Iberia invites customers to bid for upgrades to Business Class
 

We are getting some good news from Iberia! Under the new commercial strategy of the company, passengers of certain IB flights will be given the possibility to bid via MMB the price that they would pay for an upgrade to J (they set a minimum price). The higest bid will get the upgrade.

You can read the press release here: http://grupo.iberia.es/portal/site/g...005ffe15acRCRD

And in Spanish here: http://grupo.iberia.es/portal/site/g...005ffe15acRCRD

That's definitely a win-win situation that hopefully will allow more pax to enjoy business at better prices and increase the revenues as well for seats that were going to fly empty.

They launched it quietly a while ago


http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/6654/b6g3.jpg

Thinking about it, I can't see that it says anywhere that you'll earn Business Class Avios/Elite Point/Tier Points.
They do talk about lounge access though.


OLCI upgrade does give not you anything but a better seat and food
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/21032894-post9.html

A very good question. I've seen the option appear on a couple of IB bookings but it's unclear whether you get the extra Avios/TP. As a BAEC Silver, that would be the deciding factor for me. I already get lounge access, a bigger seat on short haul flights doesn't bother me that much but some extra TP for cheap upgrades could be tempting.

I guess there were few if any takers on the TATL flight Mrs. nsx recently took. Business Class was half empty.

What's the minimum bid for MAD-ORD and MAD-LAX?

Honestly I do not know for these segments, but it was offered to me this summer for MAD-JFK (one way) 400€.
I did not apply hoping an upgrade for free at the boarding gate will occur, but never happened

Hope it clarifies.

Do we know if the program is operational yet? I haven't had to fly for a bit but it wasn't offered in the middle of August.

We flying Thursday and it is not an option on our bookings.

Yes it is, has been for over a month.

http://img833.imageshack.us/img833/8792/8vyq.jpg
http://cache.businessclass.se/attach...n-upgradec.jpg

Ahh wonderful. I'll be back in Spain after my hiatus, so it appears to be just for short haul flights then? Any idea of what successful bids are going for. I would bet most people don't even think about getting free parking/food/drink when factoring their bid.

Does Iberia still offer upgrades during online check-in for flights within Europe, or did they ever? My ticket will be on AA (001) stock, so I am not too hopeful for it to happen, especially as it is part of a longer itinerary connecting onto another carrier.

No, but there's a minimum bid
ALC-MAD €70
MAD-LHR €80

Does it include the parking at MAD?

no idea, it only says what I posted in post #2

It's interesting indeed. I wonder whether they will use a strategy similar to EY's. If they only go after highest bids, once people will get an idea of what the floor pricing is, everyone will cluster their bids around the same amount anyways...