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Optiontown.com paid upgrades on SAS

Old Mar 25, 2013, 7:54 am
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: oliver2002
Optiontown - Upgrade on SK flights
SAS Scandinavian Airlines offers, via partner Optiontown, all customers the opportunity to purchase an upgrade on SK operated flights, which will be confirmed 72-24 hours prior to departure, pending on seat availability.

SAS Go passengers can purchase an upgrade to SAS Plus on all flights and to SAS Business class on SASs intercontinental flights between Scandinavia, the US and Asia, while SAS Plus passengers also can buy an upgrade to SAS Business class on intercontinental flights.
Booking class Europe: A (SAS Plus)
Booking classes Intercontinental: Z (Business) and P (SAS Plus)
Note: All upgrades will be handled by Optiontown.
Contact to Optiontown

Phone: UK +44 (0) 203 371 7854
E-mail: [email protected]
Homepage: www.optiontown.com
Upgrade fees

Intercontinental flights:
Upgrade fees will range between EUR140 and EUR900, depending on availability, destination and service class.
European flights:
Upgrade fees will range between EUR30 and EUR75, depending on availability, destination and service class.
Sign up fee Optiontown

EUR 1 (one) for short haul flights
EUR 5 (five) for long haul flights.
Sign up fee is not refundable.
Note: During the period 10JUN15-31AUG15, no sign up fee will be charged.
Reservation

All upgraded PNRs will be updated with and include OS SK OPTIONTOWN UPGRADE.
Reservation for non 117-documents (only applicable on long haul flights)

Reservations for non 117-documents will be updated by Optiontown with the following information:

OS SK UTO
SR CKIN SK KK. ATTN CHECK-IN. UTO PSGR. PLS UPGRADE TO (CLASS) ACC TO PROC ON SKXXX (DATE), UPG ALREADY PAID BRGDS REV MNGT.
Note: Tickets will not be reissued and upgrade will take place at check-in counter.
Rebooking
If the passenger wants to rebook a flight with confirmed upgrade via Optiontown, always use the original ticket fare, found in TWD, to calculate the fare difference.
Change fee must be collected if applicable for the original ticket.

Refund

After requesting upgrade it is not possible to change or cancel the upgrade request.
Upgrade amount is not refundable.

If the passengers upgrade request is not successful, the upgrade fee will be refunded.
Optiontown must be contacted for refund.
Restrictions

Upgrade of the following passengers cannot be performed:

Travel Pass passengers
Groups (booking class G)
Passengers holding award tickets (booking classes I and X)
ID-passengers (booking classes R and N)

Irregularity

Rebooking procedures for passengers with an upgrade, affected by irregularity:

Rebooking to other SK-flight
If the same booking class as passenger was upgraded to is available - rebook the passenger in the upgraded booking class.
If the same booking class as passenger was upgraded to is not available - rebook the passenger in the same service class as originally booked and refund the upgrade.
Rebooking to other airline
Rebook the passenger in the same service class as originally booked and refund the upgrade.

Note: In case of refund in above cases, the passenger himself must contact Optiontown and request refund.
Benefits

The upgraded passenger is entitled to:

Baggage allowance according to the new class
Star Alliance Priority tag
SAS Business check-in
Fast Track security
SAS Lounge access
EuroBonus points earned according to the new class
Onboard service according to the new class

Passenger process

Passenger makes a reservation on an SAS operated flight. Reservation must be confirmed.
Passenger logs onto www.optiontown.com, creates an account and enters credit card info.
Passenger can register the upgrade request immediately after reservation is made
Sign-up must be made latest 36 hours before departure

Optiontown selects the passengers to be upgraded according to conditions set forth by SAS

If there are seats available and the upgrade request is successful, the upgrade will be confirmed 72-24 hours prior to departure.
Updated 03JUL15 08.57
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Optiontown.com paid upgrades on SAS

Old Aug 5, 2010, 4:14 pm
  #91  
 
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Programs: SK*G
Posts: 285
Originally Posted by neko
Just flew USA-CPH on a discount economy (W) ticket with an optiontown upgrade to C and only received 25% points.

