Managed to use both my RU on NZ245 to Bali (after finding the "right" person at AirNZ to talk to) from Econ to business and oneupped on 246 on the return for 250pp. Got the One up confirmation 5 days out.

On both flights the business cabin was full, and economy pretty close as well.

Just got off NZ2 (773 dep. 12/SEP). My standby upgrade to PE cleared at booking last week. Empty seats in both PE and J, so it seems that the revered OneUp is working a charm! I would gladly have paid for a standby upgrade to J, in fact I even would have put in a OneUp bid to J were it possible.

I have forgotten how damn uncomfortable the PE seats are (and this was 23B, one of the best PE seats in the house). Never again for a long haul flight.

My advice to people considering OneUp bids to PE on the 773. Don't. A SkyCouch is far more comfortable - if the price is right (or you're able to get shunted into a spare one as a GE).

Also noticed that my two RUs have been re-credited to my account and expire in November when I get my next two?

Service on 246 was interesting as they didn't seem to serve by rows but asked us either first or second what we would like to eat. Perhaps the cabin was full of oneups with lower or no status so they were "looking after" their status pax?

Yeah, Gold Elite in business class get asked first before everyone else.

Does this happen in PE too?

I'm hearing this a few times, I've put in a bid for a trip to San Francisco but at the moment the plane is the 747 with the old PE seats, sat on these trans-Tasman and seem to recall they aren't that great either.

The 747 PE seats are considered to be best amongst those who don't like the new PE seats.

I wonder if they apply any intelligence to the value of a low bid. If the person bidding has no status then the incremental cost to Air NZ of the bid will include components such as premium check in, priority baggage, lounge access, etc. However for someone who already has status then they already have access to all these so there is no incremental cost.

works both ways as someone who has status then they already have those benefits, so NZ have less pax in the lounge/Pre checkin etc, then I suppose that it why they do the weighting %.

My comment would be, why accept any low bids at all if there is no chance? when you bid with the oneup the sliding scale gives the lowest bid, if as the call centre said to me, they are too low and will not get the urgrade, why get peoples hopes up, also seems crazy that other travellers have missed out and the plane takes off with empty premium seats, surely any extra $ is better than none :confused:

low bids
 

Yes even a crazy low bid is more than their marginal cost

Have had my RU bids (Y up to J) turned down three times since May (from LAX, from HKG and even from PVG - with seats available in J). Waited for the vouchers to be recredited and it took over a week and a phone call on each occasion.

They whisk them off you fast enough but getting them back is like asking the purser if you can borrow his pen ('well, ok but as long as you give it back').

How is that possible when there are empty seats? how far in advance did you put the request in? This should not be happening, you should write to Air NZ

Requested about ten days out on the last trip. Was worried this was going to be a wasted upgrade as I was worried a/c would change to the 767. Anyway, no confirmation until departure. Check-in said it is quite full and asked if I wanted aisle or window in J (got me all excited did that), then got booted to the back where there was plenty space indeed.

As usual, crew were great - very attentive indeed.

I really don't have much confidence in the China Eastern handling agent in PVG. They are kids that barely look up from the screens. Every check in took an age. I got there early and it took 15 minutes to for two desks to check-in two people.

Apologies for going off-topic here.

How on earth? I thought recogintion upgrades were still standby upgrades. If there was an empty seat left it should be yours.

Greetings all. After quite a long absence (from the board and from AirNZ) I have a very cheap PE flight booked HKG-LHR for me and my partner in late October, and am keen to upgrade to BP.

The other half is still NZ*G while these days I am a lowly *S. He still has a recognition upgrade available, so has requested that for himself. The idea was for him then to request a oneup for me, using his airbucks since presumably that means we benefit from the uplift - is that right? Also, will he have to call to request that, since there's already a recognition upgrade request on the booking?

Finally, any thoughts on suggested oneup bid? I was thinking in the order of the old upgrades, ie about 440 APD? The flight is currently showing:
C4 D4 Z4 J7 U7 E7 O7 A7 Y7 B7 M7 H7 Q7 V7 W7 T7 L7 S7 G7 X6 K7 P0
The seatmap in J is wide open at this stage - only 9 seats occupied - though it is still 5 weeks before travel.

Any thoughts gratefully received, thanks :)