I think it's best to quote the website. Cash is king when it comes to earning points...


From the website (https://www.flysas.com/en/travel-inf...rd/upgrades/):

UPGRADE WITH POINTS OR MONEY
You can pay for an upgrade using EuroBonus points or credit card. If you win a bid paid with a credit card, you'll earn additional Basic points on top of the points you will earn based on your original booking class. The number of points earned is based on destination and upgraded travel class.

If you have paid the bid with points, no additional EuroBonus points will be earned for your Upgrade.

Regardless of payment option, you still earn points on your original ticket/booking class.

thank you! I am watching status points closely this year, year 9/10 towards lifetime

With 9/10 years, it's probably to your advantage to go for it.

We have to wait for official news, but very likely they will kill off the EB programme and move into Flying Blue once everything gets approved. Whether they grandfather in EB Lifetime status is an open question. Let's hope they are gentle with us :) Other threads within the EB forum have more insight on this topic, so keep an eye out over those threads.

Does anyone know off the top of their head how much SAS charges for at-the-airport upgrades from Economy to Business for TATL flights to the BOS/EWR?

I don't mind paying for the upgraded experience. I do mind giving them 10k to do so on an empty flight (I know SAS and I are valuing their product differently). It's a nearly empty flight in all sections, I so I am thinking to just get to the airport early on the day of departure and just see what's available. Earning points isn't important to me as re-qualified for my status level a long time ago.

The intent to change to Flying Blue only exists if AFKL acquires the Castlelake share of the bailout. While EB is becoming a SkyTeam program instead of StarAlliance, the real question is what happens with your lifetime status in case do they eventually migrate to Flying Blue.

Hey guys,

I have a lot of miles to burn on SAS and already being gold on Air France I don't see any benefit of staying with SAS.
Now I have a tricky question...
If I book a premium eco flight and use my miles to upgrade to Business and then change the FF number into another star alliance, will SAS let the upgrade go trough? into what class will I accrue miles, A or J or something else?

miles will be accrued based on the original booking class.

don’t see why you wouldn’t be able to change the FF number at checkin at least.

Hej,

I have a question for people more experiences with SAS upgrades. I bid for an upgrade (Economy to Plus) for Saturday, ARN-EWR, 16k points + silver booster benefit. The website says that the emails if you bid was successful or not go out 6-25 hours before departure.
I’ve been following how many seats are available to book in the Plus cabin in the past days, and it went from 21 seats on Tuesday to 4 seats today. I really doubt that 17 Plus seats were sold in 2 days, 3 days before departure. Is there a different way to upgrade? I heard before that some people knew they will be upgraded with SAS a week before or so, so it doesn’t seem like it is through the bidding system described on their website. Thanks in advance!

So just an update from me.

Was looking to book an upgrade from Economy to Business for CPH-BOS on Jan 13th

Up until 4 days ago, SAS was asking for 10,600kr for a bid. Then the bid price dropped to 4500kr. I placed a bid on Jan 11th. Got a notification today (Jan 12th) that the bid won - 23 hours before departure.

Happy that SAS lowered the price to something more palatable and that my bid went through with so much advanced notice. Even got to pick my favourite seat :)

Noone knows a week out. You will hear by 6 hours at the latest. Also they block the seats. They have not all been sold. I bid economy to business. Ewr to Arn. Minimum bud was 460 and I bid 569 USD. I was denied at 23 hours. I asked at the desk at the airport. Got upgraded for 579 per seat. Two travelers.

Way back. Arn to Ewr. Minimum bid 460. This time I bid 580. Upgrades cleared at 6 hours. Economy to business.

How is it with booking class after upgrade? I would like to upgrade my SAS Plus to Business, but I need also miles :-D

Booking class doesn’t change unfortunately

If you are a Eurobonus member there is a limited basis point benefit for upgrading. But not like previously where the booking class would change.

When does SAS tend to adjust the minimum bids for upgrades (IF they do?). The minimum bid from Plus to Business has been 720 EUR each direction for IAD-CPH since I bought my tickets in August for travel late April.

And my understanding the upgrade is just for the seat. No extra baggage or partner lounge access (we are flying from IAD - no SAS lounge). Is that correct. (I do know it is the mileage accrual for original booking class based on other posts here)

There is no rhyme or reason to the way SAS changes the bid requirements (sadly). You just have to monitor it. It is all based on whether they think they can get full price for the seats.

To summarise this thread, things tend to start to become clearer about 2-4 days before the bidding stops. And the prices can go up or down during that time. In fact, they can change up to the point that the bidding time ends. Bidding prices from the US to Europe tend to be more expensive as it seems more people look to upgrade as it's an overnight flight. If you bid fails, you can always make an effort to see if their is a possibilty to upgrade at the airport (if you do that, all you are buying is the seat)

ETA: I can give you a live example. I want to upgrade my upcoming flight from ORD to CPH (economy to business). Two weeks ago SAS wanted 10,500kr for the upgrade. 10 days ago the price dropped to 4,500kr so I placed a bid. Yesterday (6 days to go) the price went back to 10,500kr. The only difference is that since the last time I checked they sold 4 more business class seats. As I have an exit row seat in economy, I don't value the upgrade at 10k SEK. So I keep my (now too low) bid to see if it drops again. If it doesn'tand I lose my bid, I will try and get an airport upgrade if there are seats available as it's usually cheaper than 10k SEK (I don't really need the points right now so skipping over them isn't a problem for me).

As for other questions, I defer to the website (I don't have time to go link it). In summary, your baggage allowance stays the same. Paying with cash for an upgrade gets you a fixed amount of additional basic points plus the points your ticket would have earned anyway.