How To Upgrade On SriLankan (For Cash)

Congrats on the upgrade! I flew Sri Lankan last December and successfully bid for an upgrade by paying $15 more than the minimum upgrade they would accept. From what I've read online, it seems to depend on the J availability. I was travelling in the middle of the week and from checking expertflyer, the flight in J was barely full.
Enjoy Male!

Last time I checked 4,500 Avios were not worth $60. MAYBE $50....

@Gene it's all about how you use them. They are great for short-haul, last minute flights like this when the airlines want highway robbery prices, $300-500, for a sub two hour flight and you can get upwards of a 10-cent per mile redemption for Y.

This might actually be interesting for BA flyers looking for tier points. In the right category and length of flight, booking the upgrade which rebooks the ticket might be a way to catch a 2000 mile plus flight and get a nice helping of tier points for a discount price, for those trying to catch elite status on BAEC (which of course, u can credit UL to).

I've flown UL in business several times, between Doha and Colombo, Colombo to KL, and then most recently from BKK back to Colombo. While the equipment was quite good on the longest of the flights, the service and friendliness (and indeed the food as I don't eat meat), has been above standards of US flights (not a high bar to be sure).

I recently plusgraded on Etihad from C to F on AUH-GRU. I bid the minumum + 10EUR and it was accepted. I do have status with EY, so that might have something to do with it? This was my first time in First, and a nice long flight to experience it!

A report of that flight can be found here: http://ikvliegveel.com/etihad-first-class-sao-paulo/

Hi Lucky;

Thanks! I'm in the same exact boat. Can you compare the date change (or flight time change) options/fees for the two tickets?

Also, if one has a second bag, I"m guessing that would make the difference lower after bag fees (Although perhaps Emerald One World gets a second bag in coach on Sri Lankan airlines?)

I have booked return economy flights AUH to MLE via CMB, return. and have bid for an upgrade on the AUH - CMB sector as this departs at 23.00. I have bid $235 pp, which if I remember correctly just put me in the good area. Your post gives me hope! Flight is on 24th September so will let you know. I might even go back to the site and bid on the other sectors, using @joey tactics.

I bid for upgrades on NZ -- I was in premium economy and bid for upgrades to business class from LAX-AKL-LAX.

In both cases, my strategy was the same was Ben's -- I chose the lowest amount possible in the "fair" category. I was already on a heavily discounted premium economy fare, but nevertheless both of my bids were accepted (~$440 each way). I've heard that they pay attention to elite status when deciding whether or not to accept bids, and I'm *G, and so perhaps that can help explain my "good luck". The cabins were both ~80% full, though I should note that it was during July, and so not exactly peak season.

They didn't change the booking code into a paid business class fare, so no bonus miles.

Austrian has an upgrade bidding process, don't they? I've never done it though.

Lucky, if I were you I would've paid much lower than that. I think the whole point of the odometer is to get more people to more than they need to so they generate extra revenue. I'm not sure what the minimum bid amount was for you but I wouldn't have paid too much over that amount, especially considering this is such a short flight and there's not much to loose.

I booked BKK-CMB-MLE paid $100 for the BKK-CMB upgrade, got the new business config. Didn't bother with the short segment from CMB-MLE. Interestingly, they allowed me to apply for upgrade on award tickets (companion) but rejected at the upgrade window. I tried it as an experiment and it didn't work. 😉

4500 Avios will get a <500 mile one-way flight in NAmerica which is worth a lot more than $40 or even $50.

Can you upgrade an award ticket.

I typically do these upgrades on Air China long haul. Can't beat $550 for a 14 hour flight.

@ Adam - Air New Zealand's implementation of plusgrade only factors in NZ tier status (with published % up-weightings for each of the status tiers). Another carriers' Star Gold doesn't alter the algorithm.

haha ... strictly for educational purposes only.

Thank you Professor Ben! aka the Robert Parker of premium travel.

-David

We flew MH recently and they have the same scheme. The offer screenshots that you provided look identical to MH too.

I'm not sure that Sri Lanka ever offers mileage seats in J. I've been looking for weeks between Singapore and Male (via Colombo) and have never seen even one seat. Now I know why. They save them all for this stupid cash bidding game.

Malaysia Airlines also offer this upgrade bidding system but If you succeed , your miles are still counted based on your original paid ticket. Time to fly Sri lankan.

@ Turgutbey -- I could be mistaken so someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the ticket has to be issued by SriLankan.

@ Jonathan -- Ultimately I got a private business class cabin on a (literally) brand new plane, so can't say I found the value to be that bad. 😀

@ Beachfan -- Yep, with bag fees (if applicable) that could indeed make the cost difference even lower. Not sure I follow what you're asking with date changes? Sorry!

@ Gene -- I value them at substantially more than a penny each.

Doesnt work on miles tickets anymore or any tickets issued by others airlines