I've gotten points for the upgraded class the two other times I've successfully used optiontown, so I guess this is new from 1 august. I'd be curious to know whether other people have seen this for very recent flights.

I didn't try upgrade the outbound (it was already booked in Q so 100% points and I figured the flight would be overbooked anyhow). It was an open-jaw ticket, purchased on travelocity rather than SK website, though I don't see that this would matter.

For me, this pretty much makes optiontown useless, since I'd rather spend the money on making sure of 100% points than on getting the upgrade+25% points.

Same happened to me once, and I just emailed OTs customer service and received points for the upgraded class a few weeks later. This was on a UA codeshare, which I think messed up some things.
johanmm is offline  
Old Aug 6, 2010, 5:59 am
  #92  
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: LPI
Programs: SK *B (?)
Posts: 362
Originally Posted by neko
Just flew USA-CPH on a discount economy (W) ticket with an optiontown upgrade to C and only received 25% points.
I upgraded EWR-ARN from V to Y in June, but have only been credited for V class. I suspect this is because I was upgraded after I had already OLCI:ed. I have sent in a form for manual retroregistration - we'll see.
lnixon is offline  
Old Aug 6, 2010, 6:48 am
  #93  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: here and there
Programs: EB*G, UA ex1K
Posts: 570
Originally Posted by appfly
Do optiontown deduct the money from your CC right away or do they only hold your CC number for security and charge it if the upgrade clears? Othwerwise on a IC flight you have to put out the money for a few months if you sign up early for OT.

If you have signed up for OT and paid, can you still decline a upgrade offer? I.e. if you think that there will be op-ups anyway?
The money is deducted from your CC right away and refunded if the upgrade isn't available (less the few EUR upgrade fee). I have had one OT upgrade not happen and it was refunded in my next CC cycle.

I suspect that the float is actually part of the business model: A few hundred EUR X a few hundred customers at any given time is a fair amount of money. Even at today's low rates, the interest would be non-trivial, especially for what is pretty clearly a shoestring operation.

I agree with other posters that OT is legit, i.e. they're not a CC number fishing scam, but that they do seem rather ad hoc/on the cheap.

For example, with one (but only one) of my OT upgrades, I got a message on my mobile that the upgrade had cleared. But the message was incoherent: not so much language (I think south asian accent, but no problem) as rambling, as if there was no script and this guy was just sort of making it up as he went along - that I have business class upgrade, then that he was from optiontown, then that I should go to check-in and then again that there was upgrade and oh it was for my trip to CPH. Not a huge problem, just not a good impression of a smooth professional operation, either.

No, you cannot decline the upgrade.
neko is offline  
Old Aug 13, 2010, 4:50 pm
  #94  
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: ARN
Programs: EBG, Hertz Five Star, A-club Gold
Posts: 72
Has anyone noticed a link between the upgrade rate and the price paid? I signed up for OT after they suddenly cyt the price in half. Does this mean the flight is already overbooked and they are looking for paying customers vs op-ups? The flight is still 2+ months away.
appfly is offline  
Old Aug 16, 2010, 8:18 am
  #95  
 
Join Date: Jul 1999
Location: SYD, GOT
Programs: BA GGL; SK EBG; QF LTG; Hilton Diamond, A-Club Platinum, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 2,677
I just had the offer for ORD/ARN for Y to C drop from the usual 272 to 140. Seems like good possibility than run the SAS upgrade roulette.

Have never seen the price drop before though....Flight is showing 0 is all cabins but Business. But looking at the seat map M is at 50%, Y is at 50% and C has three unassigned seats???????? Strange that so few seats are assigned if flight is full to the rafters?
Koru Flyer is offline  
Old Aug 16, 2010, 11:18 am
  #96  
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Programs: SK*G, IC RA
Posts: 128
Originally Posted by henry999
OK, the situation is clear, I suppose. Out of curiosity, how many e-mails constitutes 'blasted'?
I paid for a economy -> E+ upgrade.

