jamesbrownontheroad

I have a handful of LH/OS itineraries coming up, all with multiple intra-European legs of 1.5-2hr.

Bid upgrades from Economy to Business start at €75, and fixed price upgrades start around €100.

Since I already have *A Gold, I don't need the lounges or fast track. So under what circumstances do you personally justify the cost of upgrading a short-haul ticket? Is it informed by aircraft, route, or time of day?

oliver2002

I only upgrade by bid/fixed price when I need the status miles (if booked in KLT that would otherwise only give 125 SM). The 'meal' or the free seat beside you is really not worth the money.

the810

I usually upgrade longer trips (2+ hrs) where I value the free seat next to me quite a lot (while on short feeders I don't care all that much). On LO/A3 I also take food into the consideration, thus sometimes upgrade even shorter segments, but not at LH Group, since they don't let you choose the meal, thus there's a good chance I won't like it and will end up hungry.
​​​​​​
Some upgrades I took recently:

• VIE-ARN, OS, 100€ (bid)
• LHR-WAW, LO, 130€ (bid)
• ZRH-BCN, LX, 80€ (confirmed)
• MAD-MUC, LH, 80€ (confirmed)

Those last two were a great bargain IMO, particularly on the Madrid flight which is 2,5 hours (despite the food being most likely irrelevant since I'll be flying one day before the end of the Heimat disaster).

hch

I'd never pay for the meal, but I'd always consider if for the free seat next to me if the upgrade is either really cheap and/or the segments are long enough to matter. Without a free next flights are really tight for me without wide shoulders, and there's no way I could work that way either.

I just paid 230EUR each for TLV-FRA which isn't exactly cheap, but still a bargain compared to the C fare compared the the very cheap Y fare we booked.

jamesbrownontheroad

Thanks all.

On the subject of food, I should have mentioned that I normally prefer to eat in the lounge before the flight. Also, I’m vegetarian, and I don’t trust airlines to honour special dietary requests when upgrades are processed at T -36hrs.

On miles, I earn into SK EuroBonus, so I’m a bit unclear about what would credit. Like all airlines, LH isn’t exactly clear about what earning class the upgrades book into.

hch

On United MileagePlus the paid upgrades show up as Business Fares to me, although UA sometimes failed to adjust the multiplier. In that case contacting their customer support fixed the issue for me, but that might work differently for Eurobonus.

tgj1974

I rarely upgrade, but do often pay up to 100 EUR extra (if thats the diff) for the free seat (and sometimes a bit of miles extra).
Just hate to have some stranger sitting close to me.
At more than 100, more difficult to justify.

oliver2002

LH is pretty good at loading special meals booked >24h in advance, you should be able to order the VGML once the bid is accepted at T-72h (if the flight is longer than 75min) https://www.lufthansa.com/am/en/special-meals

If you bid for an upgrade via myoffer, expect to be rebooked into P (some have reported getting a better BK when on a higher fare, but I personally never experienced that so far. OTOH, usually only bid when in KLT, as it makes sense for me only then)
If you upgrade on LH.com with the fixed price, you will be rebooked into the lowest available BK in the new cabin class, so there might be a chance to get into Z or D too. (This happened to me on longhaul when I was on a good full flex M fare from ARN to DEL)

SAS EB will use the new booking class to credit you status and award points for the upgraded flight. LH is pretty good at reporting the new BK to the *A database used by the associated FFPs.

Kid Flyer

Personally I have never upgraded myself via bid or the offer on the LH site. As a SEN I do get the free seat next to me in 90% of the cases and the food is not worth it.
I do it regularly for my wife + family when they are flying alone, and my rule of thumb is not to spend more than 1 - 1,25 EUR per flight minute depending on the route.
Just an example, today my wife is on FRA-ZAG and the offer was 65 EUR which was acceptable to me and since she has no status and the upgrade grants her lounge + priority services, I think it is worth.

Stephan54

I seldom upgrade, but when booking the flight I look at difference between economy and business and when the difference is the right balace between comfort and price, I book business. As a non-status passenger I value priority check-in and security and lounge access. It saves a lot of time at check-in. I do travel with suitcases and two pieces of handluggage, so flying business is a lot less hassle. Being elderly I do like some more comfort.

appenzeller

I currently have 8 flights planned from September to December in short-haul Economy Europe, Upgrades start at CHF 110 - CHF 430 per leg. I have never seen confirmed upgrades for below CHF 100.

Is this because I am based in Switzerland where Swiss / LH just tries to get more out of it? or my examiniation size to small?

LHSEN

Swiss price … same here … never below CHF110/120 even for ZRH-STR or ZRH-FRA.

Duck1981

I upgrade when flying with Little Duckling (he doesn't get his own seat yet) and the additional space is really worth it.

smbk83

My employer only covers travel in Y. However, I am can bid/upgrade the fare to C at my own cost.
On my bimonthly POZ-WAW-LHR travels, I book the flights in Y and do plusgrade bids to C mainly so I can take two pieces of luggage on board.
I do not bid more than 100 GBP on the flights (got some in the past for 75 GBP but inflation even hit plusgrade bids and nothing on my route is less than 90GBP).
My logic is that 100 GBP would be the average cost of two lounge visits, extra luggage and security fast track.

bambinomartino

I'm self-employed in a business that requires my physical presence for the most part and doesn't really allow me to take more than a week off at a time, and even then I need to plan everything in advance. Earlier this month something needed my urgent attention during a TK flight from Dublin to Istanbul. I was relieved that our narrow body was a NEO (Wi-Fi!) until I realized economy seats don't have power. My laptop's battery isn't what it used to be. At check-in, I was given an option to upgrade to Business for 300 Euros per person. To me it was worth every penny, and I spent most of the four-hour flight working. My 10-year-old enjoyed the unexpected treat, although he didn't much care for the delectable meze plate.

Getting a new battery from Dell, or even a whole new laptop might have been cheaper actually. At least those were proper Business seats.

I really appreciated the crew not giving me grief for having my laptop.open a bit too long, unlike the OS crew at SOF who almost screamed at me for texting during push-back a few years ago.

​​​