Upgrade vouchers worth of nothing?
 

I've tried to use LH upgrade vouchers within this year without any success. Another annoying thing is that upgrade vouchers will be debited from your account immediately when you request upgrade even if they will put you on waiting list. And if you will not be upgraded, it takes ages to credit the vouchers back like it takes ages to credit the flown miles. This also means that you cannot use the vouchers to upgrade the return if you return say end of the week.

I've had much better luck with upgrades when using points. At least in my case this seems systematic. I think Finnair is giving higher priority to point upgrades than vouchers.

My conclusion is that upgrade vouchers are more or less useless if you cannot use them.

Anybody else experiencing the same?

- sulkkis

I must say no. Have used vouchers also this year, they've always cleared.

Not really, my upgrades clear pretty much all the time (which only means a couple of times a year, though). You could try upgrading with points, and when the upgrade has cleared, call in and ask for it to be converted to a voucher upgrade.

I have been unable to use vouchers at times (especially to/from SIN, also occasionally PVG). But I have never failed to spend the vouchers before expiration. That is probably the most valuable tier benefit.

I must echo other replies here, never had any issues using LH vouchers, even got 2 used on the notorious SIN route very recently. We only get 2 of them per year (normal Plats) so hasn't been a big deal to use them with bit of planning in advance.

However, I can understand the possible frustration for someone required to travel long haul Y for work on a short notice when flights are often full (in J) already.

I haven't seen any difference in using points vs. vouchers, except for some weird rules (ie - using points upgrades also the short haul feeder, using vouchers doesn't. Or you can use vouchers to upgrade a reward booking, but not points)

But if you really feel that you have more success with points, the solution is easy - use points, and when the u/g clears, call CS and ask them to return the points and take one of your vouchers.

A few months ago I called CS about a waitlisted upgrade and asked if upgrading with points or vouchers makes a difference in terms of priority or time to clearing. The answer was a clear no. (The usual grain of salt: the CS agent may have been ignorant, policies may have changed, etc.)

I really don't think it does as basically they're just waitlisted to the fare class F. I doubt it is visible which instrument the passenger has used to upgrade.

Me and my wife are Plats for about ten years or so, only once had problems with using the vouchers, that was when the A350 delivery was delayed. Since we are always a little flexible with the dates never had problems. It is way more complicated to use points for LH flights not operated by AY. In my experience waitlists clear always fast. Most of my AY flights theese days are either upgraded by vouchers or points.

... and to answer the original question, no, I haven't experienced this either. I choose flights with upgrade availability quite often, however, when upgrade space has not been available, the waitlist has always cleared in a week.

I'm currently waitlisted on the notorious HEL-SIN route both ways. Does it help calling the CS to get the upgrade cleared?

How's the real fare class availability looking for your flights and how far out are the dates...that might tell if there's a chance them releasing the seats.

Ok, maybe I'm blacklisted instead of waitlisted:)

- sulkkis

I like to do these Notes! in the middle of a thread.

While I don’t doubt your experiences on longhaul, shorthaul my experience is that waitlisted upgrades don’t clear. Had one last year, have one for the summer where it didn’t clear ”immediately” (less than a week) as some report.