Plusgrade - how much to bid???
 

I've had an email about plusgrade from SAA. I'm from out of town so I'd like some advice from locals on how to bid to get the upgrade from Y to J. I'm flying CPT to JNB at 09:50 on a Monday morning. I've already paid GBP147 (about 2500 ZAR) for the ticket. I'd be happy bidding about ZAR500 for the upgrade, but how likely am I to get it at this rate? Any advice from people who regularly use PlusGrade?

I've never used the service but if you don't win the bid you don't lose. Don't spend more than what makes you uncomfortable.

Also depends on your aircraft type. I would not bid on 737s as they are old

It's been a few months since I was on SA, but unless it's changed:

1) When you go to bid, there's a little strength-o-meter telling you how likely you are to succeed. I found a £75 bid was enough to to satisfy it. How truthful this was...no idea.
2) You don't earn miles based on the new class.

I also seem to recall an option to purchase an uprade to business class at a fixed rate at the airport. (possibly 1500ZAR for JNB-CPT? Though it's been a few years...)

Does that option still exist?

Also got the offer. I bought a JNB-CPT ticket on Black Friday for ZAR 1600 r/t so I assume it is the cheapest eco.

The lowest plusgrade offer the slider allows me to make is o for ZAR 1000 + tax o/w. That's probably just about as much as an upgrade is worth to me, uhm.

Update: I decided to bid the minimum after all (1000 + tax). The offer was accepted.

I've just had a similar offer come through for flights JNB-CPT-JNB .. outbound is scheduled as an A320, inbound is scheduled as an A346. For some reason the bids were in USD - I've bid $95 outbound and $105 inbound.

For anyone else that's played this game, do those seem like reasonable offers?

Yes. It's also pretty close to what SA charges / used to charge for a paid upgrade at check-in. Of course there's never a guarantee, but it seems like a reasonable price based on past experience.