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Trying to upgrade to business - award availability?

Trying to upgrade to business - award availability?

Old Feb 12, 2019, 5:19 am
  #1  
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Join Date: Jul 2017
Programs: Delta PM, CSR
Posts: 17
Question Trying to upgrade to business - award availability?

Hi all,

I have the necessary points in my Chase Ultimate Rewards account to upgrade from IAD to DUB on June 27 with Aer Lingus. However, I emailed Aer Lingus and basically they can't tell me if there's upgrade availability until I initiate the request (which means I need to hame the ~90k miles in my avios account...

Expert Flyer seems to be showing only one seat available for upgrade (I think, I've never used it before) but the business class seat map looks empty.

Any advice on how to proceed here? I don't want to end up with ~90k points marooned in my Avios account if I can't use them to upgrade.

Thanks very much for any help!
Rearviewmirror1 is offline  
Old Feb 12, 2019, 5:44 am
  #2  
 
Join Date: Nov 2017
Posts: 671
Originally Posted by Rearviewmirror1
Hi all,

I have the necessary points in my Chase Ultimate Rewards account to upgrade from IAD to DUB on June 27 with Aer Lingus. However, I emailed Aer Lingus and basically they can't tell me if there's upgrade availability until I initiate the request (which means I need to hame the ~90k miles in my avios account...

Expert Flyer seems to be showing only one seat available for upgrade (I think, I've never used it before) but the business class seat map looks empty.

Any advice on how to proceed here? I don't want to end up with ~90k points marooned in my Avios account if I can't use them to upgrade.

Thanks very much for any help!
Yes there is 1 seat available in business. There are rarely 2 seats available at the same time as EI only release 1 as standard. Should be straight forward to upgrade into that. But if looking for multiple seats it can't be guaranteed. Current empty seats in business doesn't definitively mean more will open up for reward space.
mccartje is offline  
Old Feb 12, 2019, 4:03 pm
  #3  
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Join Date: Jul 2017
Programs: Delta PM, CSR
Posts: 17
Gotcha. It is for me plus one other passenger - guessing it'd be a crapshoot? Not sure it's worth the risk of either getting split up or having ~90k marooned in my Avios account.
Rearviewmirror1 is offline  
Old Feb 12, 2019, 4:06 pm
  #4  
 
Join Date: Nov 2017
Posts: 671
If you have expert flier can't you set up an alert if 2 seats become available and then just transfer over and upgrade asap?
Chase transfers are instant to avios which is handy.
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Old Mar 2, 2019, 11:15 am
  #5  
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Join Date: Jul 2017
Programs: Delta PM, CSR
Posts: 17
So it looks like there is now 2 seats of availability... I called the Aer Lingus Aer Club number and they said I have to call Avios? I wanted to check the availability before transferring my Chase points over to Aer Lingus, but the Avios line is only open Monday to Friday...

Any ideas here? I want to be 100% I can use the points before transferring them over to Aer Lingus.
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Old Mar 2, 2019, 12:21 pm
  #6  
 
Join Date: Nov 2017
Posts: 671
Originally Posted by Rearviewmirror1
So it looks like there is now 2 seats of availability... I called the Aer Lingus Aer Club number and they said I have to call Avios? I wanted to check the availability before transferring my Chase points over to Aer Lingus, but the Avios line is only open Monday to Friday...

Any ideas here? I want to be 100% I can use the points before transferring them over to Aer Lingus.
There are currently 3 seat available. Assuming in the time it takes you to transfer avios and go through the booking procedure they aren't taken you should be fine. With Aer Linugs you HAVE to go through avios.com to book flights. Your login for avios.com is the same as your aerclub login. Transfer from chase points is instantaneous and then you should be able to book straight away. I've uploaded the screen shot so you can see the associated fees for 2x one way IAD-DUB 27th June.

Just realised you want to upgrade into these tickets....they typically say to email them at [email protected] to upgrade but I'm not sure how quick they are at this especially if 'out of hours'. I've not heard of calling avios to do it.

Last edited by mccartje; Mar 2, 2019 at 12:31 pm
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Old Mar 2, 2019, 12:23 pm
  #7  
 
Join Date: Nov 2017
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Old Mar 2, 2019, 3:00 pm
  #8  
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Join Date: Jul 2017
Programs: Delta PM, CSR
Posts: 17
The plot thickens. I just called Aer Lingus (again) and they said I can't use points to upgrade with them unless I have status, and would have to go through Avios?!
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Old Mar 2, 2019, 3:36 pm
  #9  
 
Join Date: Nov 2017
Posts: 671
Originally Posted by Rearviewmirror1
The plot thickens. I just called Aer Lingus (again) and they said I can't use points to upgrade with them unless I have status, and would have to go through Avios?!
Getting a bit silly now, status has nothing to do with using avios to upgrade bar the fact you need to be an aerclub member so I suppose you need green 'status'. One of the next big things aer lingus needs to address is the interaction and ease of use with the avios system, something akin to BAEC (which isn't without its issues as I found out just last week but still far better than EI - avios.com).

Obviously time is a factor here with the seat availability remaining so I wonder if calling aer lingus and being quite demanding about the fact they are offering a service and should have the ability to deliver within reason of your perfectly routine request. I wonder have you been unlucky with the knowledge/ability of the people you are on the phone to. Using avios and getting good value is difficult enough at the best of times, this kind of run around given to people legitimately trying to use them on available reward space really gets on my nerves.
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