Last edit by: lkrt
General
Upgrade space is capacity controlled, separately from revenue space in J cabin. The number of seats released to the different upgrade types are driven by a number of factors, but never by the "there are unsold seats in J cabin, let's fill them" policy some other airlines employ. Same applies with upgrades to Premium Economy.
Upgrades now book into fare bucket U, which is also used for business class awards. Note that availability tools such as Expertflyer etc. may or may not show correct U availability as AY tends to offer additional U availability to Plats and Lumos, and this hidden availability is not shown by non-AY affiliated availability tools. Premium Economy upgrade availability is in bucket F, with the above disclaimers applying similarly.
You can upgrade and review the available upgrade options at https://www.finnair.com/en/manage/upgrade.
The searches below very often show zero availability. Very few directly confirmable seats are released in particularly longhaul J. Instead upgrades must go on waitlist, from where a robot processes upgrades from an unknown set of parameters. A waitlisted upgrade can clear in minutes or never, and there is no way to know. Waitlisted upgrades are checked at T-59, 21, 10, 5 days, and at T-37 hours.
Final check most often actually takes place at approximately ~T-38 hours and you will be (most often) notified by email. In case you are denied an upgrade at this point and there is still revenue availability in J, you can contact CS which may be able to upgrade you on the spot or contact "another department" for confirmation. Furthermore, you may contact check-in desk at least in HEL, which may be able to process your upgrade.
You can check for the upgrades upon booking on the Finnair website. Each flight has a separate tab for "Upgrades", showing upgrade availability for PE and J if any exists, otherwise you will be waitlisted. Additionally, you may check your upgrade options for an already-booked flight here. EF gives you an idea of upgrade availability in the U bucket.
Upgrade-types
1. Upgrades with points
2. Upgrades with vouchers
3. Cash upgrades
5. Cash upgrades at airport
6. Complimentary upgrades
Upgrades with AY+ points
Requirements:
Perks:
Upgrades with vouchers
Vouchers are given to Finnair+ members upon advancing to and retaining the platinum and gold tiers. You can see number of vouchers, their type and expiry in your Finnair+ account.
Requirements:
Cost:
Process:
Perks:
Cash upgrades, offered on website / app
On the app as well as on the upgrade tool you can review if an upgrade is offered at a cash price. The prices vary, and reports can be seen here. The cash prices become available at 60 days prior to departure and may fluctuate in the timeframe prior to departure.
Requirements:
Cost:
Process:
Perks:
Upgrades paid in cash at the airport
(Note that according to recent reports, check-in agents are in some cases only able to process last-minute points and voucher upgrades.)
Requirements:
Cost:
Process:
Perks:
Complimentary operational upgrades
Upgrade space is capacity controlled, separately from revenue space in J cabin. The number of seats released to the different upgrade types are driven by a number of factors, but never by the "there are unsold seats in J cabin, let's fill them" policy some other airlines employ. Same applies with upgrades to Premium Economy.
Upgrades now book into fare bucket U, which is also used for business class awards. Note that availability tools such as Expertflyer etc. may or may not show correct U availability as AY tends to offer additional U availability to Plats and Lumos, and this hidden availability is not shown by non-AY affiliated availability tools. Premium Economy upgrade availability is in bucket F, with the above disclaimers applying similarly.
You can upgrade and review the available upgrade options at https://www.finnair.com/en/manage/upgrade.
The searches below very often show zero availability. Very few directly confirmable seats are released in particularly longhaul J. Instead upgrades must go on waitlist, from where a robot processes upgrades from an unknown set of parameters. A waitlisted upgrade can clear in minutes or never, and there is no way to know. Waitlisted upgrades are checked at T-59, 21, 10, 5 days, and at T-37 hours.
Final check most often actually takes place at approximately ~T-38 hours and you will be (most often) notified by email. In case you are denied an upgrade at this point and there is still revenue availability in J, you can contact CS which may be able to upgrade you on the spot or contact "another department" for confirmation. Furthermore, you may contact check-in desk at least in HEL, which may be able to process your upgrade.
You can check for the upgrades upon booking on the Finnair website. Each flight has a separate tab for "Upgrades", showing upgrade availability for PE and J if any exists, otherwise you will be waitlisted. Additionally, you may check your upgrade options for an already-booked flight here. EF gives you an idea of upgrade availability in the U bucket.
