EY Upgrade Auction

[EuroFlyer]

Thanks Euroflyer

more than welcome

 

[KATERGOO]

450 Euros minimum to upgrade from CDG to AUH.
Not cheap.
Will probably try upgrade at check in !

 

[KATERGOO]

Received the upgrade email. Minimum bid 450 euros from Paris to Abu Dhabi. Not cheap. Has anyone experienced upgrade at check in on that route ?

 

[ywwol]

For the people that have upgraded at the airport, is that something that they will offer, or something you have to request?

 

[KATERGOO]

It's something you have to request.
For CDG - AUH auction price and airport price were similar (450€)

 

[mikenz]

Ok I got the auction email last night, 1 week before I fly MEL-AUH-LHR return.

The lowest bid available has actually dropped in the last few hours. Anyone seen that before?

The prices are more than have been quotes on this forum, and are as follows:

Mel - AUH = AU$1040 and range to $1560
AUH - LHR = $930 - $1560
LHR - AUH = $785 - $1360
AUH - MEL = $1040 - $1670

I was hoping to grab an upgrade for the long haul's and was expecting around $800 out and $500 back, but maybe that was the price i'd seen on the at airport upgrade.

I tried a dummy booking and it looks like economy is over half empty and bus is around two thirds full (with no window seats!)

I think it's probably still good value for money if you can get all upgrades at the lowest bid price, but I don't think I'll be able to do it.

 

[mikenz]

Asa follow up, I think I've worked out why the min amounts have dropped today.
You can change the currency, and when changed to USD the min amounts are US$1000 for the long legs, so it must be linked to the US exchange rate.

 

[Jack_OC]

I tried a dummy booking and it looks like economy is over half empty and bus is around two thirds full (with no window seats!)

Bear in mind there is a difference between the number of seats available for selection and the number of unsold seats. There will always be people who have confirmed tickets but no seats assigned. Some people just don't bother pre selecting and/or don't know it's possible. And travel agents often don't bother either, strangely enough. As such, it's theoretically possible that half of the seats could be available for selection a week out but the flight ends up being completely full. Equally, seats can appear to be unavailable even if they haven't been assigned to anyone yet, so this doesn't give you a great picture either way.

You really need Expert Flyer to find out how many seats remain unsold in each class. Someone on here with access might be kind enough to look it up for you.(I don't have access).

I think it's probably still good value for money if you can get all upgrades at the lowest bid price, but I don't think I'll be able to do it.

Agree it would be v good value compared to the price of a normal J fare. However, it's still a lot of cash compared to a Y fare. IMHO It's worth trying to get upgraded for at least one of the long flights if you can.

 

[ishin]

Do EY offer J - F auctions?...or is it only Y - J?...if so, any idea of the auction ranges MEL - LHR

 

[Jack_OC]

Do EY offer J - F auctions?...or is it only Y - J?...if so, any idea of the auction ranges MEL - LHR

Yes they do. Can't remember price ranges, but I think it was similar to the amount for Y to J.

 

[RAM]

Ok I got the auction email last night, 1 week before I fly MEL-AUH-LHR return.

The lowest bid available has actually dropped in the last few hours. Anyone seen that before?

The prices are more than have been quotes on this forum, and are as follows:

Mel - AUH = AU$1040 and range to $1560
AUH - LHR = $930 - $1560
LHR - AUH = $785 - $1360
AUH - MEL = $1040 - $1670

I was hoping to grab an upgrade for the long haul's and was expecting around $800 out and $500 back, but maybe that was the price i'd seen on the at airport upgrade.

I tried a dummy booking and it looks like economy is over half empty and bus is around two thirds full (with no window seats!)

I think it's probably still good value for money if you can get all upgrades at the lowest bid price, but I don't think I'll be able to do it.

The prices are set by Eithad in USD and then put into local currency. If you upgrade at SYD they charge you in USD and use an exchange rate worse than TravelEx (I didn't think that was possible but it was). The rate used was over 6% from the mid rate at the time.

 

[mikenz]

450 Euros minimum to upgrade from CDG to AUH.
Not cheap.
Will probably try upgrade at check in !

How did you get on?

