Does a successful bid mean one gets the flight only, or does it come with MLL access (as with buying an upgrade on online check-in)?

I would just bid more if I wanted it, no money, no candy... ;-)

For those who have bid successfully, does booking class change or is it similar to an LMU where booking class of original ticket prevails?

MLL access is included for J at least according to the bidding page:

Fully lie-flat bed
Adjustable headrest with head and neck massage
State-of-the-art entertainment system with a 45.72 cm (18") touch-screen, a video touch handset and noise-cancelling headphones
Ambient mood lighting to alleviate jetlag
Individual power supply
Premium wines, spirits and cuisine
A large pillow and plush duvet
A selection of newspapers
Priority services including Maple LeafTM Lounge access

From the FAQ:

What are the fare rules of the upgraded ticket?
If your upgrade request is accepted, the fare conditions for the original ticket you purchased
shall
remain in effect and will be applicable with respect to cancellation policies, change fees,
conditions for minimum and maximum stay, and rules relating to the accrual of frequent flyer
miles. All other conditions will be per the upgraded fare class.

Oooh lighting is included if you win your bid! What an exciting benefit!

My full itinerary is actually YYZ-FRA-DXB-FRA-YYZ. At the time I booked I think economy was around $1,000 - $1,100 and premium economy $1,400 - $1,500. I wasn't even considering business so I don't remember the price but I think it was under $3k.

Having flown long haul J for the first time this year, it's hard to take a step down! But PY should be better than Y.

This has always ticked me off. If I pay to upgrade, they should at least give you latitude AQMs at 125%

In my case:

AC148 YVR YYZ 22DEC (789)

Reward booking (Tango)
Inventory at T-96: J8 C8 D8 Z8 P8 R0
Bid: minimum ($405)
Status: accepted.

I was holding a seat selection in the Y+ cabin. I got the refund notification for the seat selection fee before I got the email notifying me of the successful upgrade.

First time out, and it has been most successful.

So your effective cost is $305?

Damn that's pretty #gold

Guess that makes eupg credits wOrth even less

I assume AC*SE is SE, so the PY seat would have been free.

So no, the effective cost is $405.

The question becomes, would it have been more cost effective to spend another 25k miles to just book the flight in J in the first place?

Personally, I think I'd rather spend $405 CAD.

But you also have to understand that this is the time of year for opups. They often have eUpgrade promotions running at this point.

I would not expect a $400 paid upgrade on YVR-YYZ on a 787 to be feasible once we hit mid-January.

Monday night's flight YHZ-LHR was showing all signs of having been oversold in economy at least 2 weeks in advance but was wide open in J. So I received a request to bid and of course ignored it, neither did I put in for an eUp. As I had predicted I, and I think about 3 others, got opUpped at the gate. I think there were about 2 empty J seats on that flight in the end.

Side note - when I went to do OLCI using the iOs app at T-24, under class of service it said "Waitlisted for upgrade" - I had only ever seen this before when on the waitlist for an eUp

Curious. Assuming no one manually did anything (which would be weird at T-24), the system does not work the way I thought it did.

Or they've automated opups, which I guess would have put you on the A/L list.

Just curious - what was the min. $ bid, your fare type and equipment operating?

Don't recall the min $ bid as I never reacted to the email other than to ignore it

Equipment was 767 (side comment - I had forgotten how cramped those pods feel having been pretty much exclusively on 777 and 787 this year)

Fare type was Flex (V)