Upgrade-types
1. Upgrades with points
2. Upgrades with vouchers
3. Cash upgrades
5. Cash upgrades at airport
6. Complimentary upgrades
Upgrades with AY+ points
Requirements:
- flight marketed and operated by AY (operated by Norra is also eligible as well as op by Iberia or Widerře for Finnair as wetlease)
- ticketed booking in paid economy (there must be a ticket number in your reservation)
- all paid economy booking classes are eligible
- award flights and points+money combos are ineligible (booking class X)
- you cannot upgrade any codeshare flights
- It is not required to have a Finnair-issued ticket (although this has now been required according to some experiences)
- Northern Europe (ARN, BGO, CPH, GOT, KEF, KRK, OSL, WAW, WRO) 10,000 points one way
- Rest of Europe, TLV 15,000 points one way
- long haul (including DXB, DOH) 60,000 points one way
- Previously, shorthaul connections were upgraded at the same cost but this has been discontinued as of 15JUN23. If you wish to upgrade a shorthaul feeder flight, a separate points charge will apply.
- there have been some occasional promotions especially for short haul upgrades (winter and summer campaigns)
- When booking, you can check for direct upgrade availability on "Upgrades" tab or by looking on Expertflyer for U bucket
- once you have a ticketed booking, you can process your upgrade or waitlist yourself for upgrade online here
- you may also call AY to process your upgrade at a 1000-point surcharge (does not apply to PE->J upgrades not available online)
- If there is no availability, you can waitlist. A waitlisted upgrade may clear within hours of your request or up to 37 hours before STD. If it doesn't clear, after T-37 you may call AY, use the chat or go to the check-in desk at the airport and enquire about an upgrade.
- your status is one of the factors affecting your priority on the waitlist
- If there is no SH availability you can still upgrade the LH and waitlist the shorthaul. You'll pay the same points price even if SH does not clear though.
- NOTE: If you wish to reserve your seat in original class, select the desired seats before waitlisting. After waitlisting it is not possible to select seats via Manage My Booking, however one can do that via Chat or Call Center.
- if you waitlist, your points will be taken from your account immediately; if the upgrade does not clear, your points will be returned to you but you will lose any points that have expired during the waiting time
- your points need to be valid at time of processing the request but they do not need to be valid on the day of the flight
- When confirmed, you will receive a new e-ticket showing booking class U (or F for Premium Economy) but you will receive points/miles according to your original booking class (this may require a retroclaim if earning on other programmes than AY+)
- Once you have a new ticket, your upgrade is confirmed. However, if J is overbooked on your flight, you will be among the first pax that AY will bump back into Y. J rarely gets overbooked, though.
- as an unpublished perk, you may choose to change your upgrade from a points one to a voucher one by calling AY; your points will be returned to you save for any points that may have expired
- If you change your mind about the upgrade you may conctact CS and ask to cancel the upgrade and have points returned. There likely must be seats left in Y cabin (or potentially, original booking class) to allow this, and your points expiry date must not have passed.
Perks:
- Most of the J perks like priority check-in, priority security where available, lounge access, priority boarding. However the luggage allowance is one additional piece at 23kg (on top of your existing economy allowance).
- you will receive points/miles according to your original economy class booking class (this may require a retroclaim if earning on other programmes than AY+)
Upgrades with vouchers
Vouchers are given to Finnair+ members upon advancing to and retaining the platinum and gold tiers. You can see number of vouchers, their type and expiry in your Finnair+ account.
