Sep 8, 2017, 8:42 am
Last edit by: flyerby
E+ members receive two upgrade vouchers per membership year that can be used as system-wide upgrades. Vouchers are not delivered to E+ status holders in physical or electronic form and only exist on the screens of TK agents.
It is advisable to call TK to verify the number of vouchers you have prior to and after the upgrade (unless you have no vouchers left).
Upgrades are done by calling TK CS or a local TK office (by phone or email).
One voucher is needed to upgrade per direction. For example, the itinerary LHR-IST-BKK will need one voucher to upgrade, and the itinerary LHR-IST-BKK-IST-LHR will need two vouchers. If an agent tells you otherwise, HUCA.
How to find itineraries with availability for a voucher upgrade?
Find an itinerary in any class in Y that has 4 seats left in J booking class on the same itinerary as the Y. To be extra cautious, you may also check the individual legs (when applicable) for 4 seats left in J booking class. For example, for the itinerary LHR-IST-BKK, check at least that LHR-IST-BKK has 4 seats left in J booking class, and in addition, check LHR-IST and IST-BKK individually too.
You can no longer check for upgrade availability without having an e-ticket number.
A relatively low-risk method of proceeding is therefore...
1) Reserve a ticket online with TK but don't pay for the ticket yet. Just put it on hold for 48 hours for free for E+ members.
2) Book an economy class ticket on the same itinerary with a reputable USA-based OTA that offers a 24-hour cooling-off / full refund period.
3) Once you have received your e-ticket number, go to Manage Booking on the TK website and check if TK has offered a business upgrade with miles for your intineray. Any segment eligible for an upgrade with miles on the website is also eligible for an upgrade with E+ vouchers.
4) Another option would be to call TK CS and ask an agent to check if the ticket in (2) is upgradeable with your vouchers. Do not upgrade this ticket; just check.
5) Once availability is confirmed for your itinerary, pay for the ticket in (1). Upon payment and ticketing, call TK CS to ask an agent to upgrade this ticket.
6) Cancel for free the ticket in (2).
Another even lower-risk method would be to skip (1) and just upgrade the ticket in (2). If unsuccessful with the E+ upgrade, you can proceed to cancel your economy ticket within the 24-hour cooling-off period. Going with this route, you would then have to be in contact with the OTA and not TK in cases of schedule change, cancellation, or IRROP, which is not usually advisable unless you really have to.
You might be asked to enter a PIN number via an automatic system to access your vouchers; this is the PIN you use to log on to your TK M&S account.
It is advisable to call TK to verify the number of vouchers you have prior to and after the upgrade (unless you have no vouchers left).
Upgrades are done by calling TK CS or a local TK office (by phone or email).
One voucher is needed to upgrade per direction. For example, the itinerary LHR-IST-BKK will need one voucher to upgrade, and the itinerary LHR-IST-BKK-IST-LHR will need two vouchers. If an agent tells you otherwise, HUCA.
How to find itineraries with availability for a voucher upgrade?
Find an itinerary in any class in Y that has 4 seats left in J booking class on the same itinerary as the Y. To be extra cautious, you may also check the individual legs (when applicable) for 4 seats left in J booking class. For example, for the itinerary LHR-IST-BKK, check at least that LHR-IST-BKK has 4 seats left in J booking class, and in addition, check LHR-IST and IST-BKK individually too.
You can no longer check for upgrade availability without having an e-ticket number.
A relatively low-risk method of proceeding is therefore...
1) Reserve a ticket online with TK but don't pay for the ticket yet. Just put it on hold for 48 hours for free for E+ members.
2) Book an economy class ticket on the same itinerary with a reputable USA-based OTA that offers a 24-hour cooling-off / full refund period.
3) Once you have received your e-ticket number, go to Manage Booking on the TK website and check if TK has offered a business upgrade with miles for your intineray. Any segment eligible for an upgrade with miles on the website is also eligible for an upgrade with E+ vouchers.
4) Another option would be to call TK CS and ask an agent to check if the ticket in (2) is upgradeable with your vouchers. Do not upgrade this ticket; just check.
5) Once availability is confirmed for your itinerary, pay for the ticket in (1). Upon payment and ticketing, call TK CS to ask an agent to upgrade this ticket.
6) Cancel for free the ticket in (2).
Another even lower-risk method would be to skip (1) and just upgrade the ticket in (2). If unsuccessful with the E+ upgrade, you can proceed to cancel your economy ticket within the 24-hour cooling-off period. Going with this route, you would then have to be in contact with the OTA and not TK in cases of schedule change, cancellation, or IRROP, which is not usually advisable unless you really have to.
