The arcane world of business class upgrade pricing is a mystery to me. Sometimes you can get a better upgrade price than you might have initially been expecting.
Recently I wrote how Finnair offered me an upgrade for €172 for a flight from London Heathrow to Helsinki. Since the aircraft was going to be an Airbus A321 with just the middle seat kept free, general consensus was not to bother.
A Better Upgrade Offer
My return flight from Helsinki to London is on the Airbus A330. This is an internationally configured aircraft, with lie flat seats in the business class cabin. Naturally, I would prefer to fly in those.
Since I know it’s good practice to regularly check for offers, I went in to my Finnair booking the other day. Lo and behold, I had the original offer for the London to Helsinki flight, but also one for the return!
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- Proper business class seats on Finnair’s long-haul fleet
For the 3 hour flight, the upgrade came out at €124, which is almost €50 less than flying the other direction. It is also in a far better seat, so overall there is far more value in doing this.
Naturally I took the offer, which actually comes out slightly cheaper as I’ll be refunded the pre-order meal I reserved for my economy class flight. It has been about 15 years since I took Finnair’s European business class, so it’s high time I did it again.
Overall Thoughts
Getting a better upgrade price on a better aircraft is a total win as far as I am concerned. I had no idea whether it would happen or not, but I figured since there are more business class seats to fill on the larger plane, that perhaps I would get lucky, and I did.
Unfortunately, Finnair’s paid upgrades go into a non-revenue earning fare bucket, in this case U. This means I will only be awarded frequent flyer miles for the original cabin I paid for. That is a bit of a shame, as other airlines like British Airways will give you the full business class credit when you pay with cash. Even so, it’s not that big a deal as I’m not chasing status.
Have you ever upgraded with Finnair before? How much did it cost you? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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Featured image by Valentin Hintikka via Wikimedia Commons.
Finnair seat via Pinterest.
Isn’t the difference because of the ex-LHR APD? So you didn’t really get a better offer, the difference was mostly taxes.
Oh, that’s a really good point! It didn’t cross my mind that the UK Air Passenger Duty on a business class upgrade would apply. It may account for some of it, but I’m not sure it would be all of it. The difference is really very substantial as a percentage compared to the other direction. That being said, I had an upgrade offer with BA on Dublin-London Heathrow-Dublin and both ways were €69 each so who knows. Thanks for pointing that out though!
Do UK departure taxes also impact the ex LHR pricing?
UK departure taxes impact all UK airports, as far as I am aware. You only avoid paying if you’re in transit, which is often why you will get a better deal originating somewhere else in Europe and flying via London on BA than pricing directly out of London.
The pricing is ultimately decided by the revenue / yield management team. The normal factors that affect pricing include :
1. No of empty seats
2. Purchase history of the individual
Of course, there are other softer issues considered, which include the airlines brand positioning, and internal performance metrics. 50 per
Its kind of like a hotel, where a higher category room may be priced at a USD 100 per night premium, but if you ask at reception on arrival, you might be able to buy into a higher category of room at USD 50 per night
Yes, you’re correct. There are numerous factors that are taken into account when it comes to pricing for airline seats. It’s why they differ so wildly at various different times of the year.