Aer Lingus – Business Upgrade

[wookie192]

Hi,

I’m flying to Orlando with Aer Lingus in the next few days. I’ve noticed there’s still a lot of Business class seats available (minimum 6 as the website won’t let me search flights for more than 6 passengers).

Do Aer Lingus offer any discounts for business upgrades the day before or even on the day of the flight (at the airport)?

At the moment they’re still wanting nearly £4,000 per passenger (one way) for a business class seat. Has anyone got any tips on how to get a cheap upgrade (if such a thing exists) and has anyone managed to actually get a good discount and how did you do it?

If it helps, the booking was done via a travel agent as my partner’s dad booked the flights. I have over 100k Avios points at the moment and we’re currently booked in economy with extra leg room. Only 2 of us are looking at upgrading (but not the current asking price).

Thank you in advance.

[Blair Waldorf Salad]

Have you tried Bid Upgrade? https://www.aerlingus.com/book/plan/upgrade-yourself/

You may not have been proactively made aware if it because of booking indirectly.

My experience is they are happy to let seats leave Dublin/Manchester empty but also they often use the business seats to move deadhead crew around.

[davefl]

As BWS says try the bid option. I sorted my Mum’s trip to Chicago for the minimum bid which was £400 each way.

If you have created an Avios.com account with an Aerclub number you can look there to see if there are any Avios seats available. If there are, you can transfer BA Avios to avios.com and request an upgrade but the process is messy and takes a couple of days.

[wookie192]

Hi,

Thank you, I wasn’t aware of the bid process. I’ve just been on it and entered my details and for some reason it says:

“We are sorry, we have no space available”

Even though you can still buy 6 business class seats on the flight right now.

As for Avios, it could be an option but like you’ve mentioned it can take a while to do and might not be an option. Upgrade price in Avios is around 46k each way each passenger, ideally I’d like to not use Avios as would like to same them to use on a flight alongside my 2 4 1 voucher.

Might just need to keep trying the bid option and if still no option then I’ll give them a call and see what they can do. But thank you both for your responses.

[Blair Waldorf Salad]

Yep sounds sensible to keep checking the bid upgrade and give them a call. Good luck!