EY Upgrade Auction

[Aumelle]

I'm planning on traveling with my wife and kids (infant without seat & 4 year old) on Etihad soon.
We have been previously sent upgrade offers and I noticed the 'Traveling with infants' ineligibility in the fine print.

A few questions:
- If I were to book our tickets separately (2 bookings, 1 for me with daughter, 1 for wife + infant) and manage to myself + daughter upgraded, what are the chances of me taking my wife's seat in economy and she + baby taking the seat next to my daughter in business? Would the cabin staff mind?
- If I book all 4 tickets in 1 booking and try an upgrade to business at the airport, would we be ineligible for an upgrade as a family because of the infant?
- If we are eligible for an upgrade, would we be charged 3x the upgrade fee or would we have to pay extra for the baby as well?
- Does it matter in any way that all of us except the baby are Etihad Gold members?

 

[RAM]

I'm planning on traveling with my wife and kids (infant without seat & 4 year old) on Etihad soon.
We have been previously sent upgrade offers and I noticed the 'Traveling with infants' ineligibility in the fine print.

A few questions:
- If I were to book our tickets separately (2 bookings, 1 for me with daughter, 1 for wife + infant) and manage to myself + daughter upgraded, what are the chances of me taking my wife's seat in economy and she + baby taking the seat next to my daughter in business? Would the cabin staff mind?
- If I book all 4 tickets in 1 booking and try an upgrade to business at the airport, would we be ineligible for an upgrade as a family because of the infant?
- If we are eligible for an upgrade, would we be charged 3x the upgrade fee or would we have to pay extra for the baby as well?
- Does it matter in any way that all of us except the baby are Etihad Gold members?

Rather than hope for 'kind' treatment I suggest you ring Etihad customer service and ask them. I suspect the upgrade at airport option does not discriminate as they want to sell as much as they can but the auction route if it says no then normally that would mean no. It would be upsetting to win the auction and then be told sorry but you were not eligible - as you go to check-in.

 

[Aumelle]

It would be upsetting to win the auction and then be told sorry but you were not eligible - as you go to check-in

To clarify, if we were to book on 1 ticket, we would simply not get the upgrade invite over email. I know this from previous flights and experience of friends.
I'm just wondering if this means Etihad doesn't let families with infants upgrade to business (which I could understand in a way) or if they only do paid upgrades with infants at the airport to make sure enough bassinets are available.

 

[mikenz]

Hi folks,
I'm being a bit lazy here - hoping someone can help.
I'm flying SYD-AUH-LHR then DUB-AUH-SYD in a few weeks all booked through Virgin Australia.
I've already been offered the chance to upgrade on the VA operated flight from Sydney. Do you know if I will be offered the opportunity by Etihad for the other flights? I tried to manage my booking on the etihad flight (using the VA booking fer) but the booking isn't recognised.

Irish Pete - any tips on the return leg? Upgrage atr the airport cheaper than the auction?

Thanks!

 

[LACE]

Hi folks,
I'm being a bit lazy here - hoping someone can help.
I'm flying SYD-AUH-LHR then DUB-AUH-SYD in a few weeks all booked through Virgin Australia.
I've already been offered the chance to upgrade on the VA operated flight from Sydney. Do you know if I will be offered the opportunity by Etihad for the other flights? I tried to manage my booking on the etihad flight (using the VA booking fer) but the booking isn't recognised.

Irish Pete - any tips on the return leg? Upgrage atr the airport cheaper than the auction?

Thanks!

As your flights are booked with VA you won't get the chance to bid for an upgrade with EY on their flights. I believe your only chance will be at the airport. You can call VA to get the EY PNR and then call EY to select seats but unfortunately can't manage the booking online.

 

[RAM]

As your flights are booked with VA you won't get the chance to bid for an upgrade with EY on their flights. I believe your only chance will be at the airport. You can call VA to get the EY PNR and then call EY to select seats but unfortunately can't manage the booking online.

You can try calling the Eithad service centre and getting your email address added to their record of your booking. If you talk nicely to them AND they have your email address (regardless of whether rebadged as VA) then odds are if any empty seats you will get to bid.

Forget about managing your seats online, again courtesy on call to service may get your seats, "One last question, can you please tell me when I can get the seats allocated for my family on the legs I am lucky enough to fly with Etihad?"

Given people normally only call to complain - it certainly helps.

 

[mikenz]

Thanks Lace & Ram

 

[IrishPete]

Hi folks,
I'm being a bit lazy here - hoping someone can help.
I'm flying SYD-AUH-LHR then DUB-AUH-SYD in a few weeks all booked through Virgin Australia.
I've already been offered the chance to upgrade on the VA operated flight from Sydney. Do you know if I will be offered the opportunity by Etihad for the other flights? I tried to manage my booking on the etihad flight (using the VA booking fer) but the booking isn't recognised.

Irish Pete - any tips on the return leg? Upgrage atr the airport cheaper than the auction?

Thanks!

Sorry, I'm not sure what I can offer.

My auction offer for the outward legs also offered me upgrades for the return legs (except my Virgin component). But I didn't make an offer on the return Dublin-Abu Dhabi leg until I was in Ireland. I did this by having all the emails on my laptop.

Be careful you don't accidentally bid on all legs at the same time, if you don't want to - that's the default option in the email I was sent.

Looks to me like upgrade at check in is about the same price as the lowest auction bid, and as the auction offers you more certainty, I would suggest you go that route. If unsuccessful there's nothing to stop you asking at check-in too.

