EY Upgrade Auction

[RAM]

Oops. Bit of a problem now. I booked my flight on 8th July to ensure it was under the old rules not the new ones, but just phoned Etihad to try to arrange an upgrade with points, to be told that the new rules came in for bookings from 8th July onwards. I've checked the various communications and Etihad's website, and they are ambiguous. For example cut and paste below from the FAQ page - note the use of "before" and "after" 8 July without clearly specifying what the cutoff date was. In other places different forms of words are used, but this isn't the only place where "after" is used.

"If I have booked an Etihad Airways flight before 8 July 2015, but I will be travelling after 8 July 2015, how many Miles will I earn?

The number of Etihad Guest Miles awarded will be determined by the date you bought the ticket, not when you are travelling. So, only tickets issued after 8 July 2015 will be affected by changes to earning rates.

For tickets issued prior to 8 July 2015, the current earning rates will apply, even if you are travelling after this date."

That would seem to be pretty clear cut. After is "After".

I'm sure the ACCC would agree. How about calling the travel ombudsman for their opinion?

 

[IrishPete]

That would seem to be pretty clear cut. After is "After".

I'm sure the ACCC would agree. How about calling the travel ombudsman for their opinion?

Because in other places it is less ambiguous, so it was bit pot luck which part I read. I'll wait to see if the Etihad rep that monitors this site can help.

I was also told that my Breaking Deals fare isn't upgradable, but I've never had that problem in the past. It's almost impossible to find the fare class of your ticket after booking it.

If I can't get them to change their minds, I'm going to have a lot of points that I can't use for much internationally (though I could spend them on domestic flights, which are quite good value).

 

[EtihadAirways]

Because in other places it is less ambiguous, so it was bit pot luck which part I read. I'll wait to see if the Etihad rep that monitors this site can help.

I was also told that my Breaking Deals fare isn't upgradable, but I've never had that problem in the past. It's almost impossible to find the fare class of your ticket after booking it.

If I can't get them to change their minds, I'm going to have a lot of points that I can't use for much internationally (though I could spend them on domestic flights, which are quite good value).

Hi IrishPete,

Please be advised that when you book ticket with Etihad on the website. You will see the fare class in the Fare Rules which is showing on the bottom right. As the new Fare Choices launched on 14 Sept. You can also see details about Fare Rules/Miles/Baggage Allowance/Upgrade/Chauffeur/Priority Check-in on the website. We believe this is the transparency we are trying to bring for our guests.

Let us know if you need more details. *JS

 

[IrishPete]

Hi IrishPete,

Please be advised that when you book ticket with Etihad on the website. You will see the fare class in the Fare Rules which is showing on the bottom right. As the new Fare Choices launched on 14 Sept. You can also see details about Fare Rules/Miles/Baggage Allowance/Upgrade/Chauffeur/Priority Check-in on the website. We believe this is the transparency we are trying to bring for our guests.

Let us know if you need more details. *JS

Thanks for the response Etihad.

In an earlier post I quoted the minimum bid prices I found using my booking reference. As you can see, all 4 legs were upgradeable.

I subsequently received two separate emails from PlusGrade inviting me to upgrade, and I checked the minimum bids again (they were the same).

I now find that I cannot upgrade the flights through PlusGrade.

So it's not just me who is confused, your own systems appear to be confused!

 

[kpc]

I got an email offer tonight to bid for an upgrade from J---> F (Apartment) from a work paid Syd-Auh J return on the A380 next week. The lowest bid was $1380 and the highest was $2420...a bit expensive, but infinity reckons that EY F apartment is better than SQ F suites, so I thought here is my chance, what the hell, and put in a bid for $1390 on the outbound sector only...if I don't get it, I'll try on the inbound a few days later. Wish me luck

 

[kpc]

I got an email offer tonight to bid for an upgrade from J---> F (Apartment) from a work paid Syd-Auh J return on the A380 next week. The lowest bid was $1380 and the highest was $2420...a bit expensive, but infinity reckons that EY F apartment is better than SQ F suites, so I thought here is my chance, what the hell, and put in a bid for $1390 on the outbound sector only...if I don't get it, I'll try on the inbound a few days later. Wish me luck

Success!! Got an email tonight at T-24 hours informing me my bid to upgrade to F has been accepted.....F apartments here I come! (now to resist the tempatation to bid for an upgrade on the return leg!!)

 

[infinity]

Success!! Got an email tonight at T-24 hours informing me my bid to upgrade to F has been accepted.....F apartments here I come! (now to resist the tempatation to bid for an upgrade on the return leg!!)

mate you wil llove it

Best F around as a single traveller ( just a tad better than SG)

Bring on the Bollie Grande Annee 2005

 

[kpc]

It was great....may try and upgrade on the return leg on Tuesday as well

mate you wil llove it

Best F around as a single traveller ( just a tad better than SG)

Bring on the Bollie Grande Annee 2005

 

[EtihadAirways]

Success!! Got an email tonight at T-24 hours informing me my bid to upgrade to F has been accepted.....F apartments here I come! (now to resist the tempatation to bid for an upgrade on the return leg!!)

