How bad do you want the upgrade? If they still SELL 12 business seats - in contrast to open seats on the seat map - I probably would bid the minimum. But remember… East-Coast to Europe are very short flights. Tbh, I wouldn’t even pay 380$ for that upgrade and rather treat myself to a nice dinner in Europe/book a nicer hotel.

At 30 hours (or earlier, see my experience above) seats open for free selection and at 24 hours they start upgrading.

Yesterday, a friend (who is Diamond) and companion got op upgrades from Go.

If you stil see a good number of seats now then a min bid should work.

Thanks for the responses. Won the upgrade with a "STRONG" bid updated after the minimum bid said "WEAK". All business seats are filled now on the seat map, google flights shows no availability for purchase in business class.

Appears that you may have overpaid. How much was the "strong" bid? The bidding system was inducing people to bid over $1000 during live auction while the were offering the last 2 seats for $670 at checkin.

Thanks again! My bid was a bit less than what you reported as available at the gate. I never saw a “live auction” where the other bids were visible, just a bid box where you could make a bid, cancel a previous bid or increase a previous bid. This started 25 hours before departure and ended 6 hours before, notification came afterwards — for tonight’s JFK-CPH flight.

If there were 14 seats after the 24 hour mark then you bid way too much, methinks. If it says Strong then it's too much. :)

Perhaps the strong bid was too strong, but around 6 available business seats were taken overnight — perhaps there was something related to the Air Canada strike disruption? No complaints in any event. Thanks for your comments!

SAS charges for ASR in business class... just waived for elites.

So, the seat map doesn't say anything. Only the tickets they still sell/booking classes available.

Well, it is still indicative. Many people who fly business are "elites" who get free seating. So in my case there were 30 seats available before seating assignments started. But the flight was C4Y4 due to being heavily oversold in Go. If you go by the C4 number then you will also be misled into making a high bid; with only 4 seats the min bid would be higher. I was awarded 4 seats 28 minutes before the 24 hour mark based on my "weak" bid of $417 with $350 min. At T-18 hours t the seatmap showed 18 free seats. So 8 other seats represented a combination of other upgrade bidders who won and non-elites who did not buy seats. My experience is that you are assigned a seat at T-30 if one is available. When I checked the seatmap, seats had been assigned. I know people on this flight who got op-upgraded (Diamond status) from Go.

this is the cold logic that always escapes me when I think about business class upgrades. The $380 or whatever you bid could upgrade you to a night in a very nice hotel, or a far superior dinner to whatever SAS will ever serve you…

Yes, don't get me wrong... of course I like flying business class or F over cramped coach. But even in F, I do not see why I would pay 4 digit of $ for an upgrade from C. It is still airline food, and even though the meals are fine (and btw, I had pretty ...... F meals as well), if someone would serve me something like that on the ground, I would NEVER return to that restaurant. The wines in a class I wouldn't even buy at home for a dinner with good friends. The bed/seat is fine, but for sure not beat an upscale hotel. The only argument for me would be ground services, e.g. if you have something like Lufthansa/Swiss FCT/FCL.

Imagine where you can dine with a budget of 1000$ per person? That is enough budget for a Michelin 3-star restaurant and a room in the best hotel around.

In general I feel, the air travel is a necessity to get from A to B. E.g. After my vacation in the highlands of Honduras... do I really remember that 10 hours in a glorified car seat with mediocre food and wine or the lavish landscapes, people, local food and excitement of the trip? And those short East coast US to Europe trips... I feel are not worth it at all. After boarding, 1-1.5 hours until dinner is served, 1.5 hour dinner service, 2 hours lights out, then lights on and breakfast. So resting time is VERY limited.

But other people might have different perception and priorities. So whatever floats your boat :D

I see a business class upgrade as more than just the meal,.mainly probably the seat and the space. That is really a key part of arriving more relaxed even on a day flight.

380 USD don't get you much in terms of hotel these days. I'd probably see more value in throwing 380 usd in the flight than in the hotel.

Agreed, I've flown multiple flights recently from the east coast where the flight time has been ca. 6 hours.. :rolleyes:

If you have an important meeting the day after, or are a speaker at a conference, sure, the upgrade price can be justified. Or if you have the means in general.

To each their own.

I often skip the meal or get the express option so I can get to sleep earlier on the east bound TATLs. From ORD or YYZ there is enough time for a meaningful amount of sleep and I arrive feeling like I can have a productive day at home and adjust to the timezone quickly.

Sorry for going off topic, but ExpertFlyer tells me they don't have SAS seat maps. How did you see it, or what am I doing wrong?