, and all of the (until then empty) business class seats filled up by them. Except..that one kid belonging to that same family was in Economy...in seat 3E. Coincidence? I don't think so..
So either somebody attempted to downgrade me to allow for a last minute paid business class reservation, they were some kind of VIPs (Which didn't seem to be the case, they looked like an average, snobby, family from the US), or, the computer didn't realize that I was in business and moved me to allow them to sit together.
In the end it was fine for me as I was still able to travel in business, but the experience was extremely strange.
First I was called to the desk and handed a new boarding pass. Moved from 2C (business) to 3E (Economy). My first comment was directly interrupted with a rude "Thats how it is, the flight is full, we can't change it" reply. When I pushed and told them that I was booked in business she started typing and after 5 minutes handed me a new BP for my original seat 2C.
Up untill a few hours before boarding most of the business cabin was empty. However during boarding it seemed that one family was either booked or upgraded to business, and all of the (until then empty) business class seats filled up by them. Except..that one kid belonging to that same family was in Economy...in seat 3E. Coincidence? I don't think so..
So either somebody attempted to downgrade me to allow for a last minute paid business class reservation, they were some kind of VIPs (Which didn't seem to be the case, they looked like an average, snobby, family from the US), or, the computer didn't realize that I was in business and moved me to allow them to sit together.
In the end it was fine for me as I was still able to travel in business, but the experience was extremely strange.
Feb 12, 2018, 3:44 am
#1611
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,899
I flew on an upgraded flight (AMS-ATH) this week and something weird happened at the gate.
First I was called to the desk and handed a new boarding pass. Moved from 2C (business) to 3E (Economy). My first comment was directly interrupted with a rude "Thats how it is, the flight is full, we can't change it" reply. When I pushed and told them that I was booked in business she started typing and after 5 minutes handed me a new BP for my original seat 2C.
Up untill a few hours before boarding most of the business cabin was empty. However during boarding it seemed that one family was either booked or upgraded to business, and all of the (until then empty) business class seats filled up by them. Except..that one kid belonging to that same family was in Economy...in seat 3E. Coincidence? I don't think so..
So either somebody attempted to downgrade me to allow for a last minute paid business class reservation, they were some kind of VIPs (Which didn't seem to be the case, they looked like an average, snobby, family from the US), or, the computer didn't realize that I was in business and moved me to allow them to sit together.
In the end it was fine for me as I was still able to travel in business, but the experience was extremely strange.
First I was called to the desk and handed a new boarding pass. Moved from 2C (business) to 3E (Economy). My first comment was directly interrupted with a rude "Thats how it is, the flight is full, we can't change it" reply. When I pushed and told them that I was booked in business she started typing and after 5 minutes handed me a new BP for my original seat 2C.
Up untill a few hours before boarding most of the business cabin was empty. However during boarding it seemed that one family was either booked or upgraded to business, and all of the (until then empty) business class seats filled up by them. Except..that one kid belonging to that same family was in Economy...in seat 3E. Coincidence? I don't think so..
So either somebody attempted to downgrade me to allow for a last minute paid business class reservation, they were some kind of VIPs (Which didn't seem to be the case, they looked like an average, snobby, family from the US), or, the computer didn't realize that I was in business and moved me to allow them to sit together.
In the end it was fine for me as I was still able to travel in business, but the experience was extremely strange.
They could be VIP maybe there was a note in their reservation from ATH to upgrade them. Still that should not be at the expense of downgrading a Gold revenue passenger even with GUC. From my experience average looking people can indeed be VIP , its the ones in suits and dressing up for flights which are the ones to watch out for trying to be VIPs .
Mar 9, 2018, 9:52 am
#1612
Join Date: Dec 2009
Programs: A3*G, ex SK*G
Posts: 62
- All flights on the ticket must be on A3 or OA metal.
I flew OSL-MUC-ATH last summer and upgraded the latter leg. The former leg was on Lufthansa, but A3 flight number, booked on Aegean's website.
Edited to add that I do see the wording on A3's website too, of course. Just trying to understand why I was able to upgrade last summer if this rule was there then and if I need to book future trips from non-A3 airports in two separate bookings.
Last edited by AspirationalFF; Mar 9, 2018 at 10:08 am
Mar 9, 2018, 1:18 pm
#1613
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 4,477
Is this still true? Or, alternatively, a recent rule? Or a YMMV scenario? Or am I just reading it wrong?
I flew OSL-MUC-ATH last summer and upgraded the latter leg. The former leg was on Lufthansa, but A3 flight number, booked on Aegean's website.
Edited to add that I do see the wording on A3's website too, of course. Just trying to understand why I was able to upgrade last summer if this rule was there then and if I need to book future trips from non-A3 airports in two separate bookings.
