Y to J upgrades - what is a reasonable price?

[Scarlett]

Hello folks, I’d like to get a feel for what is considered to be reasonable to pay (or bid, as seems to be the common case for airlines nowadays) for a Y to J upgrade.

There are a couple of factors at play:
- If you have a Y ticket in the first place it’s because you didn’t want to outright pay for J, or because someone else (usually employer) has paid for the ticket in Y to get you to your destination. So an answer in the thousands of dollars is likely to be an outlier.
- Maybe you have a Y ticket because it’s on an airline where you already have a frequent flyer program and the means to upgrade with points, although that’s really a separate discussion.
- The J product itself maybe determines how much would be offered for the upgrade. Narrow body, standard recliner seats equals likely lower offer versus flat seat for an overnight flight.

In my case, I have an overnight flight coming up which is about 7 hours flying time. The airline wants a minimum bid of about AUD1350 to a flat seat J product. I’m not going to submit a bid for that. Interestingly, the flights seem to depart with a J cabin that is not full, as they are still selling, on average, 5-9+ J seats on the day of departure.

I’ve seen others express the ‘around $100 per hour’ as their ballpark and that is what seems reasonable to me, for an overnight flight with a flat seat product. For a day flight I reckon I’d only be willing to offer about $60-70 per hour duration.

 

[muppet]

Yep you’re correct not to bid that amount for 7 hours - at $1350x2 + I’m guessing about ~$1200 for the Y ticket, you’re looking at $3,900 return for business on a 7 hour flight - pretty much the standard saver fare for most routes that length. May as well spend another $500 and get all the full benefits of a business fare (select seat in advance / choose meal / FF points and status etc.).

For me to bid, it needs to still be a substantial saving on the J fare - in your case I think $100 per hour would be appropriate.

 

[SYD]

and why most people see points upgrades as much better value.

Domestic hops can be quite different.

Also, in most cases you only earn points/status credits for the original fare booked.

 

[I love to travel]

Hello folks, I’d like to get a feel for what is considered to be reasonable to pay (or bid, as seems to be the common case for airlines nowadays) for a Y to J upgrade.

There are a couple of factors at play:
- If you have a Y ticket in the first place it’s because you didn’t want to outright pay for J, or because someone else (usually employer) has paid for the ticket in Y to get you to your destination. So an answer in the thousands of dollars is likely to be an outlier.
- Maybe you have a Y ticket because it’s on an airline where you already have a frequent flyer program and the means to upgrade with points, although that’s really a separate discussion.
- The J product itself maybe determines how much would be offered for the upgrade. Narrow body, standard recliner seats equals likely lower offer versus flat seat for an overnight flight.

In my case, I have an overnight flight coming up which is about 7 hours flying time. The airline wants a minimum bid of about AUD1350 to a flat seat J product. I’m not going to submit a bid for that. Interestingly, the flights seem to depart with a J cabin that is not full, as they are still selling, on average, 5-9+ J seats on the day of departure.

I’ve seen others express the ‘around $100 per hour’ as their ballpark and that is what seems reasonable to me, for an overnight flight with a flat seat product. For a day flight I reckon I’d only be willing to offer about $60-70 per hour duration.

If you tell us what airline, we might be able to give some data points

 

[Scarlett]

If you tell us what airline, we might be able to give some data points

The post was not so much about my specific case: I’m not doing it.
It was more about what do others consider reasonable value when they have or have not decided to pay for a cash upgrade?