I've got an upcoming flight from YUL-YYZ and I've been given the option to upgrade with the range being between $100-$300 CAD (lowest-highest) which i'm not going to bother with for such a short trip.

The interesting thing is that the flight was booked by my corporate TA based in Norway and the price to select a regular (and preferred) seat ahead of time is in NOK, whereas the upgrade quote is in CAD?!?

For such a short flight i'm fine paying $23 CAD (converted from NOK) for a 'preferred' seat as opposed to bidding $100 CAD for a chance to sit one row further forward

This may be a recent AC promo announced that had bids for certain routes reduced by 20%

Interestingly on the outbound, I see O0, E0, N0 for the outbound (this is Rogue so Premium Economy O/E/N is the highest available buy-up) via ExpertFlyer. Meanwhile searching for the return it's showing J9, C9, D9, Z2, P0, R0 FWIW. I'm somewhat tempted in calling an agent but the last time I called them to inquire all they would tell me is that the eligible routes and flights are up to the discretion of management. And no, these aren't Economy Basic fares, since they are only available on Canada Domestic flights per Air Canada. I was thinking that maybe AC wouldn't accept bids this early for a December flight but saw upthread that someone got such an offer (albeit for Domestic).

Any ideas?

Safe Travels,

James

Not to stray too far off topic, but AC is now posting Economy Basic fares for international flights as well. I was looking at some surprisingly cheap LHR fares ex-YVR the other day, only to discover they were economy basic.

Ok... double checked itinerary and both outbound and return are called "Economy - Standard" and booked into, which also lists a free checked bag. Correct me if I'm wrong here, but I suspect this entitles me to bid-upgrade (ticket was booked direct with AC)?. Also somewhat surprised how bloody expensive flights to Europe are - paid nearly $800 CAD for this (including 15% fare discount thanks to AMEX) booked several months in advance. Meanwhile I could fly from YOW to HKG for around $800 CAD on UA booking the ticket about 4 weeks out.

Safe Travels,

James

With branded fares now in play, a domestic/transborder K fare class can map to both Flex and/or Standard (fka Tango) fare bases, depending on route.

this is true, and given I've been in Scandinavia for the past 3 months the idea of spending $100 on a sandwich isn't too far fetched...LOL!!!

Travelling on an Aeroplan reward ticket (booking class X) - Upgrade offered at check-in from EWR - YYZ is $164.

Travelling to ICN and at T- 16 days, I have been offered an upgrade from Premium Economy lowest (Booking Class E )as follows:

YYZ - YVR: $220 - $700, initial prompt from AC is $350;
YVR - ICN: $700 - $1,780, initial prompt from AC is $850.

* If I were to bid the lowest offer, that would be an additional $920 and the cost of my PE ticket was approximately $1,200, one way, for a total of $2,120. At the time that I made my reservations, business class was offered at approximately $2,300, so I would recommend to those wanting to travel in business class to Asia to purchase it outright, based on PE lowest fares. Note, that I don't have the costing to business class for those travelling in Standard/Flex fares.

Returning from HKG - YYZ and at T - 30 days, the offer from Premium Economy Lowest (Booking Class E) as follows:
HKG - YYZ: $845 - $1,500, initial prompt from AC is $1,150.

* Similar scenario as above, my PE ticket was approximately $1,400 one way and taking into account the lowest bid of $845, the total cost would be $2,245. At the time that I reserved my reservations, business class was offered at approximately $2,500. As many others have indicated, why play the lotto game for $250. It would be interesting to see the data points for upgrade to J class from the Standard/Flex fares.

^ Thanks qrctraveller68 for the info, it's good to have the comparison for final cost after upgrade vs outright purchase at time of reservation.

Recently on AC888 YOW-LHR, bid upgrade range was $900-2 000 taxes in; didn't bid, and at OLCI, AC offered $1 250 plus tax. On AC889 LHR-YOW, range was $900-2 000; I bid $905 (just to be ever slightly above minimum) and was accepted. Original fare was $1 050 return (L) booked T-7 days, so assuming bids of $905 would have been accepted both ways, total would have been $2 860. I don't know what the business fare would have been at reservation time, but a similar itinerary now at T-7 days is $9 250.

Hi everyone! Long time lurker posting for the first time here. I was just looking at the AC bid upgrade page recently and noticed that there seems to be a new section for 'instant upgrades'. Not sure if this has been discussed before but I can't seem to find any posts that relate to this new 'feature'. I'm guessing these new instant upgrades will end up coming out of the ever so elusive R space. Then again, if they charge anything like the 21 million they were asking for in the recent LMU discussion there may not be many takers. :D

Thanks for your advice as well governorgeneral, as I know a few of us from YOW, do travel this route frequently.