Having flown SK out of ORD many times, this station has become stricter when it comes to op-ups. The flights need to be full for upgrades to be given to C. I have had a message in the booking from an SK VP where he asks agents to upgrade me to C(as a thanks to a favor). The ORD staff has still refused to upgrade to C (they upgraded me to Y Extra). It used to be a lot easier up till a year ago.

That been said, they always welcome you to upgrade on points or cash. From Y Extra to C they charge only 225 USD or 20K points. Calling the lounge is a good idea. They can call check in and let them know you plan to upgrade on points, as UA can't do anything at IAD.

At ARN it's a lot easier and the agents are really friendly. Have them put in the upgrade request at OSL and don't be surprised if you get it for free (depending on status, as an EBG member, I have the last 8/10 upgrades at ARN for free). EB Gold members and Silver get ahead of any *G members on upgrades.

Another advice: Unless you really need the EQMs, put your points on the EB account! You get 150% miles (175% with EBG) in Economy Extra. On UA you will only earn 4260 miles each way ORD-ARN-ORD and rotten 200 something miles OSL-ARN. The total points in Economy Extra r/t ORD-ARN-OSL-ARN-ORD gives me around 20K points in Economy Extra (all SK EQMs/Basic points and redeemable)

Good luck!

I've also enjoyed the benefit of regular op-ups at ARN on SK903 (at ARN they really do seem to value EBG's quite highly and professionally), and am just wondering whether the new upgrade for points procedures are really decreasing the number of op-ups?
I haven't flown intercontinental for several months now, and was just wondering whether there has been a change since then?

Also, coming back to priority and timing issues with upgrades for points, I would say that generally timing probably is more important than status when it comes to upgrades for points... At least that's my experience!

My last two M->Y I was not able to get without points, however in both cases M did not look totally oversold.

I think M > Y has been harder to get. It is a good bargin for 10 000 points and many people ask fore it. And at most stations it is a first come - first serve basis.

Thanks everyone for all the good advice

Let me add some additional comments:

This would be what I am hoping for. I'm booked in Y-class and I have just over 40,000 EB Points that will expire this summer, so if the planets align I'll be in C both ways and burn my points before expiration!

In this specific instance, while a complimentary op-up would be nice, it actually wouldn't make any difference to me as this is probably the only chance I will have to use the miles before they expire...
Also, I'm currently status-less in *A, so the complimentary up-op scenario is not very likely. (will be UA 2P/*Silver after the outbound part of this trip)


Aah, the never-ending quandry of where to book your miles... (getting a little OT here)
I was EBG for a number of years but after I relocated to IAH I chose to jump ship to CO as they are hard to beat to just about any destination out of IAH.

I might have another relocation coming up, this time to a part of the world that CO nor Skyteam doesn't even serve... So I'm jumping ship to *A.

My biggest peeve with EB is the fact that your miles expire, which aggrevates me to no end. That, plus the fact that I can get *G status with 50,000 UA miles versus 70,000 EB points. Also, the majority of my travel is in cheapest-fare-economy, so the *G lounge access will be a definite perk.

Don't forget, if you can't burn them here, you can extend their life by trading them in for upgrade certs. (I'll add the caveat, my understanding is that while you no longer (never did) need these certs, they can still be ordered and used.... But I could be wrong)

Upgrade certificates are no longer issued (think it ended 31DEC06).
But you can always book tickets a year in advance, but you won't be able to change or cancel tickets without losing expired points...

Now I know. Good point about booking a year in advance. since 40k points is a nice inter pacific award.

Being bases in the US, 2P gives you a lot more than EBS. (Economy Plus for one thing)

Well SK946 ORD-ARN went out on March 26th with plenty of empty seats in business class and without a single upgraed pax ....

According to the GA, business class had checked in full and they had only catered enough meals for the pre-sold seats, so nobody could be upgraded even though there were plenty of seats empty.

A pretty frustrating experience I must say. Even though I'm certainly not expecting an upgrade, even when it shows 9's across the board the day before departure, this indicates more an unwillingness on SK's side to even entertain these point upgrades.

Was this a freak occurance or is it a trend?
Another pax (also denied an upgrade) theorized that this was an ORD thing, that the station manager "always did this" ??

Nope - it seems to be a trend. Have seen the same thing on SK 925 CPH-IAD and SK937 (CPH-SEA) and SK 938 (SEA-CPH) and SK 944 (ORD-CPH). Pretty poor planning. One should think that SAS would like to reduce the number of outstanding points for the cost of a C meal. But I am feeling to a greater and great extend that I do not get Fr�sundavik logic (should there be any).

I think it is appalling to deny an upgrade with points when seats go out empty. I can certainly understand denying an op-up, but using points is a form of payment for the upgrade which we've been told is part of the EB program.

If they were using catering as an excuse, I would have told them that I was not going to have the meal, which I never take on an eastbound ORD departure. All I want is the comfortable seat to sleep for the entire flight. Somehow I doubt that would have budged them.

I will say that I've had the worst service at ORD among any SK station. They've been the rudest of anywhere I've flown and have almost always refused to even hold a boarding pass to put me on the upgrade waitlist for points. I once had a GA tell me that I wouldn't be sitting in C "even for a million dollars" when I asked to use points; a few minutes later a lounge matron managed to get us in C with our points. I think some of the agents there have their own agenda.

Susan

I have to agree with Susan here. I was also denied an upgrade from Y-C when I flew ORD-ARN last week.. I also had a friend in M, he was also denied an upgrade to Y because of meals

The last 3 flights I have taken from ORD has been like this and the same excuse is always used: Catering.

Keep reporting and I will for sure contact SAS International and let them know about this

ORD station must be rock bottom! I think they handle it better at EWR and ARN and sometimes at CPH.

if you ask for the upgrade at checkin, early enough it should work better... and if they give catering as an excuse, go to the ticket office and ask nicely "excuse me, is it possible to buy a full C ticket for the next flight?" and I am pretty sure that there will be no problem with that if there are seats available in C and the flight is not much overbooked

And that they will even manage to find a meal for your 6000 USD but for 20000 points, i think they just don't want to bother and go the extra mile...