Air Canada Last Minute Upgrade Purchase & FF seat releases

[angusburns]

Does anyone know how this works?

I am thinking of travelling Calgary (YYC) to Sydney (SYD) on 29 March - on Good Friday.

There are 42 seats in J but the website is showing only 3 sold, but there are none available for Star Alliance points redemption via KrisFlyer.

2 questions:

1. Will they release more seats for FF redemption as it gets closer to departure and still lots unsold? If so does anybody know when? I think I read for Qantas it was 96 hours before departure or some other magic number.

2. If they don't release any J seats for redemption, does anyone know the chances of getting an Air Canada Last Minute Upgrade Purchase? (LMUP)

aircanada.com - Last Minute Upgrade Purchase

3. If I buy a Y ticket and check in at Calgary all the way through to Sydney via change planes at Vancouver, do I ask for / will I offered the LMUP at Calgary and/or Vancouver? (assuming stock was available)
Does there have to be a J seat on both filghts to be offered the upgrade or can they just offer me one leg, hopefully YVR to SYD!

4. Has anyone actually got a LMUP YVR-YYC and how much did it cost?

Thanks to anyone who can help

Angus

 

[Sprucegoose]

Not a popular topic I am afraid!

 

[mushypeas]

I've done it a few times YVR>YYC LGA>YUL YVR>LAX - I was pissed off on two occasions that the bloody maple lounge had been closed due to staff shortages! The most recent I completed was LGA>YUL on 11/01/13 E90 was only a 45 min flight but at least it was comfy and increased luggage $89/pp

 

[mushypeas]

sorry just to add, you get an email 24 hours prior to departure about participating in the LMUP.

from memory the YVR>YYC flight was about CAD$109

 

[angusburns]

Thank you - I was hoping for an upgrade YVR-SYD but think it very unlikely.

 

[RooFlyer]

I fly AC frequently, but haven't done a LMUP.

The AC FF program operates along the lines of many in Nth America; 'free upgrades' is the name of the game.

Under the AC scheme, you get electronic upgrade certificates as bonuses, status privileges etc. Then, as long as you book a (somewhat expensive) Y class fare, you use these 'eUps' to up-grade by trading in some eUp certificates. The highest status pax can request these upgrades 7 days in advance (and can be approved instantly), the next status 4 days etc, down to people having to see if they get e-Upped at the gate. They call it 'aerolotto'. There is a pool of e-Uppable seats, but this expands as paid yield fails to materialise.

I'm sure AC would rather some-one pay for an upgrade and use an eUp, but you can see by the way the system works, the available J seats will diminish rapidly as check-in approaches.

Good luck

 

[pugwombat]

Thanks everyone for answering this question. I'm doing the same trip in 3 week's time and was hoping to pay cash to upgrade to J. There aren't too many seats available and looking at the Air Canada web site, it looks like 1 way SYD-YVR would cost about $C11k. A bit steep if you ask me. (Only $5k for the way back though).