Requirements:
- flight marketed and operated by AY (operated by Norra is also eligible as well as op by Iberia or Widerře for Finnair as wetlease)
- ticketed booking in economy (there must be a ticket number in your reservation)
- all paid economy booking classes are eligible
- award flights booked via AY+ are also eligible (booking class X)
- most likely, points+money combos are eligible, too, since they book into X, but we have no verification of this
- award flights booked via parners (eg. Avios, AAdvantage etc) are not eligible
- you cannot upgrade any codeshare flights
- It is not required to have a Finnair-issued ticket (although this has now been required according to some experiences)
Cost:
- Northern Europe one "European" voucher for a one-way flight
- Rest of Europe, TLV one "European" voucher for a one-way flight
- longhaul (including DXB, DOH) one "Longhaul" voucher for a one-way flight
- LH voucher does not include upgrade for connecting shorthaul (like it does with points upgrades), SH flight requires a separate voucher/points upgrade
- you may exchange four European vouchers for one "Longhaul" voucher or vice versa by calling AY
Process:
- When booking, you can check for direct upgrade availability on "Upgrades" tab or by looking on Expertflyer for U bucket
- once you have a ticketed booking, you can process your upgrade or waitlist yourself for upgrade online here
- you may also call AY to process your upgrade at a 1000-point surcharge (does not apply to PE->J upgrades not available online)
- If there is no availability, you can waitlist. A waitlisted upgrade may clear within hours of your request or up to 37 hours before STD. If it doesn't clear, after T-37 you may call AY, use the chat or go to the check-in desk at the airport and enquire about an upgrade.
- your status is one of the factors affecting your priority on the waitlist
- If there is no SH availability you can still upgrade the LH and waitlist the shorthaul. You'll pay the same points price even if SH does not clear though.
- NOTE: If you wish to reserve your seat in original class, select the desired seats before waitlisting. After waitlisting it is not possible to select seats via Manage My Booking, however one can do that via Chat or Call Center.
- if you waitlist, your voucher will be taken from your account immediately; if the upgrade does not clear, your voucher will be returned to you but you will lose any vouchers that have expired during the waiting time
- you will receive a new e-ticket showing booking class U but you will receive points/miles according to your original booking class (this may require a retroclaim if earning on other programmes than AY+)
- Once you have a new ticket, your upgrade is confirmed. However, if J is overbooked on your flight, you will be among the first pax that AY will bump back into Y. J rarely gets overbooked, though.
- If you change your mind about the upgrade you can contact CS and ask to cancel the upgrade and have voucher returned. There likely must be seats left in Y cabin (or original booking class) to allow this, and your voucher expiry date must not have passed.
Perks:
- all usual J perks like priority check-in, one additional piece of baggage (23kg), priority security where available, lounge access, priority boarding
- you will receive points/miles according to your original economy class booking class (this may require a retroclaim if earning on other programmes than AY+)
Cash upgrades, offered on website / app
On the app as well as on the upgrade tool you can review if an upgrade is offered at a cash price. The prices vary, and reports can be seen here. The cash prices become available at 60 days prior to departure and may fluctuate in the timeframe prior to departure.
Requirements:
- flight marketed and operated by AY (or operated by Norra or Iberia or Widerře for Finnair (wetlease))
- ticketed booking in paid economy (there must be a ticket number in your reservation)
- all paid economy booking classes are eligible
- you cannot upgrade any codeshare flights
- you do not need to be a AY+ member
Cost:
- varies case by case
- for Europe, prices range from €50 to €200 one way
- for long hauls, DEL is the cheapest with prices as low as €200 one way, other destinations tend to be €350–€500
- this thread includes a wiki about prices and a lot of further information
- if you already paid for seat selection in Y (comfort) cabin, Finnair will refund that cost after upgrade if you ask them to.
Process:
- Check the app or the upgrade tool for cash prices (earliest 60 days prior to departure)
- you will receive a new e-ticket showing booking class U but you will receive points/miles according to your original booking class (this may require a retroclaim if earning on other programmes than AY+)
- Once you have a new ticket, your upgrade is confirmed. However, if J is overbooked on your flight, you will be among the first pax that AY will bump back into Y. J rarely gets overbooked, though.
Perks:
- Most of the J perks like priority check-in, priority security where available, lounge access, priority boarding. However the luggage allowance is one additional piece at 23kg (on top of your existing economy allowance).
- you will receive points/miles according to your original economy class booking class (this may require a retroclaim if earning on other programmes than AY+)
Upgrades paid in cash at the airport
(Note that according to recent reports, check-in agents are in some cases only able to process last-minute points and voucher upgrades.)
