Etihad Select Upgrade – Our experience
Introduction
Etihad Airways allows customers to upgrade their bookings in economy and business class to business and first (if applicable) at the airport counters during check-in or via Etihad select upgrade which is their bidding platform.
We recently traveled from Mumbai to Paris via Abu Dhabi and booked one ticket in economy and one in business to make a proper cost benefit analysis. Read on to find out what we learnt from this exercise.
Our bookings
EY 205 BOM – AUH (Boeing 777) 05:25 – 07:00
EY 37 AUH – CDG (Airbus A 380) 08:55 – 14:20
EY 38 CDG – AUH (Airbus A 380) 21:55 – 06:45
EY 204 AUH – BOM (Airbus A 321) 14:20 – 19:15
Both the tickets were booked on the same date a month prior to departure to make a proper comparison
Business class – INR 167,042
Economy class – INR 81,429
Etihad Select (Bid to Upgrade)
BOM-CDG is an extremely popular route in the summer months and the fares were already sky high (probably due to the collapse of jet airways and the closure of Pakistani airspace). We started receiving email reminders around a week prior to departure to bid for an upgrade on every alternate day.
Our economy booking received reminders to upgrade for all 4 segments and the business booking received reminders for the segments on A 380
Our Upgrade Strategy
Since we wanted to evaluate both counter upgrades and Etihad select (bid to upgrade) we decided to try out luck with counter upgrade for the BOM- AUH sector since the flight duration was less and the gvk lounges are average although the food is always good. We placed our bid 2 days prior to departure at the lowest possible price point permitted by Etihad. The exact bid details are shown below.
We decided not to bid for first class as the minimum bid required was over INR 100,000 . You can easily get a first class ticket one way for BOM-CDG at that price point using American airlines with a bit of effort and flexibility (detailed link here)
Counter Upgrade Experience
We requested a cash upgrade at the business class counter. The staff was helpful and guided us to the billing counter. The cost of an upgrade was USD 180. This worked out to INR 13,151 after conversion. This was the last business class seat on the flight and we were lucky to be seated next to each other.
Etihad Select Experience
Part 1 – AUH-CDG
Our bid was confirmed one day prior to departure. The main benefit of traveling in business was expedited security check at Abu Dhabi (economy queues take around twice the time) and business class lounge access apart from flying in the A380.
Part 2 – CDG-AUH
The bid on the return journey was also accepted two days prior to departure. The lounge at CDG was good but the check in experience was a bit disappointing. We had to weigh out bags and then carry them to another area as there was an issue with the conveyor belt.
Part 3 – AUH-BOM
We had a long layover at the AUH airport (around 9 hours) and really wanted this upgrade to go through. Checked our phones as soon as we arrived but to our dismay no update from Etihad. I also had to go via the Economy Class Security Check queue which was much longer. Since both of us were a bit hungry I went to the Al Reem lounge (used my Jet Privilege Gold membership here for a 3 hour entry, even the priority pass would have worked) and my spouse went to the business class lounge located nearby (we did not know that Jet Privilege Gold members cannot access the business class lounge and our backup plan failed). The terminal 3 business class lounge is much better and my spouse headed there to relax while I roamed around the airport. I received an SMS about a charge raised by Etihad shortly thereafter. I had not received any email and went to their counter nearby. They checked and said the upgrade is not reflecting in their systems and asked me to wait for 3 more hours. This felt like a complete disaster as I was stuck in between and could not even use the lounge on this long layover. I decided to approach the business class lounge immediately and requested for help. The lady at the concierge counter was very helpful and took ten minutes to sort out the matter and issued my new boarding pass. This was the last seat on the flight but had a 2-2 layout with reclining seats which was a big disappointment.
Cost Benefit Analysis
The total cost of the economy ticket plus upgrade costs worked out to INR 206,916 which was INR 39,874 costlier than the business class ticket outright. In all fairness the economy ticket at INR 80K+ was on the higher side. One can also argue that the cost to upgrade would have been higher then. Don’t really want to do this exercise again to find out!
Overall Impression
Pros
- Bidding at the lowest price had a 100% success ratio even in peak season
- The process was very simple and convenient
- You are only charged when the upgrade is successful
- Pick and choose flights where you want to bid for upgrades (like only the A 380 or long segments)
Cons
- This exercise was more costly compared to buying business class directly
- Not a great option if you are looking to upgrade all segments
- Uncertainty of last minute upgrades which can be painful especially during long layovers
- If your starting segment is economy, your bag may not be priority tagged
How has your upgrade experience been? Was this article useful? Please leave your comments below.
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