New [Plusgrade] upgrade system from 25 April 2016 and SK ditches OT
 

Sorry if this been mentioned before, but on the SK website

- Lists new upgrade system
- Mentions that OptionTown will no longer be available for upgrades

http://www.sas.se/en/travel-info/bef...chase-upgrade/

Looks like the carousel just stopped, always dubious of new and improved, esp. when it comes to SAS.

KF

New [Plusgrade] upgrade system and SK ditches OT [2016-2022]
 

This is the archived thread about the old SAS upgrade system Plusgrade.

The continued discussion about the newly introduced upgrade system can be found in the new Upgrade Bid System Master Thread: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/sas-...er-thread.html

The old discussion about the previous upgrade system Optiontown can be found here: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/sas-...es-sas-55.html)

It would be nice to know what happens to all existing OT upgrade requests for flights after April 24th.

I assume all existing OT requests will be denied.

Just requested a couple of upgrades to grab some more extra points :D

I guess the new upgrades will not be that generous with the point earnings as the old ones but hopefully it will be more reliable.

Several here on FT have had the suspicion by SAS undermining/competing with the OP-program.

That is (probably) a big pity. I have earned quite good points by OT upgrading intra-Europa. Looking forward to mostly less good conditions...

The website says “OT upgrade is no longer possible.” Unclear if it is from “now” or from April 25th.

One small improved, though. Maybe. Website states, that standby upgrade is possible from “all bookingclasses”. I think that upgrade hasn’t been possible for award tickets?

I have found the OT upgrades to be good value and hope that the new upgrades continues to be or similar value. I cannot blame SAS for trying to grab the business from OT, so there is no surprise that this happens. If they are merging the systems to a common platform, I would love to see that elites will get preference to the upgrade.

I guess all we can do is hope for a smooth transition. SAS IT has been improving for some time, althouh I will not hold my breath that things will work from the beginning.

Bullocks. There goes my requalifying for Diamond. But I guess that's the point.

Is this not just going back to the time before OT?

I guess the EBD/P courtesy upgrades will still be there in addition....

Seemingly/hopeful not.

SAS calls it "new and improved".

I remember several introductions of "new and improved" meals in European business class... :)

:D

I guess it will mimic the (smart) bid process as done at LH group airlines - which would be real bad.

Does LH upgrade your fare class?

I know BA upgrades the earnings along with a purchased upgrade through their system. Which is not an unimportant part of the process.

Yes, they upgrade the fare class to P, which is deep discounted business fare which earns only 100% on most FFPs.

So, it could be a good deal from 0% or 25% to 100% but certainly not from a full earning economy fare up to deep discounted business.

What I don't like most at LH group system(s) is that a) the minimum you can bid is often enough already really expensive (often double the OT price with SK) and b) it is even more non-deterministic if your bid will be accepted.

I hope SK will at least allow instant confirmed upgrades for points, e.g. for EBG and EBD.

Again, perhaps I'm being naive, maybe there is (still) a sale on or this has already been discussed, but...

On intra-Nordic itineraries, the price of Plus has plummeted to just a bit more than Go. Perhaps it was always like this on some routes, but on the trips I make regularly it has only happened since March.

It almost looks like it is going to a fixed offset above Go, like Go Light is a fixed offset below Go. It also looks very competitive – compared to using OT to upgrade later, it is very cheap - almost worth it sometimes for the points themselves (if one values them fairly generously).

So maybe the future is to do this only with fare difference upgrades to Plus, at least within the Nordic countries or even Europe.