J to F: Make us an offer.
 

Had this email from Etihad offering me the chance to "make them an offer" for an upgrade from J to F on my upcoming flights. It's on the outbound LHR-AUH and inbound AUH-LHR section.

Anyone had any experience with this?

Any ideas what the "minimum" bid would need to be?

Mmmm. Interesting. Not had it yet but I have a J class AUH to LHR coming up in a few weeks. How far in advance was the email from EY?

Thanks.

Flying on the 11th May. Back about 10 days later.

So... I've been through this, read the T&Cs, and this is what I've found:

You will only get the email if you booked your flight direct with Etihad.
The emails are sent 14 days prior to the flight.
You are notified if you're successful 48 hours before departure.
Winning bids do get access to the F lounge at AUH.
Winning bids do accrue bonus miles, but I think this is less than you would get if you booked a revenue F ticket.
Extra luggage is only valid for the F legs of your ticket, so if you're just transiting in AUH the extra allowance is as good as useless if you don't/can't upgrade your entire journey.
The "bid" amounts are set by Etihad, starting as £385 per sector, and increasing to £750 per sector. If you move the slider to £750 you stand " A good chance" of being successful. If you stick at £385 it is "Very unlikely your upgrade will be successful".

I was offered this for a Y-J upgrade on AUH-LHR. Didn't bother in the end...I'd rather take my chances at the airport.

I've made a bid for the inbound (never flown F on EY so I'm curious), but I'm happy with J outbound.

Is your existing ticket a cash or miles redemption fare? Thanks. Oh, and good luck with the bid!

It's a cash booking. I wouldn't have thought you'd get the offer on a redemption booking.

given they are just trying to have you hand over cash to move to an empty seat in f i don't see any reason why not

I checked the T&Cs and you will not receive the upgrade email if:

You have booked using a travel agent
You booked a promotional fare
You have a redemption booking
You have already upgraded your booking using miles
You are travelling with an infant.

well then that is bit more clear-cut :D

Had an email saying my offer has been accepted.

I fly on Tuesday. Should be interesting.

I have tried it once flying LHR-AUH-LHR on the A346 and I selected the lowest possible bid showing on the screen using the arrow which you control by the cursor.

Surprisingly, The bid was accepted and confirmation was sent to my e-mail after one hour of me doing the bidding process.

The sliders were between £390 and £750. I bid £420 and got it, so I was pretty surprised as well.

I mentioned that this was coming to Etihad on one another thread over here. The company behind this technology is Plusgrade. Probably will lead to a lower number of opups for Gold members.