I know the subscribers to this thread love some data points. Sharing this in anticipation of a forthcoming trip.

I'm booked in Economy for a round trip SK927 CPH-BOS / SK928 BOS-CPH in about a month's time. Both flights are operated by the A321neoLR (C: 22, W: 12, Y: 123).

I'm checking the upgrade bid minimums on a daily basis (and will try to remember to do so for as long as I can).

What is immediately interesting is that bid minimums in both SEK and Points have been constant -44 to -36 days out from departure, except on Tuesdays when they have been discounted for one day only. 46 days out from departure, the bid minimums for the overnight flight dropped, before returning to their previous level the following day. This has been repeated this week, but for both daytime and overnight flights.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...7bf14bbdf3.png

Yes, this is a screenshot of a Google Sheets file, but for other reasons, I am choosing not to make it public read-only right now.

So it looks like bid minimums might be affected by weekly pricing fluctuations. I would need to go back and check cash prices for these flights over several days to see if the flights are cheaper to buy on Tuesdays.

My first query - perhaps easily answered - is whether bidding on these cheaper days is actually worth it, since you are more likely to be outbid by subsequent bidders.

Will update again in a couple of weeks.

this is really cool. Thank you for sharing the info

Update:

21 days out, 12 seats remaining. Still at $760.

I'm not sure whether I feel hopeful or not at this point. 12 seems like a fair amount, but with SAS not bringing the bid price down, they must expect to sell them.

Interestingly enough, the return flight came down on minimum bid to $460, even though there are fewer seats available.

This thread has been wonderfully illuminating! Thank you FlyerTalkers :)

Situation
Three of us have Y flights JFK-CPH. 2 months and 2 weeks out. Equipment is 330. (No lounge in T7 at JFK :()
Already made a Y to PE offer (before reading this thread). WEAK offer.

Question:
Based on Nick Art's post, if the bid is rejected, I might get locked out. Therefore:
Should I withdraw my bid now and keep observing what the minimum is before making a bid closer to the flight day? Plenty of seats left per ExpertFlyer
(Hopefully, I won't be locked out if I withdraw?)
Thank you for your advice.

You can change your bid as often as you like up to 24 hours before your trip. If your bid is rejected you have another chance at the airport to see if any are available and at what price.

As I understood it Nick Art described having a bid rejected at STD -24hrs, which is the usual moment when bidding closes and upgrade bids are accepted or not. I think what he described was an IT glitch which still allowed his travelling companions (who had not lodged a bid) to enter bids after STD -24hrs.

As ​​​Nadiemc says, you can withdraw and revise your bid as often as you like until bidding closes. You should not get locked out. The option to pay for an upgrade at the airport remains as long as seats are available.

EWR-ARN: SAS Go to SAS Business, $460 minimum bid. $605 bid accepted 24 hours before departure.
CPH-EWR: SAS Go to SAS Plus, $160 minimum bid. $205 bid accepted. Flight full.

Did you find USD 205 for the upgrade to SAS Plus worth it westbound/on a day flight? (I doubt I would...)

On balance I think so. The flight was full. I appreciated having extra space and getting off the plane sooner for immigration at EWR. The food was also better. Service was not great though; I didn't see a flight attendant for hours after the first meal service.

Consider that the fare difference between Y and PY from JFK-CPH is typically about $400 each way, $205 is a bargain.

It's me again, with my weekly update :)

14 days until bidding closes. There are currently 11 seats available.

Minimum bid hasn't budged and is still sitting at 760 euro.


Side question.....assuming nothing changes between now and then....if it were you.....would you go ahead and splurge on the eastbound flight, which will be an overnight flight. Or go for the westbound flight, knowing that a) there are fewer seats available, b) the minimum bid could go up in the 7 days between there- but minimum bid is almost half the price.

If it were me (and it will be, in about four weeks, see separate posts about CPH-BOS-CPH) I would always allocate my limited resources to upgrading the eastbound overnight flight. I don’t pay to upgrade for the SAS Business Class experience, because the service is not that friendly or attentive and I usually eat in more space and comfort in the lounge before departure. I upgrade for one reason only, and that’s the possibility to lie flat and fall asleep for enough hours to be able to function the next day.

I would still wait for three days prior. If it hasn’t dropped by then and there are lots of seats left and also there are lots of seats in premium economy I would either wait to see at the airport or go for premium economy. Unless economy is packed. If economy and plus is packed. Id bite the bullet on the way there and bid.

Interesting experience a few days ago flying CPH-IAD (Washington) on SK925.

Bid up from SAS Go to SAS Plus had been sitting at $390 USD min bid for months. Likewise, from SAS Go to Business was at $1090 USD minimum.

Checking ExpertFlyer pretty regularly SAS Plus was always pretty full (maybe ~5 or fewer seats available even a few months out), but business was wide open. Even ~12 hours out from flight time there were 18(!) seats open. However the minimum bid never dropped. I even inquired at check-in at CPH and at the gate and the price quoted both times for upgrading to SAS Plus was 4,000 DKK (about $570 USD) and to business was 11,500 DKK (about $1,600 USD). Business wound up flying with more than a dozen seats empty, including all of the second, smaller cabin on the A350.

Goes to show either it was a glitch in the system or SAS wants to avoid giving away these seats for too cheap.

i think you may be right.

Yeah, eastbound is definitely the preferred option for me. The one thing I do see in favor of the westbound flight, in addition to the price, is westbound flights are typically longer, so longer in a luxurious seat versus economy has its good points as well.

I also feel like, even during the day, the lay flat seat will come in handy, as I have no doubt I will be exhausted after a week of travel. Plus, it would be good to be well-rested before driving home. Don't get me wrong, I think the eastbound flight would make a lot more sense as far as circadian rhythms and what not. But, I don't think westbound would be a complete waste either. Not ideal though.


There is actually no premium economy/plus on this flight. Yeah, I think I will likely be waiting till 3 days before before I have any sense of how things are going to go. I guess I am just shocked they haven't dropped the bid yet.