Keyser

i've used 'get up front' a few times in del before, but never for an international flight....flight looks pretty empty at the moment....seats are still available in the lowest bookable economy class & business is completely empty....

unfortunately there are other people in my travel party & they had already purchased their tickets here so i'm stuck taking this flight....

SpeedFreak

Well, don't think it should be a problem then. Flights not going to fill up in 4 days time, so I think it's a safe bet. Plus, we can know for sure then.

Keyser

got to the airport about 3 hours before my flight....paid inr 8k for the upgrade so i'm glad i didn't go for optiontown....

the other 3 people traveling with me didn't want to pay for the upgrade so it was just me in business....

oliver2002

Checked UTo for my CCU-DEL flight in June and had to laugh:


View Screen Capture

I paid 5100Rs for the economy ticket, for another 8000 (ie 99€) I could have bought C upfront.

BTW, to report back on my (Jan 2013) experience, the UTo decline came the moment I checked in for my trip in Germany (aprox 46h before departure in DEL), and at the aiport in DEL the AI (intl) staff handling the domestic checkin of the intl flight had no clue what the AI 'get up front' scheme was, since its offered by AI domestic (ie former IC). The supervisor which duly appeared 10 min after being called told the checkin lady in Hindi: 'tell him that the J cabin is fully booked, that way he will stop asking'. Since I didn't want to activate my very rusty Hindi (think Tom Alter speaking बम्बईया हिंदी with a bong and german accent and terrible grammar) I just looked at her funny and let go. In the end the 788 ride in economy two days before it got grounded was a thrill in itself

Keyser

its actually offered both on domestic & international....i have used it a number of times on the international sector....the check-in staff are normally clueless so i just directly go to the ticketing office in the airport & they process it for me....

SuperFlyBoy

Yes, always head to ticketing and do it there.

Do not even waste your time with check-in staff unless you are checking the business class load for the flight.

dfs24

I just flew BKK-DEL.

Upgrade offer price was 5/333USD.

Glad I didn't go for it. J class was empty and the IFE was broken combined with sulky crew.

Besides it would have been cheaper for me to buy J class outright than use optiontown. Doesn't make much sense to use it.

shonamac

So does anyone have recent knowledge of Upgrade costs, especially for an India - Europe sector?

nzthunderboy

Hi, anyone had any luck with OT on AI from australia to delhi or vice versa. Thanks

Virazuno

Airport upgrade is 700USD DEL-SYD/MEL, and 799AUD SYD/MEL-DEL. I would just do that...

oliver2002

The details are here, make sure you have paid for the EMD and waitlisted with Z so the station knows what you want in advance.

http://www.airindia.com/airport_upgrades.htm

nzthunderboy

Thanks, yeah I ended up doing that. Also it changes your booking class to C which gives you 200% on AI.

puchong

Just another data point - I recently flew NRT-DEL and at the airport AI was offering $700 upgrades from Y to J. I declined.

Flyfromscratch

quick 2 questions:

1. Has anyone been offered an optiontown upgrade on a award ticket.. I am planning to book an Air India DEL-LHR and want to know if i can get an optiontown upgrade..

2. Any data point for this route ?

also, to add to data points: I recently upgraded a Biman Bangladesh SIN-DAC for 3500 rupees.. I thought it was really good value..

PiperAtGatesofDawn

You can get the GUU upgrade on any type of ticket including awards tickets. DEL-LHR costs ~ $600. Not sure how full J on that route usually is. No lounge access on an award ticket upgrade though - unless you're already *A.

The only grey area for optiontown/GUU is - can you get GUU on a non AI ticket (eg: on a UA or TK ticket) or a non Flying Returns award.

And why do you prefer optiontown to going to AI direct?