 

[IrishPete]

Bear in mind there is a difference between the number of seats available for selection and the number of unsold seats. There will always be people who have confirmed tickets but no seats assigned. Some people just don't bother pre selecting and/or don't know it's possible. And travel agents often don't bother either, strangely enough. As such, it's theoretically possible that half of the seats could be available for selection a week out but the flight ends up being completely full. Equally, seats can appear to be unavailable even if they haven't been assigned to anyone yet, so this doesn't give you a great picture either way.

You really need Expert Flyer to find out how many seats remain unsold in each class. Someone on here with access might be kind enough to look it up for you.(I don't have access).

Once I booked through Virgin for some reason (I think the domestic connections were quicker even though the long-haul flights were the same!), and because I hadn't booked direct with Etihad I couldn't use web check in, nor (if I remember correctly) seat selection. So if that is still the case, then some of the unallocated seats could be code-share people. I am not even sure if you can do web check in and seat selection if you book through a travel agent - does anyone know?

Anyway, for that reason I will always book direct with Etihad, and the fares are usually similar. And plus they don't charge extra for paying by credit card, which for me gives me free travel insurance.

Pete

 

[IrishPete]

p.s. I expect if you book through codeshare you won't get the emailed offers like upgrade auctions... Last trip I also got a whole lot of extra frequent flyer miles because of some offer I didn't even know about. They took a while to credit - they just appeared one day.

 

[KATERGOO]

How did you get on?

The price was also 450 euros at check in. I decided not to go for it !

 

[day-heg]

Once I booked through Virgin for some reason (I think the domestic connections were quicker even though the long-haul flights were the same!), and because I hadn't booked direct with Etihad I couldn't use web check in, nor (if I remember correctly) seat selection. So if that is still the case, then some of the unallocated seats could be code-share people. I am not even sure if you can do web check in and seat selection if you book through a travel agent - does anyone know?

Anyway, for that reason I will always book direct with Etihad, and the fares are usually similar. And plus they don't charge extra for paying by credit card, which for me gives me free travel insurance.

Pete

As a data point, I made a reward booking this morning for MEL-SYD-AUH-LHR, obviously done through the VA website and was able to select seats for all three flights. Both intl legs operated by EY.

 

[IrishPete]

As a data point, I made a reward booking this morning for MEL-SYD-AUH-LHR, obviously done through the VA website and was able to select seats for all three flights. Both intl legs operated by EY.

do you know if online check-in is available? I've previously chosen seats and not had them honoured at the check-in desk...

Pete

 

[mikenz]

Bear in mind there is a difference between the number of seats available for selection and the number of unsold seats. There will always be people who have confirmed tickets but no seats assigned. Some people just don't bother pre selecting and/or don't know it's possible. And travel agents often don't bother either, strangely enough. As such, it's theoretically possible that half of the seats could be available for selection a week out but the flight ends up being completely full. Equally, seats can appear to be unavailable even if they haven't been assigned to anyone yet, so this doesn't give you a great picture either way.

You really need Expert Flyer to find out how many seats remain unsold in each class. Someone on here with access might be kind enough to look it up for you.(I don't have access).




Agree it would be v good value compared to the price of a normal J fare. However, it's still a lot of cash compared to a Y fare. IMHO It's worth trying to get upgraded for at least one of the long flights if you can.

Thanks for the advice, Jack.
I've taken the plunge and bid at the lowest level, fingers crossed!

 

[mikenz]

I got it!
MEL - AUH in the bag!

 

[day-heg]

do you know if online check-in is available? I've previously chosen seats and not had them honoured at the check-in desk...

Pete

Apologies for delayed reply. I didn't try to OLCI for any of the three legs we took.

I'd arranged the seats over the phone as when I booked (330+ days out) there were no centre pairs available, so I called Etihad and they fixed it.
All of those selections stuck at checkin.

I will be expressing my displeasure if my window seat selections don't stick for my flight in Feb. I regard the aisle seats to be quite inferior in terms of privacy to the window seats.

Sorry I can't help more than that...