In the past few years I have discovered something pretty magical when flying my favourite airline. I have found a cheaper way to travel in Business Class with SAS, and I think it’s one of my greatest travel hacks yet. Not to say that this was my invention, but I have found that not that many people have heard of it when I tell them about how I’ve been travelling SAS Business Class between Europe and the US for several years at quite affordable prices. I am talking about bidding for a flight upgrade with SAS (Scandinavian Airlines)!
This post is about using cash or points and bidding to get upgraded to Business class, mainly with SAS (Scandinavian Airlines) specifically, as it is what I have been doing for years and have most experience with. Of course, many airlines offer this as an option, so you will find that the tips i share below (scroll all the way down for my best upgrade bidding tips) will work with many other airlines as well.
If you are only going to take one piece of advise away from this post, it is to always explore options for bidding or upgrading after you have purchased your tickets, as opposed to spending thousands when you book your flight.
(To be honest, I was considering not sharing this at all, as I am suspicious that one of the reasons that I’m always getting upgraded is that not enough people know about the fact they can bid for their upgrade and fly business for less).
Ever since I manifested a business class upgrade with Emirates on my trip to Bali several years ago (yep, I said manifested, please don’t judge), I have known that there’s no going back to only flying Economy.
Business (and I assume First) is a whole new world of flying, and I love being able to recline my seat all the way and sleep flat on overnight flights, get superb service, cocktails made-to-order and enjoy a selection of wines (I always sleep better on planes after 2 glasses of red). Therefore, I started looking into how I could fly Business more often, and found that there’s a pretty easy way to do it with SAS!
So, after getting quite a few DMs and questions on Instagram about how I’ve been upgrading to Business Class for far less on my recent flights, I thought I’d let you in on the secret (and share how it works).
Consider this your ultimate guide to bidding on a flight upgrade (to Business class or even First).
Table of Contents
What is bidding for a flight upgrade and how does it work?
In short, bidding for an upgrade is when you put in a bid to get upgraded by an airline after you have purchased your initial ticket – making it much more affordable than splurging for a First or Business class ticket right away. Not all airlines offer this feature yet, but I have done it (and been successful) with both Scandinavian Airlines and Norwegian Air (go Nordics!) in the past. I have also upgraded with Qatar Airlines, but that was not in a bidding process.
You can bid using both cash or points you have collected with an airline. I have tried both, and don’t think either is more beneficial than the other. Meaning that it shouldn’t matter if you bid using points or cash.
If you have collected a large sum of points (sufficient enough to put in a bid), and you know that you won’t use them to get free tickets with that airline at a later stage, then go ahead and bid for an upgrade using points. If you want to save your points to purchase complimentary tickets at a later stage, I recommend using cash to bid.
How Bidding For An Upgrade Works
- Buy your tickets as usual, whether that’s Economy or Economy Plus (or similar).
- Get an email from the airline a few weeks before your flight offering you to bid for an upgrade (or find the direct link to the upgrading page – not all airlines have this page easily accessible on their website).
- Decide on how much you want to bid (whether that’s cash or points. Often the airline will show you a graph telling you whether your bid is “weak” or “strong”)
- Put in your bid and cross your fingers!
- 6-48 hours before your flight you’ll be notified if your bid is successful, and the money (or points) will be deducted from the card you entered. The window here depends on your airline.
- Pick your new seat and check-in to your upgraded class when it’s time!
- Enjoy your upgraded flight!
Let’s go through each of these points step-by-step, using examples from Scandinavian Airlines (where I most often do this). I’ll try to answer any question I have gotten about the process, but if you feel like anything is missing, please leave a comment.
How to bid for a business class upgrade (with Scandinavian Airlines)
Below is a step-by-step process of how I bid for Business Class upgrades when flying with SAS. The photos (and video below) are from when I most recently put in a bid for an airline upgrade. Press play on the video to see an exact screen recording of me bidding for a Scandinavian airlines upgrade on a recent flight.
#1 Buy your tickets as usual
This one’s a no-brainer, but many people get a little confused as to when the bidding process actually starts. The option to bid doesn’t become available until you’ve actually bought your ticket, so there is nothing to worry about until then. For some airlines, the option doesn’t show up until a few weeks before your flight.