Requirements:
- upgrades may be available for purchase at check-in
- flight operated by AY or Norra
- ticketed booking in economy
- all paid economy booking classes are eligible
- most likely AY+ & partner award flights in economy are eligible, too, though this is unconfirmed
- the marketing carrier does not matter, so this is the only upgrade where codeshares are eligible
Cost:
- varies, expect to pay some hundreds of euros for long haul one way
Process:
- the upgrade will be processed and paid for at the check-in desk of the airport of departure
- most likely the above means the airport of departure of that particular flight, so to upgrade HEL-BKK on a CPH-HEL-BKK itinerary, you would need to contact (transfer) check-in at HEL
- you will receive points/miles according to your original booking class (this may require a retroclaim if earning on other programmes than AY+)
- Once you have a new ticket, your upgrade is confirmed. The odds of being bumped back into Y are close to 0 as AY will not offer these upgrades if J is overbooked
Perks:
- Only in-flight perks apply
- Lounge access, priority security, additional checked in baggage is not extended to airport upgraders
- you will receive points/miles according to your original economy class booking class (this may require a retroclaim if earning on other programmes than AY+)
Complimentary operational upgrades
- usually just a new boarding pass & seat either at the gate, at check-in or even after you have boarded
- few and far between
- the decision whom to upgrade on a particular flight seems a bit random but is at least partially dependent on the price of your ticket, booking class and status
- AY highest tier members (Lumos, Plats, Golds) are prioritised with the travelling party size affecting upgrade priority (i.e. if only one seat is available in J, the party will not be split)
- you will receive points/miles according to your original economy class booking class (this may require a retroclaim if earning on other programmes than AY+)
The Big UPGRADE Thread – all you need to know about AY upgrades
#1501
Ambassador: Finnair
Join Date: May 2003
Location: HEL
Programs: AY Lumo, BA Silver, HHonors Gold
Posts: 4,267
I understand the last paragraph so that if there’s someone who is willing to pay cash for an upgrade, she/he will get the upgrade in front of someone upgrading with point on voucher no matter what status... I spotted this today for the first time. Not sure if someone has already mentioned this here but posting anyway.
#1502
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: HEL
Programs: AY+ Plat and several other cards
Posts: 645
I just noticed that all my upcoming flights in June have instant upgrade availability in App. None of them had availability before. The one that I had already waitlisted had not cleared, but the flight had +5 availability in website tool. I contacted AY chat and these upgrades were cleared in minutes and upgrade availability in website tool went down to 3.
Seems like a good chance to confirm waitlisted upgrades. It remains to be seen if these flights ever take off or not.
Seems like a good chance to confirm waitlisted upgrades. It remains to be seen if these flights ever take off or not.
#1503
Moderator, Finnair
Join Date: May 2011
Location: MMX (CPH)
Programs: Eurobonus Diamond, QR Gold, AY+ Platinum, A3*G, Nordic Choice Lifetime Platinum, SJ Prio Black
Posts: 14,166
That sound like waitlist clearing is batched controlled. Ie a script running at intervals checking if U is available for waitlisted customers.Meaning no connection between U being released and waitlist being cleared.
(Which, IIRC, is consistent with what they said, like waitlist is checked at T-30, T-21, T-xxx and so on)
(Which, IIRC, is consistent with what they said, like waitlist is checked at T-30, T-21, T-xxx and so on)
#1504
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: HEL
Programs: AY Platinum, TK Elite, BT VIP, AA, BA, SK, DL, NT, WB + hotels
Posts: 8,735
That sound like waitlist clearing is batched controlled. Ie a script running at intervals checking if U is available for waitlisted customers.Meaning no connection between U being released and waitlist being cleared.
(Which, IIRC, is consistent with what they said, like waitlist is checked at T-30, T-21, T-xxx and so on)
(Which, IIRC, is consistent with what they said, like waitlist is checked at T-30, T-21, T-xxx and so on)
By the way, my JFK flights in May do not have U space available so they’re still not opening up U on all flights.
#1505
Join Date: Apr 2019
Programs: AY Platinum/OWE
Posts: 195
Okay so obviously the system could’ve been programmed to always trigger a waitlist-check when U inventory is released (technically, before U inventory is released publicly). This renders the waitlist rather moot as the window between checks can be rather large and U inventory can be dynamic close to the departure.
AY sure likes setting up systems with some kind of perceived rules and then breaking those rules themselves.
AY sure likes setting up systems with some kind of perceived rules and then breaking those rules themselves.
#1506
Join Date: May 2013
Location: HEL
Programs: AY Plat (OWE), SK EBG (*A Gold), KQ Plat (STE+), Accor Plat
Posts: 3,156
I’m not sure this is the case exactly either, because I’ve been cleared at other times, not only at these T-37h etc milestones.