You might be asked to enter a PIN number via an automatic system to access your vouchers; this is the PIN you use to log on to your TK M&S account.
Elite Plus upgrade voucher
Jul 25, 2019, 10:14 am
#601
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: MUC
Programs: TK M&S Elite+, Qatar Platinum
Posts: 108
What happens is there is another frequent schedule change and the booking has to be accepted? The TK agent is re-applying the elite+ voucher again. What if fare class J is not available anymore?
Jul 26, 2019, 9:01 am
#602
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: CDG
Programs: TK Elite
Posts: 1,611
Just completed a double whammy fairly easily
- Managed to get an agent to check availability without a confirmed eticket number (he first told me it wasn't possible but I challenged him by saying his colleague told me it was possible). The whole process was very quick & it took 15 mins on the phone from start to finish (him checking availability, me buying the ticket + him doing the upgrade)
- At the same time, spent 90k miles buying an award ticket for my wife. Quick & easy, no IT hiccups
Booked CDG-KIX-CDG 26 APR-14 MAY if anyone here is planning on taking these flights, availability was dwindling by the day!
Just checked Expertflyer & it still shows J4/I4 on the outbound but the inbound went from J4/I4 to J2/I2 so this questions the J class availability theory for the vouchers...
- Managed to get an agent to check availability without a confirmed eticket number (he first told me it wasn't possible but I challenged him by saying his colleague told me it was possible). The whole process was very quick & it took 15 mins on the phone from start to finish (him checking availability, me buying the ticket + him doing the upgrade)
- At the same time, spent 90k miles buying an award ticket for my wife. Quick & easy, no IT hiccups
Booked CDG-KIX-CDG 26 APR-14 MAY if anyone here is planning on taking these flights, availability was dwindling by the day!
Just checked Expertflyer & it still shows J4/I4 on the outbound but the inbound went from J4/I4 to J2/I2 so this questions the J class availability theory for the vouchers...
Jul 28, 2019, 4:11 am
#603
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 636
- The normal procedure is to call their contact center. The agent will return your upgrade voucher, confirm the change, and apply the voucher again. If the availability is no longer there, you are out-of-luck.
- There is a report that an agent could confirm the change without returning the upgrade voucher but it involves a supervisor. I do not have any personal experience on this.
Alternative, you can choose to ignore the schedule change:
- There are several reports that you could simply ignore the schedule change and proceed to the airport check-in counter as usual. The check-in agent can sort this out for your without affecting your upgrade voucher. The downside of this approach is that you can no longer do online check-in and seat selection. I also do not have any personal experience on this but I will find out tomorrow. Wish me luck!
Jul 28, 2019, 9:18 am
#604
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: London
Programs: Hilton, IHG - BA, GA, LH, QR, SV, TK
Posts: 17,008
My flight Istanbul to Bali next year has been rescheduled by 15 minutes. The website tells me i can accept the new times, change the schedule or cancel the trip. Yet below this there are only two buttons - one to cancel, the other to change.
All very confusing ... all very THY
Jul 28, 2019, 10:09 am
#605
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2018
Location: Istanbul, Turkey
Programs: TK Elite Plus,BAEC GGL,ITA Executive, AFKL Gold,QR Gold,HH Diamond,Bonvoy Gold,ALL Gold
Posts: 14,186
If the schedule change is simply shunting forward the departure time of an onward flight from IST by 15 minutes, flight numbers, PNR, fare-class and and ticket number remain the same - why should there be any need to dislocate the voucher and reapply it?
My flight Istanbul to Bali next year has been rescheduled by 15 minutes. The website tells me i can accept the new times, change the schedule or cancel the trip. Yet below this there are only two buttons - one to cancel, the other to change.
All very confusing ... all very THY
My flight Istanbul to Bali next year has been rescheduled by 15 minutes. The website tells me i can accept the new times, change the schedule or cancel the trip. Yet below this there are only two buttons - one to cancel, the other to change.
All very confusing ... all very THY
If you have time, go to a sales office ( if I'm not wrong the deadline for confirming the changes is 3 hours before departure ) which is the best way to handle the situation as they should be able to confirm the changes by keeping your voucher.
Jul 28, 2019, 11:23 am
#606
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 636
FWIW, I went to two sales offices that are generally helpful with TK matters. But for this specific issue, the agents from both offices refuse to touch my reservation and say that I should ignore the notification. Both insist that there will be nothing to worry (yet that makes me worry lol).
