politico_pk

Hello FTers and happy new year!

Wondering if anybody has had experience with the soon to be past SE benefit of being able to upgrade an Aeroplan reward ticket at check-in/24 hour window. I have an upcoming flight before the benefit ends in February and will try to take advantage of it!

Specifically, wondering if at T-24 I should go to the e-upgrade services page and attempt the upgrades before checking in, or if it makes more sense to request the upgrade through online checkin.

I recognize it's a long shot, given there are two of us traveling...but worth a try!

Plumber

I have tried twice and been successful on both. once in the summer YYC -YOWa and the other for 4 people FLL-YOW over the recent holidays.

It seems to me that both times it was handled at the gate. Though I used to Concierges to ensure I was on the list when eligible.

Good luck!

hydrogen

Pretty abysmal: 4/13 success rate. Mind you, most of the travel was during the Christmas season, and all the J seats were either sold out or taken by eUpgraders who placed their request early due to the promotion.

You should be able to place the request at T-24 at OLCI if the SE who made the booking is travelling. Not sure how having a travel companion affects whether or not you can place it via OLCI.

You can't use the regular eUp page. In fact, you can try it right now, and it says you have to do it at check-in.

Things get a little more messy if the SE is not on the AE booking. In that case, the booking can still be upgraded at T-24, just not via OLCI. You will need an agent to do it manually. Using the SE line, YMMV: they may tell you that you have to physically go to the airport and do it, or they may put it through for you (technically the SE has to authorize the credits by being physically present).

The key rule at the end of the day (should save some headaches): whenever in doubt, just get the concierge to do it. Has always worked like a charm. No need to even go to the airport. And if R space is open at T-24, the BP doesn't have a ML*1.

yyz_atc_qq

I found that if the OLCI was the day prior, eUpg wasn't an option. It was only an option on day of travel.

I had the concierge add me to the list manually once checked in the few times I ran into that issue (and only when travel was early(ish) in the morning where I couldn't be bothered to get up at midnight to re-check in, and out of 7 times in 2013, all 7 cleared. 2 of the trips were on the 777HD which saved me from EXTREME discomfort, and 3 of the times it was myself & MrsQQ (SE).

politico_pk

This is fantastic feedback. Thank you, all!

YOWler

I've had good success with this benefit (6 out of 6 flights). In fact it's the reason I've used almost all of my eUp credits for the first year.
Like others have said, you need to call the concierge to be put on the list - the eUpgrade site doesn't work for these.
Perhaps the lack of an elegant IT solution (and demands on the concierges) led to the downfall of this for 2014?

mountaingrl

If after OLCI there is R space available the conceirge can do the upgrade - (s)he just needs to know to process it via the "reservation side" and not attempt to do it via the regular way they would do the eupgrade (as it will fail and the best they will offer you is to be put on the list).

j_the_p

The one and only time I attempted this was last month. 3 of us on an award ticket from YYZ to YEG. Called the concierge at the 24hr mark, made sure both my wife and little one were on my nominee list, and the concierge put us on the waitlist. All of us cleared at the gate.

YOWler

Does anyone know if the benefit extends to nominees that are not travelling with the SE?

yvr76

Yes, but apparently you need to check in with them. Or possibly you could call the concierge on the day of departure to ask them to be added.

yvr76

E75K/S100K can still do this on Tango fares to sun destinations in the carribean, subject to the same conditions (day of departure requests).

YYBGrinder

I went 4/4 this year, mine were done by calling into the SE line.

MaydayMayday

sorry if dumb question but can this benefit be used for reward tickets for nonSEs?

I want to book economy for my parents and then upgrade them using this SE benefit. would it work?

hydrogen

Technically the SE needs to be there to authorize the use of credits. Realistically, the traveller can do it provided that s/he knows the SE number (AE number from which the credits are coming from).

canadiancow

I did this once. I did it in the YYZ domestic MLL. The agent there put me on the list. YYZ-YUL did not clear, YUL-MCO did.

The person in front of me in line in the MLL was complaining that he hadn't been recognized as S100K yet, because he was trying to do the same thing