EU-US

I have a flight AMS-BOM via AUH Jan 17 - Feb 2 booked in Economy but I want to upgrade to biz and I want to have the odds in my favor. Any advice on how much I should bid on each segment?

While I'm hoping to score upgrades by bidding, my current booking is in economy, but that's all the booking says, it doesn't say what fare class. I'd like to know in order to decide where to credit the miles. Is there an easy way to fund out what booking class I am currently booked in?

EU-US

One more thing: if I am in biz, am I allowed take someone else who is on the same flight, in the lounge with me? And, if I only get upgraded on the first segment, can I use the lounge in AUH during my connection as an arrivals lounge, or they only allow departure?

Dogmatick

Check out the load in J through various means and then bid three or four notches up from your base offering, most take the lowest or one or two up. If very busy then go higher

Dogmatick

I believe, though am happily corrected, no and no but all can be paid for on site

EU-US

Thank you! Expertflyer shows more than half of the biz seats as still available on my first flight.

What do you mean by "notches"?

jaejaez

I believe he's referring to the speed-o-meter thing that shows the strength of your offer on the bidding page. two notches up from the bottom, you'd be in the 'yellow-zone'.

What happens next though after you put in your bid? Do you just wait and hope for the best? or is there a specific timeframe when Etihad is meant to get back to you on whether or not your bid was successful?

Thanks

EU-US

Could be - that's kind of "fuzzy" though, it doesn't have specific levels/notches just colors fading from red to green...

I believe they notify you 4-72 hours before your flight if your bid was successful.

Dogmatick

sorry not i meant if you slide the slider it goes in jumps of cash value no ? just go up a couple as most will go at the lowest or one up from that and yes normally around 24 to 48 hours before the flight

jaejaez

Ive put in a bid for one of my flights for a AUH-JFK on Jan 14th (next week). I've put the slider at the lesser end of the yellow (the highest i've ever bid!) given how full the biz cabin looks to be. I used miles. It's been about 1 week since I put in the bid and I haven't heard anything. I'll report back if and when I hear back from Etihad..

EU-US

Oh, I see. It just goes up in 5 or 10 EUR increments for me - +/- 5 EUR each slider position for short segments (3 hours) and +/- 10 EUR for longer ones (6 hours).

So taking the 6hr segments as an example, you are saying to bid only slightly above the minimum? On my long segment (6.5 hr AMS-AUH) the lowest bid is EUR 390. The "bid strength indicator" goes to orange at 610, yellow at 860, light green at 1150, dark green at 1430 and maxes out at EUR 1645. Are you saying that if there are a good number of empty biz seats, a bid in the EUR 400-500 range could be adequate?

Of course Etihad lets you bid against yourself (using their max bid amounts on every segment makes the total more expensive than an outright biz ticket purchase). And of course the bid strength indicator's only function is to induce FOMO, giving you a subtle suggestion to bid higher to "improve your chances". Their entire upgrade bid process seems to be heavily based in gambling industry wisdom, e.g. if your bid gets turned down, you can't place another bid so you feel that you only have one chance and want to bid higher.

Dogmatick

Is about FOMO, don't overbid especially not for a shorthaul 320 not worth it. Remember you can upgrade at the airport and onboard as well and is often quite cheap !

EU-US

Thank you! I didn’t realize their last minute upgrades were cheap. Any idea how much that “cheap” may be for 3.5 and 6.5 hour flights?

jaejaez

So I just got my bid confirmed this morning, around 20 hrs before the departure time.
ended up burning 150000 miles to bid for biz class upgrade from economy. under normal circumstances this would be a terrible deal but I really needed the biz class seat so went ahead anyway.

Dogmatick

FRA-AUH was the last I did and was €510 I think and from LHR was £550 though it never got charged to my card and I didn't know this until landed and most of the way through the terminal when my phone popped up the fraud check

EU-US

Yeah, that's a good deal. I called them today and asked about how much for a straight upgrade and they told me EUR 3300 for the entire ticket. They said it was because Z was not available on the return, only W so they would have to upgrade the entire trip as W. No thanks. There are around 20 empty biz seats on each flight in J C and D, so I will just take my chances with a bid for each segment.