AKpirate

First - I loved flying Finnair. Great customer service, good food, entertainment, connectivity, etc.(loved the 2 cameras showing nose and under the plane views). Being a 100K got me into their "premium class" seating which was comfortable for the 10 hour flight. Their website and app are not overly friendly or transparent when it comes to being waitlisted for the possibility of upgrades (I passed on paying $4,000 for business class). I finally got someone to talk to me and found out that even though I was #1 on the wait list for an upgrade, their PRACTICE is to NOT upgrade anyone until the entire plane was - not just full - but overbooked - THEN they would upgrade the first emerald/elite member on the list. I could pay $600 for the upgrade (biz class seats were available) or stay in back.

Is that upgrade practice to be expected of all One World "partners".....??

Mwenenzi

To me Yes. Upgrades are not a OW benefit (free or with cash or ff miles).
Is a big difference between upgrade policy's between USA and non USA airlines. With non USA airlines always expect in the cabin you buy. Most(all?) non USA airlines will not fill premium seats with upgraders just because they have not been sold. They will fly with unoccupied business/first class seats.

jsguyrus

It would be interesting to know what fare class the upgrade books into. If it is like BA and it actually books into J then $600 might be money well spent, depending on what fare class you are upgrading from.

cpworld

I've got a couple of Finnair trips coming up. but have not flown with them before. I have a question on FF#s -- I entered Alaska Mileage Plan number when I made the bookings, but did not see them when I went to Finnair.com. I added them by entering the confirmation number and now when I view the passenger details it lists my Finnair FF# first and then also my Alaska FF#. I deleted the Finnair # from the reservation but now they do not show up in "My Trips". If I add them back and it adds the Finnair # again, which will they credit the flight to?

dayone

How did you get a Premium Economy seat? Did you also receive the full Premium Economy service?

nancypants

Honestly I’m surprised you even managed to get onto a list for upgrades. I didn’t even realise that was a thing

eddiehuang97

Few airlines offer complementary upgrades/waitlists outside of the US. Free upgrade only happens if Y is full -- and I'm pretty sure even in that case you get Y service in a J seat.

eddiehuang97

I won't call the thing OP mentioned a "waitlist" -- it's just how airline chooses to bump people when Y is full -- they would bump people with higher status to J first(if there are open seats in J), then if J is eventually full they would bump people w/o status and on lowest fares off the plane.

eddiehuang97

AY didn't have Premium Economy before -- they had extra legroom seats on their old 359 & 330s for extra charge, and OWE can select those for free. They just introduced a new Premium Economy class with the new Air Lounge Biz seat refresher

Flying for Fun

Premium Economy on AY currently does not earn in Mileage Plan. It was the same when SQ added new PE fare classes. Until the agreement is upgraded, expect to earn zero.

James

AKLifetimeFlyer

.

This is my experience as well. I flew CX F LAX-HKG with only 2 of 6 seats occupied. However, I do know a friend of mine successfully "bribed" an EK gate agent 150 USD for a J upgrade from DXB-SEA.

VegasGambler

Yes, that's right, as others have said. You sit in the class of service that you pay for.

Not even US-based airlines give comp upgrades on international long hauls by the way, even to their own elites. As an AA EXP if I pay for economy on a TATL or TPAC flight, I either pay for an upgrade or I sit in economy (possibly I can get PE for free, but never business, absent a very lucky op-up)

To me, $600 is well worth it to get out of economy on a long haul, particularly eastbound (I've paid more to upgrade PE->J on a 10-hour eastbound, on a different airline -- from regular economy I would go much higher). Even westbound, I would not balk at the price, but others may hate economy less than I do, or love $600 more than I do, so it's up to you.

Flying for Fun

Why particularly eastbound? Prevailing winds are west to east so eastbound flights are flying with the wind, not into it.

When I flew JFK-HEL in February, the flight time was 6h, 45m. Flying Westbound JFK-SFO later that week, the flight time was 6h, 6m.

James

thibderoc

Eastbound JFK-HEL are red eye flights...So a better seat is more valuable in this direction than westbound

eponymous_coward

Most eastbound TATLs are timed to arrive mornings (perhaps early afternoon) local time (read: if you want sleep you probably want a lie flat). Westbound TATLs usually happen during daytime (depart and arrive during the day local time). I usually prefer making a long day of it westbound rather than trying to sleep more than a nap at a time my body thinks is the middle of the day. As such having a lie flat over a PE recliner or even empty seat next to me Y isn’t as important. YMMV.