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 27, 2018, 9:44 pm
#1801
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: LAX, SNA, LGB
Posts: 452
Oct 27, 2018, 9:53 pm
#1802
Join Date: Sep 2008
Programs: A3 *G, AA exePlat, AS MVP 75k Gold, JL sapphire, UA silver
Posts: 4,035
Oct 30, 2018, 12:39 am
#1805
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: Paris
Programs: Miles&Bonus *G
Posts: 318
I have no idea what may be going on but let me make a guess. Somebody placed before you a voucher upgrade request for 3-4 pax (some family perhaps?)
I have a couple of times requested a voucher upgrade for my wife and me (both on the same booking) when there was only one I-fare seat available. I was informed that we would be thus waitlisted until a second award seat in C shows up, otherwise we would both fly on Y. When asked what happens if a solo passenger requests a voucher upgrade in the meantime, I was told that the remaining I seat would be withheld. If a second one would become available before upgrades clear, then it would be Mrs East and me that would be upgraded, if not only then the other passenger would get this seat. I was also told that when upgrades clear, priority is given to A3*Gs, then A3*Ss, then M&B Blue members, and finally non-members. Within each of these groups allocation is decided on a first-request-first-serve basis. Both times we received our upgrade confirmation at around T-50 or so.
So could this be the case here as well?
I have a couple of times requested a voucher upgrade for my wife and me (both on the same booking) when there was only one I-fare seat available. I was informed that we would be thus waitlisted until a second award seat in C shows up, otherwise we would both fly on Y. When asked what happens if a solo passenger requests a voucher upgrade in the meantime, I was told that the remaining I seat would be withheld. If a second one would become available before upgrades clear, then it would be Mrs East and me that would be upgraded, if not only then the other passenger would get this seat. I was also told that when upgrades clear, priority is given to A3*Gs, then A3*Ss, then M&B Blue members, and finally non-members. Within each of these groups allocation is decided on a first-request-first-serve basis. Both times we received our upgrade confirmation at around T-50 or so.
So could this be the case here as well?
An alternative theory: When there is I availability and also pending Upgrade Challenge offers, A3 will waitlist the coupon upgrades, until more I space becomes available (i.e. priority is given to paid upgrades). No idea if this is true, of course!
Oct 30, 2018, 8:31 am
#1806
Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: ARN
Programs: A3*G, SK*G
Posts: 336
I guess this is plausible, but I do not recall anyone reporting that they had this situation before they instituted the Upgrade Challenge. As far as I can remember, whenever there was I availability in the past, I would immediately get the upgrade.
An alternative theory: When there is I availability and also pending Upgrade Challenge offers, A3 will waitlist the coupon upgrades, until more I space becomes available (i.e. priority is given to paid upgrades). No idea if this is true, of course!
An alternative theory: When there is I availability and also pending Upgrade Challenge offers, A3 will waitlist the coupon upgrades, until more I space becomes available (i.e. priority is given to paid upgrades). No idea if this is true, of course!
Yet I would guess that even if there is no I availability when upgrade bids clear, they would still grant these updates if the general availability in Business (C,D,Z) is high: The airline receives at minimum 60 or 70 euro more per pax for these seats while their additional costs are way much lower, especially for bid coming from *Gs. Since A3 is profit-maximizing company it makes no sense to give C seats for free (or leave them empty) when there are people willing to pay at least the minimum amount that the company asks for these seats. Perhaps for formal purposes they switch them into "I" before giving them as upgrades, but the main point remains the same.
Oct 31, 2018, 3:00 pm
#1807
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: 1,527
3 "no availability" this month... and guess what : C was 90% empty.
I have paid for premium seat and guess what : they give the seats for free at check in.
It's me or A3 is not as good as it used to be?
I have paid for premium seat and guess what : they give the seats for free at check in.
It's me or A3 is not as good as it used to be?
Nov 1, 2018, 1:37 am
#1808
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: OTP/KRK
Programs: M&M FTL, Miles+Bonus Gold
Posts: 664
Nov 1, 2018, 4:12 am
#1809
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: 1,527
Nov 1, 2018, 6:51 am
#1810
Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: ARN
Programs: A3*G, SK*G
Posts: 336
NO: This is just my take on things but when travelling on premium cabin I really do not care how many people are there as long as the crew keeps up with their standard of service (the only exception is perhaps C on A380 which always feel less premium, but there we are talking about an 80+ pax cabin, not plus or minus 5...) . Actually I consider this as a good test of an airline's premium class service: it is important that even if the cabin is full, I do not realize this or even have to think about it, and that's one of the few remaining differences from coach in intra-European flights. A3 has been doing according to my experience a really good job when it comes to that, since service is usually flawless and the menu always filling and of very high standards.
YES: It seems indeed that they almost always feel C with passengers upgraded at the gate. When booked on C I reserve my seat, and when checking at T-3 or so the cabin has most of the times looked empty.
-Then it has been the case several times that while waiting for boarding half a dozen people were called to check with the gate agent, and seated in C.
-Or it has happened that while there are only about 6-7 pax on the fast lane at boarding, and only 1 or 2 them are seated in C --the rest presumably being *Gs-- but when Y boarding starts the rest all of the seats are filled.
Neither of the above is solid proof, but they are good indications that several pax are upgraded at the gate. (This hasn't happened to me on an A3 flight for about two years, although I fly about 30-40 times a year with them on Y, plus at least another 5-6 on paid C
Which makes me wonder what criteria are these complimentary upgrades based upon...)This is to be expected since airlines overbook, no-shows are often lower than expected, and this isn't the fault of those "extra" passengers that need to get to their destination as much as everyone on the plane. And I agree with @frenchft that this seems to happen much more often lately than it used to happened even a couple of years ago. But again, personally I don't mind as long as standards do not fall...
...Standards which apart from service though, includes also a relatively calmer and less stressful environment to work (so that flight time is not wasted) or relax in. In that sense choosing to upgrade a family with a small kid among all passengers isn't the wisest choice, especially since the rest of the pax in C (or their employers) have paid triple or quadruple the amount they could have paid just to get this calmer environment.
Last edited by East_and_West; Nov 1, 2018 at 7:05 am
Nov 9, 2018, 2:35 am
#1812
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Germany
Programs: *G, OWS
Posts: 214
Booked some flights for alter this month. When checking for upgrades it did show business availability for all legs except for one (not sure how to determine I class availability).
When I called the German hotline, they were only able to upgrade one leg but told me they would waitlist me for the other flights.
On the updated confirmation I received the upgrade to business was done but I cannot see any indication that I was waitlisted. On checkmytrip it’s the same – the upgrade is ok but no indication that I’m waitlisted for an upgrade.
How do I check that they did the waitlisting and at what time is the decision on clearing or denying the upgrade made?
When I called the German hotline, they were only able to upgrade one leg but told me they would waitlist me for the other flights.
On the updated confirmation I received the upgrade to business was done but I cannot see any indication that I was waitlisted. On checkmytrip it’s the same – the upgrade is ok but no indication that I’m waitlisted for an upgrade.
How do I check that they did the waitlisting and at what time is the decision on clearing or denying the upgrade made?
Nov 9, 2018, 5:11 am
#1814
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Germany
Programs: *G, OWS
Posts: 214
Checkmytrip shows one segment with both versions (upgraded and regular booking) as being confirmed so I'm hoping for the best
