I got a bid upgrade notice today for a trip I will take about 2 weeks from now.

The problem is that I have already eupgraded to the business class. No idea why AC sent to me the bid upgrade e-mail.

That's eUpgrades, not bids which is a different process and the topic of this thread.

d’oh sorry I am an idiot =\

ty for clarifying!

I bid 1,310.00 CAD for 2x seats upgraded from PE to Biz n FCO-YUL on 31-Dec.

I am torn on if I actually care, its a 9 hour flight, in the daytime, so Ill be awake the entire time. In PE, I get a window seat, and in Biz I will sit in the middle with the Mrs.

But, on the flip side, connecting on to SFO from YUL, so anything to make the entire 17 hours or whatever of travel more comfortable is a good idea.

Paying for upgrades is a highly personal choice of course, but I would not be spending this kind of money for a day flight which is not ULH, especially if I'm in PE. Depending on the loads (and that flight is looking light in J at the moment) you may get a better offer during OLCI or be able to upgrade at the airport for a set amount. Or save the money and treat yourself & your traveling companion to a nice spa day in SFO upon arrival.

Does bid-upgrade work with flights operated by another carrier booked through AC? I have a flight coming up with EVA Air, booked with AC.

You can ask at the check-in counter, but with some airlines, they simply charge you the fare difference between economy and business class.

No. AC will only offer you a bid upgrade on flights operated by AC. What BR might offer, I don't know; that would be a question for the BR forum.

Wonky bid system
 

Bid for upgrades in August for a December trip. For 6 different legs of my trip. Just got an email of one bid offer for a leg that the airline switched, being rejected 2 days ago, but, the other offers that used to say pending when I checked after getting that email have now completely disappeared. When calling air Canada they say it’s a third party and have no idea what’s going on. They said ‘just bid again’. Well you can’t. The window to do that is not allowed anymore. Any suggestions?

DP: Had bids for upgrade to J for $1200 and to PY for $410 from Flex V refused at exactly T-36 for AC 860 YVR-LHR while it was J5R0O1.

Playing Aerolotto now at J3O1

I got an email to bid on an upgrade for a flight 4 Dec that is J0 Y0. Guessing AC is hoping that someone from J will cancel and they can get some $ instead of having to give an op-up?

I doubt anyone at AC is thinking about it. I think the e-mail goes out regardless of the load on the flight. Loads aren't static, and collecting bids doesn't really cost AC anything. If I were in RM at AC, I'd rather have bids waiting in case someone changed or cancelled.

Of course, with bids being accepted or rejected well before the flight, a bid-up doesn't do anything to prevent op-ups due to last-minute no-shows. But we also don't know the true load of the flight. It's possible there are 2 unsold seats in J and Y is oversold by 20, and yes, a bid-up might help avoid an op-up.

But I think the key here is that it's likely automated and costs AC essentially nothing to get people to put in bids, just in case.

I routinely got bid upgrade invitations on flights I have already eupgraded or cancelled/changed, so most likely they are automated.

Booked AC87 to YUL in PY using points (43k x2 passengers). Got bid suggestions for $550, which I thought was a good deal for a 7-8hr flight. But my wife, who is travelling with me disagreed.

That was a week pre-departure. Then checking in to our flight today they had auto-upgrade for US$317 each ($425). We hit the bid, but IT glitches that are rare at AC didn’t process the transaction evidenced by seat selection still showing PY. Tried a few times to the same result. When checking in at the airport the same price was available and they were able to process. Yay! But I am now afraid to see how many times AC charged my card!

While we were checking in the lady passenger next to us was really upset because she clearly had the same experience as us. That is “hit the bid” and assumed it was locked in only to find out it wasn’t.

This is a new one (for me) and slightly frustrating. Had bid to move up to Rouge J on the return leg LAS-YUL later today AC1706. Was J3R3 up until yesterday then J1R1. Got notified at 36 hours that it did not clear (I put in a decent bid, not a lowball).

This morning I see they changed the 321 from the 12J config to the 16J config one which is now J7R7 and has 4 seats open on the seat map. I guess there is no way they may evaluate the bid again?

They were charging $1200 on the app to upgrade my flight yesterday (still old 12J config on app at that time) which is too expensive but I guess that is what I would be offered at the airport as well later today?

Edit: purchased upgrade at check-in for less than what I had bid so it all worked out in the end!