So far I have received 7 identical mails telling me of a HIGH CHANCE TO UPGRADE TO BUSINESS! It seems they are automatically generated every 14 days.

I did sign up very early because I didn't read the fine print (they charge the entire amount - not just the handling fee - immediately).
dk_commuter is offline  
Old Aug 16, 2010, 3:48 pm
  #97  
 
Join Date: Jul 1999
Location: SYD, GOT
Programs: BA GGL; SK EBG; QF LTG; Hilton Diamond, A-Club Platinum, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 2,677
I am intrigued about;

1. Does the likelihood of upgrade depend on time of paying, i.e. first in first out, given the upgrades are done 4 days - 4 hours before departure. Or some other metric.

2. Do first timers have a higher likelihood of upgrade. i.e. reward first timers so they have a positive experience and are more likely to come back.

3. What influence does SAS have. Are there any other factors such as business with SAS or status level. Again, SAS may want to deliberately limit upgrades from people who normally pay business. If I always get my OT upgrade then why pay business.

The whole business model is quite interesting here with the money float, the 5 charge, how much the upgrade actually costs OT and not to mention the VDB offers they run...

Seems similar to a casino in many ways????
Koru Flyer is offline  
Old Aug 23, 2010, 8:33 am
  #98  
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 3,738
I've read through the entire thread and have a few questions before gambling on OT.

There will be two of us flying CPH-MCO in late October or early November, returning late November. We may end up on SK but I'd really like a high chance of an upgrade, at least to E+, if not C.

We no longer have any status with SK, but are *G with CO. We also will not have any SK miles left for standby upgrades at the gate (the last 50,000 miles we have available are expiring in September).

1. Any idea whether the routing via EWR or IAD has a higher chance of upgrade with OT for that time of year?

2. Is there any way to check OT options and upgrade pricing before booking a ticket?

3. I understand that OT will charge for the upgrade, and refund if it isn't successful. Since our only charge cards are either in USD or DKK, I guess that means we could have a loss on currency exchange when the refund comes through?

4. As far as I understand, we can purchase the least expensive coach ticket and still apply for the OT upgrades, correct? Are there any indications that the original ticket price, or fare class, has any influence on success of OT upgrade?

5. Does one's status either with SK or * have an influence on success? I assume we'd be better off putting the CO FF number on the record since we are *G with CO, vs. our EBB FF number (no status), correct or not?

6. Any recent experiences of the price of OT upgrades for the TATL routes, either to E+ or C? It sounds like most of the upgrades to E+ are in the range of 170 - 200, and to C are 400 or more, true?

Any advice is appreciated.

Susan
SusanDK is offline  
Old Aug 23, 2010, 9:41 am
  #99  
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Programs: SAS Diamond, Hilton Diamond, IHG RA Spire
Posts: 423
Originally Posted by SusanDK
1. Any idea whether the routing via EWR or IAD has a higher chance of upgrade with OT for that time of year?
Check with seatcounter.com or expertflyer.com. In my experience, the flight needs to be sold out (or close to) in M before upgrades to Y+ or C are done. I have never been upgraded with OT unless it seemed that it was needed for operational reasons.

Originally Posted by SusanDK
2. Is there any way to check OT options and upgrade pricing before booking a ticket?
No, but you could book a ticket, get a reference number, check the price with OT, and then cancel within 24 hours (SAS rules).

Originally Posted by SusanDK
3. I understand that OT will charge for the upgrade, and refund if it isn't successful. Since our only charge cards are either in USD or DKK, I guess that means we could have a loss on currency exchange when the refund comes through?
Yes, but unless the world economy crashes again in between the time of booking and refund, then I doubt it would be a lot of money.

