Business Class Seat Upgrade: How to Bid at an Airline Seat Auction

A Business Class seat upgrade is no longer the expectation – even for those holding a slew of points and status. While holding elite status within an airline loyalty program has long been the go-to method to getting a business class seat upgrade on a flight, a much more democratic method allows the economy cabin crowd access to premium seats — and requires no airline status at all. 

Welcome to the wild wild world of airline seat auctions as the mass traveler way to upgrade to Business Class. These programs are run by a line-up of carriers and allow passengers who want to upgrade to simply bid for a seat in the premium cabins and let fortune do the rest. 

The opportunities to bid on a Business Class seat will usually appear as an email or pop-up notice in the passenger’s itinerary, and requires that a seat has been reserved and ticketed. It’s often a surprise to the traveler as not every airline or every route is eligible. While the bidding can set one back a few hundred dollars, the price of comfort will be far less than the price one would pay at the time of booking. 

Business Class Seat Upgrade: How it Works

Say you have booked a flight from Vancouver to Mexico City for the lowly price of $319 on Air Canada. That same flight in Business Class may cost $1847. While you do not want to shell out nearly $2000 for this flight, you might want to add another $250 to your ticket for the privilege of enjoying a lie-flat seat. 

To that end, rule of thumb is to subtract your ticket price — $319 – from the $1847 Business Class rate: $1528, and then put in a bid for 20 percent to 40 percent of that number — $305 to $611. The winning bid will be charged to the credit card on the reservation. The winner would then enjoy sitting in an $1,847 seat for, say, $624 ($319 + $305). A similar process would be involved for the return flight. Points and cash cannot be used for purchasing the upgrade and only winning bids will be charged. 

Most airlines will offer a clear opportunity to passengers to bid on a Business Class seat upgrade some 72 to 24 hours before their flight. If an email is not sent or pop-up not presented, passengers can always check their reservation to see if a window within their reservation offers that prospect. 

Bidding passengers will see an minimum bid amount, but if they really want to stack their chances, they can check with Expert Flyer to see how full the flight is. Naturally, the emptier the plane the better the chances for a winning bid. Similarly, some routes are more easily won than others. Inbound flights from Asia populated with points-packing business travelers may not offer the weighted prospects of, say, a flight from Boston to Phoenix. Leisure travel routes are more easily ventured for this purpose than popular business routes, such as JFK-LAX. 

Airline seat auctions can sometimes be used to bypass the Business Class seat and head to First at the front of the plane, although most airlines maintain either an Economy to Business Class or one-class jump. 

Certain rules in the upgrade to Business Class process remain standard: a winning bid will be charged and is non-refundable – unless the flight is cancelled (payment information is entered at the time of bidding). Also, bids are per segment, although may apply to the whole trip if the passenger stops at a mid-point but does not switch planes. 

Seat auctions are becoming increasingly popular, especially as full flights and regular waves of delays and cancellations are spurring travelers to not only vie for extra space and comfort, but access the helpful amenities involved with a Business Class seat, such as a free luggage check-in and use of the airline lounge. For loyalty club members, however, who rely on empty Business Class seats for the complimentary upgrades that go with frequent flying and high-dollar spending, the growing popularity of airline auctions have become a bit of a pebble in the shoe. 

Business Class Seat Upgrade Auctions: Participating Airlines

For airlines, however, upgrade auctions have turned into a way to monetize a seat that would otherwise be given away for free. And perhaps that is why so many airlines have boarded the seat upgrade auction band wagon. While each airline has its rules and formats – varying auction time frames, route availabilities, communication methods, minimum requirements and maximum upgrade options – a surprising number of airlines indulge this practice. Possibly to the benefit of status loyalty members, American carriers currently do not offer this opportunity. However, these international airlines do:  

•        Aer Lingus

•        AeroMexico

•        Air Canada

•        Air New Zealand

•        Avianca

•        Cathay

•        Copa

•        Czech Airlines

•        Ethiopian

•        Etihad

•        Fiji Airways

•        Icelandair

•        Kenya Airways

•        LATAM

•        Lufthansa

•        Qantas

•        Royal Jordanian

•        Scandinavian Airlines

•        Singapore Airlines

•        SriLankan

•        Virgin Atlantic