The whole journey will cost about $5 to 6k if you get upgraded at the minimum bid for each leg and have an economy ticket at around 2k. I did mine for about 4k because I only paid to upgrade two legs and did the rest with points. Some of the points were points I earned on the outward leg!

I'm starting to buy all my groceries on AmEx (Coles and Woolworths; Aldi don't accept it) for the Etihad points.

If you haven't booked already, search for Business fares with Skycanner and it automatically offers you some apparently quite cheap Business Class deals, which are actually mixed class - Business on the long legs, Economy on the short legs. With Etihad, or Aer Lingus and some others as a codeshare (Emirates/Qantas too.) Etihad themselves don't seem to offer mixed class, through their website anyway.

 

[TiredOldFlyer]

This week I purchased a ticket on Etihad from Melbourne to Milan.
I looked at Skyscanner at mixed class fares and also Kayak. Kayak do not seem to show mixed class .
I found the lowest price fare in J on Kayak. As I am not happy to book through a bucket wholesaler in
the ether I went to a major travel agent who offer to beat any fare. They did and I purchased a code share Virgin
ticket. The flight appeared in my Virgin account within 24 hours and I have been able to select seats via Virgin.
Also saved the credit card charge of 3.75% the wholesaler wanted !
Don't think I will be offered an upgrade in the auction but will certainly try at the airport.

 

[IrishPete]

Etihad also have a fare match promise, but I've not tried using it. And of course, I haven't tried their call centre for mixed class fares. (Is that what you bought in the end?)

 

[TiredOldFlyer]

Irish I booked Pearl (J) all the way - not a lot more but I was also chasing status and points to achieve Plat with
Virgin - for what it may be worth.

 

[Aumelle]

I'm starting to buy all my groceries on AmEx (Coles and Woolworths; Aldi don't accept it) for the Etihad points.

What AmEx card have you found best to accrue Etihad points with? I've got a free ANZ Platinum card as part of my home loan but their Rewards card can't be used for Etihad miles from what I can tell.

 

[RAM]

Etihad also have a fare match promise, but I've not tried using it. And of course, I haven't tried their call centre for mixed class fares. (Is that what you bought in the end?)

That is something I did not know - definitely worth following up.

 

[IrishPete]

What AmEx card have you found best to accrue Etihad points with? I've got a free ANZ Platinum card as part of my home loan but their Rewards card can't be used for Etihad miles from what I can tell.

Platinum Edge I think it is. Not free - $99 per year - but for the fee you get a free short-haul return domestic flight with Virgin per year. (If you are in Perth you get along-haul domestic flight instead.) Of course, idiot me has never used it yet.

It allows you to transfer points, in batches of 1000, to Etihad Guest.

 

[IrishPete]

That is something I did not know - definitely worth following up.

ETIHAD BEST PRICE PROMISE

https://www.etihad.com/en-au/plan-and-book/best-price-promise/

 

[DietCoke]

Received my email to upgrade on my codeshare VA/EY MEL - LHR:



The VA flights (operated by Etihad) are ineligible. We won't bid for the other flights, minimum bid is more than I thought and I think not worth it for the shorter flights. Oh well.

 

[IrishPete]

You might still be able to upgrade at Check-in even though code-sharing. Be ready for a quote of about 1250.

I could probably stomach the short legs in Economy but Lounge access is a must, and preferably not Al Rheem where you may have to wait ages for the shower. If you are Etihad Guest Silver you only get into the Al Rheem lounge, I don't know about higher statuses. A Business ticket gets you into the Business Lounge, but not arriving only leaving I think.

That's an odd booking, to be Etihad on the short legs but Virgin codeshare on the long ones...

 

[Nizar]

Be ready for a quote of about 1250.

IrishPete you seem to the quite the EY upgrade auction guru.
What's the cheapest you've seen the quote to upgrade MEL/SYD-AUH from J to F ?
As a rule, is this amount usually similar to the amount to upgrade from Y to J ?
Perhaps others can comment too.

Cheers

 

[IrishPete]

IrishPete you seem to the quite the EY upgrade auction guru.
What's the cheapest you've seen the quote to upgrade MEL/SYD-AUH from J to F ?
As a rule, is this amount usually similar to the amount to upgrade from Y to J ?
Perhaps others can comment too.

Cheers

Sorry, I'm no expert on Business to First... I only book Economy flights. And only once a year!

My impression from reading other people's comments is that it's about the same as Economy to Business - and that now seems to start around 1200. I seem to recall it was abour 800 when they first introduced the auction upgrade scheme.

Frankly, having just experienced an Operational Upgrade to First, I wouldn't bother spending my money or even my points on it.

 

[mikenz]

Irish Pete - thanks for the advice a little while back. I called VA and they have given me the EY PNR, and I was able to use that to add my email address through the EY website. You're right though, I can't change seats. Although I was able to choose seats while booking through the VA website.

Re your comment on Dietcoke's booking - the booking looks good to me. VA would fly the Australia leg and EY would fly the Europe leg.

Keeping an eye on this forum would suggest that you're right, it seems that econ to biz, and biz to first are usually around the same minimum bid.

I can't remember if I posted this before - I have booked a mixed class flight through VA flying SYD to LHR (Prem Econ on the long leg, Econ on the shorter leg) and was offered the auction at the time of booking for the VA flight only (SYD - AUH). The minimum bid for an upgrade to Biz is $600.