EY Upgrade Auction

[RAM]

Not for 6 hours IMHO. But when you get to AUH for the refuel go to the transfer desk and ask how much to upgrade at airport. if it is not a full flight then you may be pleasantly surprised.

 

[tinkybelle]

No its not cheap compared to up front really. In fact at these prices you are better off buying a ticket for approx $5000 return in biz when on sale for australia to europe

When is it 5 k the 5 k at present is biz to AUH then Eco for the rest of the trip.
and that is plus tax.
last time I saw 5 k was when they first came to oz.

 

[Virgin Bart]

Not for 6 hours IMHO. But when you get to AUH for the refuel go to the transfer desk and ask how much to upgrade at airport. if it is not a full flight then you may be pleasantly surprised.

Will do. Thanks very much RAM.

 

[Aussie_flyer]

When is it 5 k the 5 k at present is biz to AUH then Eco for the rest of the trip.
and that is plus tax.
last time I saw 5 k was when they first came to oz.

It was 5800 return to lhr about 3 months ago, cheaper to other euro cities not in the uk.

Thats all inclusive business all the way

 

[justcallmeryan]

AUH-LHR minimum bid $1015AUD. Not worth it, correct?

To each their own but I don't think it's worth it. That leg of the flight is short (6 - 7 hours), and if coming from OZ you've already done the long flight.

 

[mikenz]

Agreed I don't think it's worth it. I think a good gaugue of value is around $90/hour which makes the 14 hour leg decent value, especially if you throw in lounge access for a couple of hours.
Overall it's definitely a luxury purchase, it's basically a very very expensive hotel with no garuantee that you'll sleep. Although I'd probably pay for the AUH-Europe leg once at those prices to experience the new A380 Biz once it's in operation.

I've been looking at biz class to Europe for months and have never seen anything under $7k, other than those mixed-class fares that are long leg biz and short leg econ - at around $5.5k
At those prices it's still cheaper to buy economoy and bid or airport upgrade.

 

[alex_au]

Just purchased MEL-AUH-AMS-ZRH-AUH-MEL in J for $6200 all in with EY. Which is a great fare, and beats buying Y and upgrading with no guarantees. The upgrades certainly have their place but find it hard to justify on AUH - Europe flights at the current price range.

 

[Aussie_flyer]

Agreed I don't think it's worth it. I think a good gaugue of value is around $90/hour which makes the 14 hour leg decent value, especially if you throw in lounge access for a couple of hours.
Overall it's definitely a luxury purchase, it's basically a very very expensive hotel with no garuantee that you'll sleep. Although I'd probably pay for the AUH-Europe leg once at those prices to experience the new A380 Biz once it's in operation.

I've been looking at biz class to Europe for months and have never seen anything under $7k, other than those mixed-class fares that are long leg biz and short leg econ - at around $5.5k
At those prices it's still cheaper to buy economoy and bid or airport upgrade.

So you must have missed the big sale 3 months ago that I mentioned? Can't have been looking too hard then.

 

[mikenz]

So you must have missed the big sale 3 months ago that I mentioned? Can't have been looking too hard then.

Thanks, that was helpful. Where did you find the sale?

 

[Aussie_flyer]

Thanks, that was helpful. Where did you find the sale?

I was monitoring EY airfares for a client of mine, worked out very well, its was $8000 or so prior to the sale

 

[vmile]

We just got our offer to upgrade from J to F AUH-MEL in early December.

Mininum bid is $1,025.00 AUD.

12 months ago we enquired at the AUH lounge about the cost of the same upgrade, and were advised $700.00 USD

We nearly went for it on the basis we had never flown F before. But we worked out it was the same cost as geting both our children an iPad for Christmas.

And EY Biz is pretty good, so we did not take it up.

But the upgrade Gods smiled upon us that flight, and as we checked in at the gate, the buzzer went off, and we were OP-UP ed to F.

I hope I did not make too much of a spectacle of my self as I screamed 'Yessssssssssss!!!!!!!!!!!' after being shown to the pointy end.(Actually I did not care. It was SO good)

So EY first is really nice; but $1,025 is just a little bit too much.

To conclude. Most of us will not get the chance to fly F. If it comes in your grasp, and you have the money, it's not that bad.

Enjoy.

P.S. And as an aside to those who are quoting $5-6,000 for J EY to Europe Return, good luck. I costed our flight this week ex OZ and it's $9,000. We do positioning flights ex Asia (Manila, Bangkok, and now coughet) and this really brings the costs down with EY, and you can get back to OZ direct, but those $5-6000 return ex OZ are the exception not the rule with EY.

 

[TiredOldFlyer]

We just got our offer to upgrade from J to F AUH-MEL in early December.

Mininum bid is $1,025.00 AUD.

12 months ago we enquired at the AUH lounge about the cost of the same upgrade, and were advised $700.00 USD

We nearly went for it on the basis we had never flown F before. But we worked out it was the same cost as geting both our children an iPad for Christmas.

And EY Biz is pretty good, so we did not take it up.

But the upgrade Gods smiled upon us that flight, and as we checked in at the gate, the buzzer went off, and we were OP-UP ed to F.

I hope I did not make too much of a spectacle of my self as I screamed 'Yessssssssssss!!!!!!!!!!!' after being shown to the pointy end.(Actually I did not care. It was SO good)

So EY first is really nice; but $1,025 is just a little bit too much.

To conclude. Most of us will not get the chance to fly F. If it comes in your grasp, and you have the money, it's not that bad.

Enjoy.