Could it be that this time it’s not the robot releasing U inventory but it is manually released instead and therefore it wouldn’t trigger the clear waitlist function?
Could it be that this time it’s not the robot releasing U inventory but it is manually released instead and therefore it wouldn’t trigger the clear waitlist function?
#1507
Join Date: Dec 2019
Programs: AY+
Posts: 212
Yep! My point was that this is probably the reason why you (Usually) always have to waitlist for an upgrade and hope it to clear as AY is hoping that someone would pay cash for an upgrade and they can give it to him/her instead of someone using a voucher or points. It’s this ancillary revenue thing
#1508
Moderator, Finnair
Join Date: May 2011
Location: MMX (CPH)
Programs: Eurobonus Diamond, QR Gold, AY+ Platinum, A3*G, Nordic Choice Lifetime Platinum, SJ Prio Black
Posts: 14,166
I’m not sure this is the case exactly either, because I’ve been cleared at other times, not only at these T-37h etc milestones.
Could it be that this time it’s not the robot releasing U inventory but it is manually released instead and therefore it wouldn’t trigger the clear waitlist function?
Could it be that this time it’s not the robot releasing U inventory but it is manually released instead and therefore it wouldn’t trigger the clear waitlist function?
#1509
Join Date: May 2019
Location: TMP - Finland
Programs: AY platinum, SIXT platinum, IHG platinum
Posts: 47
I have LHR trip coming up and it's been waitlisted for upgrade now for ca. 2 months already, and past T-60 both outbound and inbound. App is still showing "waitlisted" even though I noticed today that the inbound seems to have wide open availability acc. to AY.com tool. So it seems this may have been somehow tampered manually or for some other reason the waitlist won't clear automatically when upgrade space is released. Upgrade request made with vouchers from my platsku account.
#1510
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Finland
Programs: AY Platinum,Marriott Gold,HH Diamond,Sixt Platinum,Hertz PC,AMEX Platinum
Posts: 1,946
I had similar situation where the availability suddenly opened but my waitlist status didn't change. Once I called and asked if my upgrade was going to go through, they told me that it was already cleared in the previous night but has got stuck on new ticket issuance (apparently due to the domestic leg) so sounded like my upgrade cleared and only then the availability opened for others. I got the new ticket, the availability didn't change at all so sounded like it was indeed the case.
#1511
Join Date: May 2019
Location: TMP - Finland
Programs: AY platinum, SIXT platinum, IHG platinum
Posts: 47
Actually I was told exactly the same thing by the chat agent soon after your message, to my surprise also the outbound leg had cleared even though the tool showed zero availability on AY.com. Now just need to select proper seats on A359 for me and Mrs. as there seems to be plenty to choose from. Inbound J only 6 other seats blocked. Is it better to take D/H or H/L when travelling with the better half? (This will be my first go with A359, and a short one still...)
#1512
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: try to stay home
Programs: AY, M&M, BAEC ...and don t care of status anymore
Posts: 2,041
I have an upgrade in the near future, the app shows "waitlist" and in the website I can see two sets of my booking with seats - one shows me 10a Eco the other 4a Business - strange. Since I believe that my flights will be canceled anyway I don t really care - but isn t it strange?
#1514
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: HEL
Programs: AY Platinum, TK Elite, BT VIP, AA, BA, SK, DL, NT, WB + hotels
Posts: 8,735
I have an upgrade in the near future, the app shows "waitlist" and in the website I can see two sets of my booking with seats - one shows me 10a Eco the other 4a Business - strange. Since I believe that my flights will be canceled anyway I don t really care - but isn t it strange?
But as you already have a seat assigned and no Waitlisted text, it means that your upgrade cleared, but they haven't processed the ticket yet.
#1515
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: HEL
Programs: Drawer of Cards
Posts: 423
I have an upgrade in the near future, the app shows "waitlist" and in the website I can see two sets of my booking with seats - one shows me 10a Eco the other 4a Business - strange. Since I believe that my flights will be canceled anyway I don t really care - but isn t it strange?
If I use the company agency(CWT), and upgrade cleared, it wont give me the new tickets till i call AY to reissue it. In fact, not even an email telling me that upgrade is cleared.