I flew OSL-MUC-ATH last summer and upgraded the latter leg. The former leg was on Lufthansa, but A3 flight number, booked on Aegean's website.
Edited to add that I do see the wording on A3's website too, of course. Just trying to understand why I was able to upgrade last summer if this rule was there then and if I need to book future trips from non-A3 airports in two separate bookings.
I can confirm it is only possible to upgrade A3/OA operated flight (and issued by A3) for a quite long timer as I remember. What you said does not make sense to me but strange things have happened before.
Mar 9, 2018, 11:26 pm
#1614
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: PAS, Paros Greece
Programs: A3 *G
Posts: 1,372
I flew OSL-MUC-ATH last summer and upgraded the latter leg. The former leg was on Lufthansa, but A3 flight number, booked on Aegean's website.
Seat upgradeAccess your Miles+Bonus account online, click on “My coupons” option from the navigation list and get benefit of 4 coupons for complimentary seat upgrade on Aegean and Olympic Air operating flights to enjoy an even more comfortable journey. Seat Upgrade can only be booked by you, via Aegean Reservations Department up to 2 hours prior to the respective flight departure, but can be used by any third party you choose. You are 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). Seat upgrade is not permitted when the ticket includes any other Airline.
There were a couple of reports here of people being refused an upgrade for this reason but I don't have time to find them. I think this came in around 6 or 7 months ago, which probably explains why you did it successfully last summer.
The most logical reason I can come up with for this is that A3 would otherwise have to give you the extra (2 x 32kg) baggage allowance on the second airline which they would probably have to pay for.
Mar 11, 2018, 8:58 am
#1615
Join Date: Dec 2009
Programs: A3*G, ex SK*G
Posts: 62
Look at your ticket again, did you upgrade OSL-MUC or MUC-ATH? OSL-MUC requires mileage fee based on star alliance upgrade chart, MUC-ATH on A3 will be OK with voucher.
I can confirm it is only possible to upgrade A3/OA operated flight (and issued by A3) for a quite long timer as I remember. What you said does not make sense to me but strange things have happened before.
I can confirm it is only possible to upgrade A3/OA operated flight (and issued by A3) for a quite long timer as I remember. What you said does not make sense to me but strange things have happened before.
That also makes sense.
Last edited by AspirationalFF; Mar 11, 2018 at 9:23 am
Mar 13, 2018, 1:14 pm
#1616
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 4,477
Had 4 sectors requested:
LHR-ATH
ATH-LHR
FCO-ATH
ATH-FRA
Flights are in late early June and middle of July.
So far, ATH-LHR and ATH-FRA both cleared at request. Waitlist on 2 others. Although there is no correlation, but it seems ATH originated flights both got cleared at booking while out station needs waitlist.
LHR-ATH
ATH-LHR
FCO-ATH
ATH-FRA
Flights are in late early June and middle of July.
So far, ATH-LHR and ATH-FRA both cleared at request. Waitlist on 2 others. Although there is no correlation, but it seems ATH originated flights both got cleared at booking while out station needs waitlist.
Mar 14, 2018, 3:21 am
#1617
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: NRT/HND
Programs: A3 *G, HH Gold
Posts: 74
For me when I had LHR-ATH, ATH-FRA and FRA-ATH requested before a montha go, I got FRA-ATH cleared at booking and LHR-ATH and ATH-FRA both waitlisted. All three eventually cleared though.
Mar 14, 2018, 1:03 pm
#1618
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: DFW
Programs: OWE AA EXP;*A TK Gold; Marriott LTT; Hyatt Globalist; IHG Plat; National VIP
Posts: 3,097
Way to Tell You Are Waitlisted?
Called to put myself and spouse on waitlist for a couple of flight and then myself on another. Is there any way to tell if it was actually waitlisted without calling Aegean to confirm with an agent? All my coupons are still in my account and maybe that's the way it should be.
Mar 15, 2018, 1:39 am
#1619
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: PAS, Paros Greece
Programs: A3 *G
Posts: 1,372
Called to put myself and spouse on waitlist for a couple of flight and then myself on another. Is there any way to tell if it was actually waitlisted without calling Aegean to confirm with an agent? All my coupons are still in my account and maybe that's the way it should be.
Mar 15, 2018, 12:00 pm
#1620
Join Date: Dec 2009
Programs: A3*G, ex SK*G
Posts: 62
The last time I (well, a friend) was waitlisted with one of my vouchers, the booking, when checked online, showed up in a weird way. It showed two reservations on the same flight, in the same PNR, one in the original booking class and one in I class.When the upgrade went through, the old reservation disappeared and just the I class one remained. Maybe that's something you could check.
--
For what it's worth, a data point: upgraded BRU-ATH-SKG-ATH-BRU the other day for end of year, no problem. I had confirmed award space via Aegean's website beforehand, a great tip from this thread (so thanks, random person).