Originally Posted by SusanDK
4. As far as I understand, we can purchase the least expensive coach ticket and still apply for the OT upgrades, correct? Are there any indications that the original ticket price, or fare class, has any influence on success of OT upgrade?
One of the mysteries of OT. I once sent an e-mail to member services asking for information on how upgrades were prioritized (i.e. status over booking class etc.), but they never came back to me. I would assume that they have some kind of system which makes sense, so the whole thing won't end up being a lottery, but we just don't know how it works.

Originally Posted by SusanDK
5. Does one's status either with SK or * have an influence on success? I assume we'd be better off putting the CO FF number on the record since we are *G with CO, vs. our EBB FF number (no status), correct or not?
Same as above. We don't know. I would assume that status pax come before non-status pax.

Originally Posted by SusanDK
6. Any recent experiences of the price of OT upgrades for the TATL routes, either to E+ or C? It sounds like most of the upgrades to E+ are in the range of 170 - 200, and to C are 400 or more, true?
Lowest I've seen between Europe and the US is 135 EUR for Y+ and 375 for C. The most expensive has been 175 EUR for Y+ and 450 EUR for C.

Originally Posted by SusanDK
Any advice is appreciated.
The load factor in M should be your best indicator on whether you have a good chance for an OT upgrade or not.
ILS2 is offline  
Old Aug 23, 2010, 9:49 am
  #100  
jth
 
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: ARN/STO
Programs: SK EBS, BAEC blue, SPG
Posts: 586
Originally Posted by SusanDK
4. As far as I understand, we can purchase the least expensive coach ticket and still apply for the OT upgrades, correct? Are there any indications that the original ticket price, or fare class, has any influence on success of OT upgrade?
Sure you can. I recently upgraded an el cheapo T class ticket to Y using OT (and then got an op-up to C). So far, there is no indication that original fare class is a factor for the OT price or success rate.
jth is offline  
Old Aug 23, 2010, 11:11 am
  #101  
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Oslo
Posts: 448
[QUOTE=ILS2;14530599]The most expensive has been 175 EUR for Y+ and 450 EUR for C.QUOTE]

I bought some VERY cheap economy restricted tickets for OSL-CPH-ORD/ORD-ARL-OSL in September, and decided to buy the OT even though they cost me 181 EUR (Y+) and 512 EUR (C). I do not know if the high price was due to the low ticketprice, or the fact that I bought OT early (in May).
heakja is offline  
Old Aug 23, 2010, 12:15 pm
  #102  
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 3,738
Thanks all for the useful replies!

Susan
SusanDK is offline  
Old Aug 23, 2010, 12:21 pm
  #103  
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: SUV
Programs: UA *G MM
Posts: 7,017
So, just to be clear, if you get an Optiontown upgrade then I should be able to confirm new class of service online on SAS' website or checkmytrip.com, or a print out at the airport?

This could be important for credits with a partner airline like UA if you buy a 25% booking class fare. I might be flying NRT-CPH/ARN in the future so this could be very important for me. I would continue to focus on collecting with UA. Getting 6-10 system wide upgrades per year trumps other programs, and they can also be used with LH.
gnaget is offline  
Old Aug 23, 2010, 12:45 pm
  #104  
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 358
A very stupid question : Does Optiontown work with non-direct flights ? For example VNO-RX-TLV ?
vilntrav is offline  
Old Aug 23, 2010, 11:43 pm
  #105  
jth
 
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: ARN/STO
Programs: SK EBS, BAEC blue, SPG
Posts: 586
Originally Posted by gnaget
So, just to be clear, if you get an Optiontown upgrade then I should be able to confirm new class of service online on SAS' website or checkmytrip.com, or a print out at the airport?
Yes, when an OT upgrade clears, you will get a new itinerary mailed with the upgraded class to you (if SAS have your mail). The amadeus booking is updated as well (so you can check it on checkmytrip).
jth is offline  

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