Jul 28, 2019, 11:52 am
#607
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: London
Programs: Hilton, IHG - BA, GA, LH, QR, SV, TK
Posts: 17,008
FWIW, I went to two sales offices that are generally helpful with TK matters. But for this specific issue, the agents from both offices refuse to touch my reservation and say that I should ignore the notification. Both insist that there will be nothing to worry (yet that makes me worry lol).
Jul 28, 2019, 11:56 am
#608
Join Date: May 2016
Location: SFO, DUS
Programs: BA Gold (OW Emer), TK ELPL (*G), Hilton Gold, Marriott Gold, IHG Gold
Posts: 528
Jul 28, 2019, 12:35 pm
#609
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: MUC
Programs: TK M&S Elite+, Qatar Platinum
Posts: 108
Ok, as I already have a seat reservation for my flights to/from DPS I will ignore all future schedule changes.
Good luck to all with Elite+ vouchers the next months. Please report if you had any issues when checking- in at the airport. I always check-in online to reduce risk of an overbooked flight. @ISTFlyer Do you know if this 3 hours before departure rule is documented somewhere?
Good luck to all with Elite+ vouchers the next months. Please report if you had any issues when checking- in at the airport. I always check-in online to reduce risk of an overbooked flight. @ISTFlyer Do you know if this 3 hours before departure rule is documented somewhere?
Jul 28, 2019, 12:46 pm
#610
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2018
Location: Istanbul, Turkey
Programs: TK Elite Plus,BAEC GGL,ITA Executive, AFKL Gold,QR Gold,HH Diamond,Bonvoy Gold,ALL Gold
Posts: 14,186
Ok, as I already have a seat reservation for my flights to/from DPS I will ignore all future schedule changes.
Good luck to all with Elite+ vouchers the next months. Please report if you had any issues when checking- in at the airport. I always check-in online to reduce risk of an overbooked flight. @ISTFlyer Do you know if this 3 hours before departure rule is documented somewhere?
Good luck to all with Elite+ vouchers the next months. Please report if you had any issues when checking- in at the airport. I always check-in online to reduce risk of an overbooked flight. @ISTFlyer Do you know if this 3 hours before departure rule is documented somewhere?
It was told to me by the Atatürk Airport CIP Sales Office, few years ago when confirming changes was not possible online.
Jul 28, 2019, 1:26 pm
#611
Join Date: Oct 2016
Location: LAX
Programs: TK M&S, LH MM, Global Entry, Hertz Gold, Sixt Platinum
Posts: 1,087
Jul 29, 2019, 2:39 am
#612
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: MUC
Programs: TK M&S Elite+, Qatar Platinum
Posts: 108
Ok, my lesson learned with TK (IT) is booking a full flex economy base fare and a refundable hotel at the destination when using the Elite+ voucher.
Everything else is too risky for my personal taste. ;-)
Everything else is too risky for my personal taste. ;-)
Jul 29, 2019, 6:24 am
#613
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 636
If you want to "accept" the schedule change:
- The normal procedure is to call their contact center. The agent will return your upgrade voucher, confirm the change, and apply the voucher again. If the availability is no longer there, you are out-of-luck.
- There is a report that an agent could confirm the change without returning the upgrade voucher but it involves a supervisor. I do not have any personal experience on this.
Alternative, you can choose to ignore the schedule change:
- There are several reports that you could simply ignore the schedule change and proceed to the airport check-in counter as usual. The check-in agent can sort this out for your without affecting your upgrade voucher. The downside of this approach is that you can no longer do online check-in and seat selection. I also do not have any personal experience on this but I will find out tomorrow. Wish me luck!
- The normal procedure is to call their contact center. The agent will return your upgrade voucher, confirm the change, and apply the voucher again. If the availability is no longer there, you are out-of-luck.
- There is a report that an agent could confirm the change without returning the upgrade voucher but it involves a supervisor. I do not have any personal experience on this.
Alternative, you can choose to ignore the schedule change:
- There are several reports that you could simply ignore the schedule change and proceed to the airport check-in counter as usual. The check-in agent can sort this out for your without affecting your upgrade voucher. The downside of this approach is that you can no longer do online check-in and seat selection. I also do not have any personal experience on this but I will find out tomorrow. Wish me luck!