Great to hear that. Hope you will have a nice flight! *JS

 

[kpc]

It was great....may try and upgrade on the return leg on Tuesday as well

Success on the bid for the return Auh-Syd leg as well ...got home last night and really love EY's F Apartments! !

 

[EtihadAirways]

Hi kpc,

Great to hear this feedback and that you enjoyed our reimagined experience! We hope to see you again soon *GW

Success on the bid for the return Auh-Syd leg as well ...got home last night and really love EY's F Apartments! !

 

[RAM]

Real problem....

Booked as VA codes hare (every flight to LHR return) so cannot use points to upgrade or bid.

Only chance is upgrade at airport I suppose.

Sniff, sniff.

 

[RAM]

Just in case you haven't come across this page at Etihad yet....

It details the A-Z of what every booking class entitles you to (or misses out on) - just a sample of part of it below:



Fare Choices at a glance

 

[IrishPete]

RAM - once booked, if you can' remember, it can be very hard to determine what Fare Class you booked, and if you booked through a third party the fare class may not have been obvious. It is NOT clear from any of the ticketing information. You can ask Etihad, but like all call centres you can get a different answer each time you ask! I was told I could upgrade with points on my return leg, but that turned out not to be true.

 

[aaronm]

Apologies if this is a little OT. Due to Virgin's suspension of their SYD-AUH service next year, affected flights are being moved to EY services. I had a Y+ booking on Virgin and have been offered a $1200 upgrade to J or $390 compensation to downgrade to Y on the Etihad plane. Is the upgrade good value? Would be $2400 to upgrade both legs of the journey. I don't fancy the idea of 15 hours each way in Y but am on the fence about what to do here.

 

[RAM]

Apologies if this is a little OT. Due to Virgin's suspension of their SYD-AUH service next year, affected flights are being moved to EY services. I had a Y+ booking on Virgin and have been offered a $1200 upgrade to J or $390 compensation to downgrade to Y on the Etihad plane. Is the upgrade good value? Would be $2400 to upgrade both legs of the journey. I don't fancy the idea of 15 hours each way in Y but am on the fence about what to do here.

$1,200 to upgrade from Y would be OK but from Y+ that sounds too expensive.

Work out (if you can using a date that VA still is offering all classes to AUH) what the sale fares etc (similar ideally to what you paid for Y+) are and what the price difference is.

That at least gives some perspective.

 

[SusanZ]

Apologies if this is a little OT. Due to Virgin's suspension of their SYD-AUH service next year, affected flights are being moved to EY services. I had a Y+ booking on Virgin and have been offered a $1200 upgrade to J or $390 compensation to downgrade to Y on the Etihad plane. Is the upgrade good value? Would be $2400 to upgrade both legs of the journey. I don't fancy the idea of 15 hours each way in Y but am on the fence about what to do here.

aaronm I am in the same position and am extremely disappointed that VA cannot offer me an alternate flight in the same class I booked months ago! What have you decided to do? VA only informed me today, but it appears these arrangements were set in 21 December 2015!!! Very disappointed as I have now missed out on other PE options on other airlines.

 

[Jack_OC]

I would be extremely unhappy with this scenario too. However, $1,200 per leg doesn't strike me as particularly unreasonable - I imagine the cost difference between Y+ and J would normally be more than that (a J return from SYD-AUH typically costs about $7k). If you feel the cost of the upgrade is too much, do you also have the option of a full refund? Are there better options out there with other airlines? If your destination is AUH then probably not, but if you are travelling on to Europe there should be other Y+ options.

 

[raamsfamily]

Hi.

I am VA Platinum and booked MSP-AUH-BLR direct with Etihad.

Does Etihad already see my status or just the VA number?

If they do see status, does this print on the boarding pass and will it count towards priority for upgrades, either bidding or operational?

Thanks

 

[Jack_OC]

Hi.

I am VA Platinum and booked MSP-AUH-BLR direct with Etihad.

Does Etihad already see my status or just the VA number?

If they do see status, does this print on the boarding pass and will it count towards priority for upgrades, either bidding or operational?

Thanks

Yes they see your VA status and it shows on your bp.

I'm not sure if they give any priority for paid upgrades - although perhaps they do if they have more than one identical bid and not enough free seats. As for op-ups - I don't know if VA Platinum gets you priority, but here's my experience: for a couple of years I was crediting EY flights to EY Guest, and I achieved EY Gold. I travelled to the EU return on 3 or 4 occasions while I held EY Gold status, and received 2 op-ups - one from Y to J and one from J to F. Since just over 3 years ago, I have been crediting to Velocity instead, and I have travelled with EY extensively during that time, but never received an op-up (or any apparent status recognition), despite being VA Platinum.

Having said that, the lack of op-ups recently might have nothing to do with my change in FF program. The op-ups I got pre-dated the introduction of the upgrade auction program, and I suspect that has minimised the chances of an op-up - after all, if they can choose to approve an upgrade bid and charge the pax money for doing so, then they would presumably always take that option. As such, I have a feeling op-ups are now much rarer than they once were.