In short, you can’t bid for a Business Class ticket as you are buying your flight, because then you’d just be buying a Business Class ticket (which can be very expensive). So just get your tickets as usual and leave it at first.
With SAS, the option to bid for an upgrade becomes available almost immediately under “My Bookings”. See the image below for an idea of what it looks like (they make it quite obvious). Additionally, there is a button where you can upgrade each individual leg of the trip next to that flight information in your itinerary.
#2 Get an Email from the Airline OR Find Button to Bid for an Upgrade
As mentioned, not all airlines offer the function of bidding for an upgrade. But, those who do will usually notify you when it’s time to put in your bid – or just include it at the bottom of your confirmation email at the time of booking. At least SAS and Norwegian have done this, and I have also had it happen with Emirates and Qatar.
Tip for scoring upgrades: I once wanted to bid/purchase an upgrade with Emirates, but didn’t have enough points for it. So, I spent some time browsing the upgrade page, before exiting. Then, a couple of days before my flight, I received an email from Emirates with a “Special Offer” to upgrade my flight for the exact amount of points I had left! So even though I didn’t have (anywhere near) enough points, I guess their AI or cookies noticed that I had been browsing the upgrade option. I ended up getting to fly Emirates business class for much less, and it was an amazing experience!
Another travel hack for you. Once you have received one of these emails (go ahead, check your inbox to see if you have any emails lying around that you didn’t consider at the time), simply save the link to bid for your upgrade and next time you don’t have to wait around for that email!
With Scandinavian Airlines, I already know the page to upgrade, and for my latest flight with them I just went in and added my upgrade bid (using points) the day after booking!
Here is the SAS Upgrade link for those who need it. You can also head straight to “Manage my Booking” to find the button for it, and this should work for most airlines.
#3 Decide on how much you want to bid
Now, simply follow the instructions on the page to place your bid. For Scandinavian Airlines, you have to select an available flight before you can enter a bid (see the image below compared to the image above).
For Domestic and European flights, you can usually bid to upgrade from Economy to SAS Plus (or Economy Plus with another airline), whilst for transatlantic and long-haul flights you can upgrade to business class (which is what I’m doing in the screenshots and in the video.
The page will tell you the minimum bid in both cash and points, which can differ from flight to flight. This is when you have to decide whether you want to upgrade using points or cash. Note that the payment is not deducted until your bid is accepted.
There used to be a lever telling you whether your bid is weak or strong (or just so). These days, you will simply see a statement saying if your flight is Weak or Strong, marked in green or red writing below your bid. This is great for indicating your chances of getting upgraded, especially on busy flights.
Every time I have been upgraded (after bidding up to 10 times and counting), my bid has been accepted with the lowest amount possible. I’ve found that SAS Business Class isn’t always full, and naturally, the airlines want to make more money when they can.
The result is that the airline makes a little more money on making you pay extra for seats that were already empty, and you get an up-levelled experience for a lot less!
When you have selected the flight you would like to bid for, you will also see a countdown that indicates when you have to add your bid by. Usually this is 1-3 days before the actual departure.
Side note to avoid confusion: the bidding process is not live like you’d imagine with a painting or with property (or any other auction). You simply put in your bid once, leave it and wait. No stress, and no worries. Just set it and forget it.
#4 Place your bid and cross your fingers
Once you have placed your bid, the hard part is over. At this point there’s nothing more for you to to do. Simply leave it be and wait. With Scandinavian Airlines (and most other airlines, I can imagine) you will receive an email confirming that they have received your upgrade, which will be considered your receipt.
#5 If your bid is successful you will be notified
Between 6 and 48 hours before your flight you’ll be notified if your bid has been accepted, and the upgrade will automatically be added to your booking. The money will then be taken out of the card you offered up, or the points will be deducted from your account.
Most of the time I have been notified around 48-40 hours before the flight, but it could end up being as close as 6 hours before your flight. This mainly depends on how full the business class cabin is, and how many people opted to bid for an upgrade.
Below you will see a screenshot of what it looks like when you have added your bids.
#6 Select your (upgraded) seat and check in like normal
The upgrade is, as mentioned, automatic and you don’t really have to do anything else at this point. However, I like to log onto the airline website as soon as I can after I’ve been upgraded to pick my new (fancy) seat.