Jul 31, 2019, 4:15 am
#614
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: CDG
Programs: TK Elite
Posts: 1,611
Just checked-in at the airport and there was absolutely no issue whatsoever. It is clear that the agent has to do something that is outside of her normal procedure but it took less than 5 minutes to complete. Now I have to figure out what to do 3 hours before the boarding time lol.
Jul 31, 2019, 3:14 pm
#615
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: YOW
Programs: TK E+, AC 25K, A3 S, UA S, BoNVoY TE
Posts: 103
Here is a good data point for the forum:
I successfully upgraded YYZ-IST-MRU (one way), for two persons, using one E+ voucher per person. This upgrade was a good test of the upgrade system, because the loads before requesting the upgrade were as follows:
Married-segment routing: YYZ-IST-MRU J2 I0 R0
Individual Segments: YYZ-IST J0 I0 R0 / IST-MRU J4 I0 R0
After the upgrade:
Married-segment routing: YYZ-IST-MRU J0 I0 R0
Individual Segments: YYZ-IST J0 I0 R0 / IST-MRU J4 I0 R0
Given the above loads, I had serious doubts that an upgrade would be available; however, I wanted to test their system with a difficult situation. To be safe, I first checked the upgrade availability through the TK call center using a fully-refundable ticket. After the agent confirmed that two seats were available for upgrade, I ended the call and refunded the ticket online. I then proceeded to book the lowest available economy fare (O-class in this case) and tried for the upgrade with a second call to TK, which was successful.
Some interesting points from my experience:
- An agent yesterday said that J-class is not sufficient, that there is a "quota" in the IT system (hidden from the agents) that may reject the upgrade even with J > 4;
- The first agent today (my initial call using a refundable ticket) initially said the upgrade wasn't showing as "automatically available" and she had to "check manually". She then confirmed two seats were available;
- The second agent today (my follow-on call using an Economy Semi-Flexible ticket) managed to immediately confirm that two seats were available for upgrade. He needed to split the PNR to process the E+ upgrade from each traveler's account. This scared me since I didn't want to end up in the situation where the availability disappeared after the first upgrade was processed. Luckily this did not happen; and
- I wanted to check my return journey; however, two agents have now said that the TK upgrade system will not confirm an upgrade greater than 330 days in advance even though TK's website sells tickets 355 days in advance.
Based on the above, it would appear that J-class on the married journey is the only requirement... YMMV.
For my own knowledge, could others kindly confirm if it was indeed necessary to split the PNR when upgrading using E+ vouchers from two accounts?
The more data points we get, the better informed we will be to understand and use the TK system!
I successfully upgraded YYZ-IST-MRU (one way), for two persons, using one E+ voucher per person. This upgrade was a good test of the upgrade system, because the loads before requesting the upgrade were as follows:
Married-segment routing: YYZ-IST-MRU J2 I0 R0
Individual Segments: YYZ-IST J0 I0 R0 / IST-MRU J4 I0 R0
After the upgrade:
Married-segment routing: YYZ-IST-MRU J0 I0 R0
Individual Segments: YYZ-IST J0 I0 R0 / IST-MRU J4 I0 R0
Given the above loads, I had serious doubts that an upgrade would be available; however, I wanted to test their system with a difficult situation. To be safe, I first checked the upgrade availability through the TK call center using a fully-refundable ticket. After the agent confirmed that two seats were available for upgrade, I ended the call and refunded the ticket online. I then proceeded to book the lowest available economy fare (O-class in this case) and tried for the upgrade with a second call to TK, which was successful.
Some interesting points from my experience:
- An agent yesterday said that J-class is not sufficient, that there is a "quota" in the IT system (hidden from the agents) that may reject the upgrade even with J > 4;
- The first agent today (my initial call using a refundable ticket) initially said the upgrade wasn't showing as "automatically available" and she had to "check manually". She then confirmed two seats were available;
- The second agent today (my follow-on call using an Economy Semi-Flexible ticket) managed to immediately confirm that two seats were available for upgrade. He needed to split the PNR to process the E+ upgrade from each traveler's account. This scared me since I didn't want to end up in the situation where the availability disappeared after the first upgrade was processed. Luckily this did not happen; and
- I wanted to check my return journey; however, two agents have now said that the TK upgrade system will not confirm an upgrade greater than 330 days in advance even though TK's website sells tickets 355 days in advance.
Based on the above, it would appear that J-class on the married journey is the only requirement... YMMV.
For my own knowledge, could others kindly confirm if it was indeed necessary to split the PNR when upgrading using E+ vouchers from two accounts?
The more data points we get, the better informed we will be to understand and use the TK system!