Similar situation last week: CPH-SFO Min bid 300USD. Bid 360USD for the three of us as that was the minimum "moderate" bid, but wasn't successful. I did ask at check-in what the upgrade price would be and was quoted 1000USD per person! Not realistic to shell out that much money, so stuck it out in Plus which wasn't so bad for a daytime flight. I did notice that Business seemed to be pretty full, so perhaps there wasn't enough space for 3 upgrades...

Just my .02 based on my own frequent travel in these past months where travel has resumed to prepandemic levels….impossible to know this far out, however, IF current travel trends persist, it seems unlikely as bsns is quite frequently traveling totally full, even if still showing seats a few days out. I’ve personally witnessed some very disappointed people being denied even payable upgrades at airport for same reason. I am seeing this in both directions…Eu—> US and in the reverse. Although I do think it will be the most challenging to obtain cheap upgrades traveling the eastern route due to the overnight status, but again, consistently seeing full cabin in both directions. There are just many people flying now who simply pay for bsns tickets.

Never got “courtesy upgrades” since EBD from Feb 2022…. Hopefully it still exists.

Update
 

Minimum bid now two months out dropped from 800 min bid to 300 min bid. Just data point.

OSL - EWR less than a week out stays firm on 22.000 points minimum bid from SAS Plus -> Biz (I have more points than cash so I haven't checked the cash alternative). Plus seems fully booket, while biz has 12 seats available according to Expertflyer. I'm down for 30.000 points with an indication of "medium bid" + gold advantage. Horrible value considering an actual ticket in biz is 50.000, but they are just about as common as unicorns these days so it is what it is.

Is it even worth spending 30k points to upgrade on a relatively short daytime flight?

To each their own, but for me it would be because of more space and comfort. Oh, and the points would expire soon.

Oct 22 IAD-CPH
 

Two of us were booked in PE from IAD-CPH RT.

Outbound min bid was 270e we bid 325e (“medium”) and got it— at checkin agent helpfully moved us so we were at least on the same side of the plane.

Return min bid was 290e we bid 320e (“weak”) and didn’t get it.

We sometimes debate whether we’d rather have business class for the overnight or the long day flight but having lie flat outbound and the extra room but sitting together on the return worked pretty well for us.

OSL-EWR
Plus -> Biz
Minimum bid: 22.000 points
Actual bid: 30.000 points
1 pax, EBG
Declined at 6 hours before flight with a message that someone outbid me.
Plus seems packed to the gills, but SAS.no shows 4 seats in biz available for sale.

Update: no problems upgrading for points at checkin tho, so I guess SAS had their algorithms and points thresholds pretty much dialed in.. 35.000 less point in my account, but one happy camper up front across the Atlantic.

Does the fare class change on an upgrade? Currently booked SK A fare LAX-CPH and wondering what would be the upgraded class so I can compute the number of United EQP.

Well, they had that sale a few months back and Plus was a goddamn steal to the US for whats included in terms of lounge and luggage amounts. I think we paid something around 600 GBP each for our return tickets ARN-ORD (outbound swapped to ARN-CPH-ORD unfortunately). Flights to/from Chicago, especially this time of year, really aren't THAT long so Plus is a pretty good sweet spot for comfort v price. Not surprised those Plus cabins are going out full!

Haven't checked the current upgrade situation, will check tomorrow and see if its moved on at all. Suspect it hasn't as we are flying the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.

It remains A fare - that was the case when I upgraded SFO-CPH but it still credited as A-fare.

New reference point: for an upcoming flight (less than 2 weeks out) the minimum bid for biz increased from $300 up to $500. I got in when the floor was lower. Is this just an automated trigger that happens within x-days of departure to to and increase the bids? If so, any thoughts on if I should increase my bid? Currently just over half the seats are still showing available in biz while PE is showing full. I'm certain I'm not the only one bidding.

Update for CPH-ORD tomorrow...

This flight sat at 7200 SEK for upgrade (Plus to Biz) for WEEKS. We checked on Saturday morning and it had dropped to 2700 SEK each. I added on 20% based on estimates of successful examples in this thread (and our own requirements) and it cleared. Oddly, all the center seats are taken but none on the windows!

Glad this went through, we have a very veerrry long day tomorrow with a 2 hour drive on each side of the airport and a stop in CPH for 4.5 hours (thx again for swapping us from our non-stop, SAS!). The chance to get some sleep on a flat bed out of CPH will be welcomed.