If you’ve read my SAS Business Class review, for example, you’ll know that the seats along the window alternate between having the table and shelf area between you and the window and between you and the aisle, and I prefer the privacy of having the shelf and table area separating me a little from the aisle. Especially when I’m sleeping. But this is simply a preference, and you may have another. Regardless, I always go and select my new seat online as soon as I can.
Then, continue on just like normal, and enjoy your improved travel experience!
If you don’t want to risk bidding for an upgrade, and want to try something else, you can read more about different ways to get upgraded here!
SAS Upgrade Bidding Tips
If you came here for specific advice on bidding for an upgrade with Scandinavian Airlines, let me share a few here!
- Make sure you are logged in to your Eurobonus account. As a part of your tier benefits, you will have an increased chance of your bid being successful when you are a Silver or Gold member with Eurobonus. This means being logged in will be of benefit to you.
- When traveling long haul with SAS, and I know I want to use my points to bid for an upgrade, I try to book my original flight in the SAS Plus class. Like with being a higher tier member, the travel class gives you a slightly bigger chance of getting upgraded (I think). So, if you are a Silver member AND you are already travelling in SAS Plus, your bid will weigh much heavier than if you were logged out and flying economy.
- I always advise people to use points when you can, instead of cash. This is more of a preference than a tip, but basically, I’d rather spend my money on flights, and my points on getting upgrades.
- Following up on the previous point. Don’t bother upgrading to SAS plus for short trips if you can choose Business on longer haul flights. Basically, save your points for the “big” upgrades, such as Business on 8+ hour flights, instead of upgrading to Economy Plus on a 2 hour flight.
- Also, one thing to remember is that you won’t get the points/miles for your upgraded class. This simply means that if you booked SAS Plus at first, you will get the Eurobonus (or Star Alliance) points for a SAS Plus ticket, even if your upgrade bid is sucessfull in the end.
How much to bid for a SAS upgrade
If you are wondering how much to bid for SAS upgrade, the answer will obviously vary. Usually, I have bid somewhere between 30 000 and 40 000 points for transatlantic flights (usually Oslo/Copenhagen – Newark or Copenhagen – Boston). For European flights, this is naturally much less.
In the video above you’ll see that there is a little ticker that gives you an idea of how much to bid, and what is a weak and strong bid. I usually bid a little over “weak”, and have been successful every time.
Bid for Flight Upgrade FAQ
Yes, you can upgrade using both cash and points on SAS.
The points or cash you have bid will not be deducted from your account until the bid is successful.
You will get an email before your flight notifying you if your bid has been accepted or not.
No, not all airlines. But it is becoming more and more common.
The airline website will tell you the minimum bid you should expect to spend in order to upgrade. It will also tell you if your bid is Weak or Strong.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this guide to bidding for upgrades on flights. The whole bid for upgrade function isn’t yet available with all airlines, but I think it’s such a great feature from those that do offer it. Personally, it has allowed me to travel on Business Class (return) from Europe to the US for less than $800 total, and it gives for a much more guilt-free splurge.
Have you ever bid for an upgrade before? Would you want to try it? Tell me in the comments below!
4 comments
Have you found that they have business available even if you can’t book that class now? I have a “medium” bid and went in to see how many seats were left in business by booking a “new” flight and it wasn’t an option to book. I’m wondering if this means it’s full and I’m SOL. I’ve been successful in the past, thanks for your tips!
I’m afraid that *might* mean Business is full or sold out. But I think it also depends on how far in advance the flight is – if the flight is close, they may have already “set aside” one or two seats for the bids that have been made. Crossing my fingers for you!
I was dissatisfied as the seats that were automatically assigned seemed to have been the worst in the cabin (all middle). Being able to see what seats are even still available to bid on would be helpful. It would inform my decision on how much I’d want to bid.
I bid on three seats. All were scattered across the cabin, all terrible seats. I was also astonished when my daughter (a minor) was not seated next to at least one of her parents. When asking about this at the check in gate, the SAS agent’s suggestion was “to call customer service”. They weren’t going to do anything about it.
Also, same response when asked if the money paid of the “normal” seats would be refunded.
I’m sorry to hear about this experience, but thank you for sharing! Definitely things worth being aware of if you try to upgrade as a group 🙂