Milkman

Feel free to elaborate that in another thread

KLBGO

I get an offer for cheap OLCI upgrades (EUR 60-100) about 1/2 of the times when booked in economy on intra-europe legs. This would have been very interesting to buy if one earned miles and soon XP as booked in business. When the points are not credited as such when upgrading what is the point in doing so on an E190 or similar...

KLBGO

I feel sorry for those who had to pay for these tickets. What a disgrace, AF reducing its own product to this.

Cheynewalk

It credited MQM at the regular 1 MQM per mile flown rate. (Had to call Delta as there was a hiccup crediting the AF operated flight) RDM was based on the original dollar spend, not counting the upgrade.

Cheynewalk

Yes, at least in my case. When I bought Delta-marketed, AF operated flight, at check-in the Delta page referred me to the AF OLCI where AF offered the upgrade.

NickB

Is it really that ridiculous? For a platinum, earning 8 miles per € and spending 143 miles per € is ultimately tantamount to getting a 5.6% discount. That would not be something which is widely out of step with what one would expect from a loyalty programme. Not brilliant and nothing to write home about for a Plat member but not ridiculous either. Not is a valuation of 0.7 cents per mile in itself widely out of step either,

There are two things, though, that moderate this picture and make FB less attractive:
1) this does not take into account taxes. Once you factor in taxes, the ratio is much worse.
2) the beauty of FFP perks is precisely that they are not cashback/discount schemes and that they can deliver benefits which are disproportionate to the nominal value and yet cost comparatively little to the airline. Awards in premium classes and last minute upgrades are typical of that: these are things that one might never have bought at the advertised price but would have been willing to treat oneself to occasionally with miles. If the programme merely becomes a cashback programme which is not fundamentally different from a supermarket cashback programme, it loses much of what makes it distinctly attractive.

If you compare with hotel frequent flyer schemes, this is one of the things that makes the Accor scheme so yawn-inspiring compared to other hotel schemes: other than elite perks, it is essentially a discount scheme: you get x% of your spend back (the x depending on your level in the programme). This is the direction the new AFKL programme is taking. In doing so, that makes it a more boring and less attractive programme. The only window that eschews this is the short/medium-haul intra-European awards. Let us hope that they survive the renewal unscathed.

ranskis

I completely agree with NickB, it is something airlines have forgotten: what makes airlines program so attractive to partners with is this part of irrationality, of dream. For the heavy players, the sweetspots are important to keep them playing. For casual players, the goal is to reach a dream reward they would not pay cash otherwise. If it becomes a cashback program, they will ultimately sell much less miles to AMEX and Co. The example of accor is spot on!

JorgeGomez

I have some recent experiences with upgrades in the check-in process which I wanted to share and discuss. Maybe it is only my perception or only my experiences or maybe there is something truth in it. I got with my recent flights with AF and KL diferent upgrade offers . Some where extremely good some where absolutely ridiculous high.

I usually have my outbound flight with KL and my inbound flight with AF. When I have a ticket on KL Stock (074..) and a flight with KLM I got usually very good offers. If the flight was with AF the offer where so bad, that there was no secend to think about it.

On the other hand when I had a ticket on AF Stock (057...) and a flight with AF the upgrade offers where often very good but the offers with an KL flight ridiculous high.

So maybe the ticket stock has influence to the uprade offer. Well as I told this is maybe only a perception of mine but Iam interested if anybody else has made the same experiences.

Fabo.sk

I got today my first (I think) offer for intra-Europe business on Air France.

I'm flying PRG-CDG and then on to AMS tomorrow with AF.

The offer for PRG-CDG is for 89 EUR with 6/8 seats available.
For comparison, KL asked yesterday for todays outbound for 69 EUR with 7/8 available.

I will try and see if I can find an offer for CDG-AMS.

edit: 139 for CDG-AMS. 5/20 available.

Goldorak

Fabo.sk

There's a lot more business fliers between CDG and AMS already so at least in that way it makes sense. I suppose a great part of them are longhaul connections, but still. Beats the one sole person on AMS-PRG and PRG-CDG manifold.

Still I would definitely not pay it for the short hop.

shotb83

I am searching for an award upgrade for a flight in three weeks from L fare to Business but Expertflyer shows no availability. The availability in the business cabin is still over 50%. Is there any chance award upgrades will become available or will they hold onto those seats for last minute bookings or OLCI? Thanks

Goldorak

CDG-BEY : EUR 199 or 33K miles from Y to W. Not too bad in cash but seems a bit high in miles.

flyingjapans

Indeed. No offer for J?

By the way, question to everyone who have already taken advantage of a 'promotional' upgrade offer from Y to J on long haul: did you ever get such promotional offers again on a later booking? If so, how much time/flights after the one you enjoyed the promotional upgrade fare on?
The current vague AF policy states that after buying such an offer, you won't be able to take advantage again for a certain period of time, without giving much additional details. So I'm wondering how long this interval generally is. One AF check in staff at HND even told me you could only enjoy that kind of offer once, but I doubt it's true.

canadavid

CDG-CAI on April 3rd (operated by Joon) from S to D --> 15000 miles in the "manage my booking" from airfrance.fr
I wonder if I should take it knowing that I would prefer the return flight which is a night flight but there is no availibility...