P.S. And as an aside to those who are quoting $5-6,000 for J EY to Europe Return, good luck. I costed our flight this week ex OZ and it's $9,000. We do positioning flights ex Asia (Manila, Bangkok, and now coughet) and this really brings the costs down with EY, and you can get back to OZ direct, but those $5-6000 return ex OZ are the exception not the rule with EY.

Well done - enjoy !

However remember the closer the departure the dearer the ticket. Booking 6+ months out seems to be the way to go. For example Etihad and Virgin are showing $6,700 return in April next year and $7,700 for
early December. ( See Kayak ) I booked in August for January and paid $6,300.

I would be happy to upgrade MEL to AUH and look forward to such an offer.

But forget the fare and enjoy the journey! Looking forward to hear how it is.

 

[Aussie_flyer]

P.S. And as an aside to those who are quoting $5-6,000 for J EY to Europe Return, good luck. I costed our flight this week ex OZ and it's $9,000. We do positioning flights ex Asia (Manila, Bangkok, and now coughet) and this really brings the costs down with EY, and you can get back to OZ direct, but those $5-6000 return ex OZ are the exception not the rule with EY.

I am only quoting what is offered by the airline during sales.... if you have long term travel plans then it is wise to wait for a sale. Yes the standard non sale fare is $8k , but the sales wipe $2000 to $2500 off that. Just have to be monitoring it.

So I think $1000 per sector (i.e. $4000 total) to upgrade to J from economy is not good value. You can get year round business class deals on AY/LX/LH etc for $5000-$6000 all in, and that's not even on special

 

[alex_au]

I have to agree with Aussie_flyer, EY offer regular outstanding deals to Europe & UK between $5500 - $6500. However you do need to be vigilant in watching the pricing/sales. Another option if you prefer to fly EY is to check out EI airfares. EI code shares with EY from OZ, and occasionally have some amazing fares, however on EI ticketed bookings unable to nominate VA FF. I'm pretty sure somewhere in this thread there is mention of EI fares ex MEL/SYD/BNE - a dummy booking result for Melbourne to Dublin ex MEL 27/05 and return 27/06 2015 results in a J fare of $6200.00 while on the EY site it shows a fare of $7000 - so just by booking directly with EI a saving of $800 per person. Every little bit helps!

 

[IrishPete]

But it isn't $1000 per sector. The short leg is cheaper.

The advantage of booking an economy fare then trying to upgrade is that you can choose whether or not to pay for Business Class on each leg. And you can mix and match, points upgrades and paid upgrades. Works for me.

Some of the online travel agent websites will do mixed class fares to Europe on various airlines, including Etihad, which Etihad don't seem to sell themselves. That has the same effect as what I do, but at around $5000+ it's still not going to work especially cheap.

Agreed that Aer Lingus seems to be a relative bargain, though their availability isn't great - they have no availability in Business Class some days, even though you can be sure Etihad has flights and seats on those days.

 

[alex_au]

The only difference with taking advantage of the economy fare + paid upgrade IrishPete is there is no guarantee of the upgrade, it really is a lottery especially during the northern summer. Point upgrades i agree are a good use of points.

EI availability is wide open for the first 7 months of 2015, most dates i have searched for are readily available.

 

[Peter78]

Back in August, I booked EY flights to and from DUS, at the bargain price of $1,225, obviously for Y. I have just received the email invitation to upgrade to J and the following details (all in A$) might be of interest to some here:

SYD - AUH: not upgradeable. Y is only half full whilst J is 90%+ full
AUH - DUS: slider stands at $940. Minimum bid $785, max $1,260
DUS - AUH: slider stands at $940. Min bid $785, max $1,260
AUH - SYD: slider stands at $1,650. Min bid $1,420, max $2,050.

I will ask which rates apply at the airport and provide feedback later.

 

[Aussie_flyer]

Back in August, I booked EY flights to and from DUS, at the bargain price of $1,225, obviously for Y. I have just received the email invitation to upgrade to J and the following details (all in A$) might be of interest to some here:

SYD - AUH: not upgradeable. Y is only half full whilst J is 90%+ full
AUH - DUS: slider stands at $940. Minimum bid $785, max $1,260
DUS - AUH: slider stands at $940. Min bid $785, max $1,260
AUH - SYD: slider stands at $1,650. Min bid $1,420, max $2,050.

I will ask which rates apply at the airport and provide feedback later.

So, lets say the min bid worked and it applied for all sectors, you are looking at approx $4400 to upgrade, add the fare ($1200-$2500 for economy) and you come up with, possibly more than the price to buy J outright during a sale. It's not good value.

 

[mikenz]

Back in August, I booked EY flights to and from DUS, at the bargain price of $1,225, obviously for Y. I have just received the email invitation to upgrade to J and the following details (all in A$) might be of interest to some here:

SYD - AUH: not upgradeable. Y is only half full whilst J is 90%+ full
AUH - DUS: slider stands at $940. Minimum bid $785, max $1,260
DUS - AUH: slider stands at $940. Min bid $785, max $1,260
AUH - SYD: slider stands at $1,650. Min bid $1,420, max $2,050.

I will ask which rates apply at the airport and provide feedback later.

Thanks for the info.
Just out of interest is the first flight (SYD-AUH) flying with Virgin Australia? I had something similar where the VA sector wasn't upgradeable.

 

[mikenz]

So, lets say the min bid worked and it applied for all sectors, you are looking at approx $4400 to upgrade, add the fare ($1200-$2500 for economy) and you come up with, possibly more than the price to buy J outright during a sale. It's not good value.

Agreed, and it looks like its getting less and less value with the AU$ decreasing against the US$