Same experience here - AC IT at its best!!

I'd agree that the e-mails go out exactly 10 days prior, as I got an invite for flights on the 22nd. Looks like some of the errors might be cleaned up, as there were no typos in mine, and links functioned properly.

The bid range was $350 to $800 for YYC-YYZ and $95 to $200 for YYZ-YOW, both on the 763. Hard pass on either offer, given there's likely minimal chance that many will bid at those prices, and from prior Xmas experience, there's at least a 30% chance of an op-up as a 50K. Otherwise, bulkhead pair for such short flights is fine with me.

I got a 'good' suggestion at US$249 for YYZ-YWG; on an AE reward booking...

I assume these book as LMUs and don't move your fare class, yeah?

Anyone won a bid on anything where there was a significant savings over a P-fare?

Okay Folks, I decided to take the plunge and explore this Upgrade Bid deal. And I have a single data point to share.

I booked a YVR-YYZ fare in Tango and, 10 days out, I was offered an upgrade bid option for the YVR-YYZ portion of the flight.

I had a look at recent LMU's for this route and compared these to the bid range in the email. The minimum allowed bid was $400 and I believe the max was around $950.

Curiosity got the better of me, and I decided to take one for the team and make a bid. I bid $405 - $5 more than the minimum and a bid that was ranked as "Poor" according to the "bid-o-meter". I made the bid a few hours shy of the -96 hour cutoff and I made it assuming it would be rejected. However approximately 72 hours prior to the flight I was advised that the bid was successful and I was upgraded to J.

So my total cost for this segment in J was approximately $710.

Well folks, in this beta period for upgrade bids there is at least one instance where the lousy bid gets the upgrade. #TookOneForTheTeam

Was this a wide body or a narrow body? If a wide body, pretty good value given that AC charges a $300 premium for J bookings on transcontinental pod flights.

Yup - it's a widebody -777, and I agree, it's a decent value.

Well, that's it folks. If you are on the direct flights, you should seriously consider buying Tango and then bid to upgrade. If enough frequent flyers do this AC will then find out just how much the new business model backfires.

It would be interesting to know the R and P space on flights which have bidding, at the various upgrade windows and when bidding starts.

Very interesting -- thanks for the update. For what it's worth, I got exactly the same range for YYZ-YVR 10 days out, and my fare was a low-Flex fare. This seems to suggest that the system will not take into account the original fare class when selecting the winners of the auction -- that is, auction will be "Bid vs. Bid" rather than "Total Amount Paid (Original Fare + Bid) vs. Total Amount Paid (Original Fare + Bid)". Interesting.

Or, maybe it doesn't. WHO KNOWS.

I wouldn't be surprised if fare class is just used as a " tie breaker"

All this is info is great and stuff, but it would be of great benefit to also post what the availability was like prior to and after one's said winning bid.

For starters, R inventory.

Great minds think alike?

Look 4 posts up!

In my case:

- Bidding opens T-10
- YYZ-YVR
- Original fare was Low-Flex
- Permitted bidding range was C$425 - C$1300
- At time bidding opens, R=0 and P=0

Great minds like mine ;) also skip posts on purpose (to avoid the emergency department when my eyes get stuck rolling to the back of my head), and occasionally miss the odd good post! :p