Bidding to Business Class- The "Secret" Airline Upgrade Hack

Business Class Airline Travel… that coveted left turn that the lucky elite passengers make when boarding an overseas flight. I always love glancing into the First and Business Class sections, seeing the champagne circulating throughout the spacious cubicles that passengers call home for the following many hours. It’s a brief but dreamy view as I veer right into the economy class reality that most of us fly. That is until I learned about Bidding to Business Class- The “Secret” Airline Upgrade Hack that we all need to know!

What is bidding?

Bidding is actually exactly what it sounds like – an auction style way of passengers being able to fly in a higher class cabin for a lower price than the original published fare. Airlines use this process to make additional revenue when they have a surplus of empty business class seats. This then allows passengers the opportunity to fly in style for a fraction of the price!

How does bidding work?

The process is very straightforward. Purchase an economy class flight ticket with intentions of flying economy. A few days before my flight I receive an email asking if I would like to bid on a business class seat instead. I click yes which takes me to the bidding page. Once there, the airline has set a minimum and maximum bid. You can place a bid for any price between those perimeters. Choose a price that is comfortable for your budget knowing that if your bid is accepted you will be charged this amount in addition to your original fare. Each airline has a slightly different presentation to make it more engaging but the basic concept is the same. If your bid is accepted you will receive an email confirmation of purchase 2-48hrs before your flight. Your credit card will automatically be billed the consented amount. In some cases you can withdraw or edit your bid before it is accepted.

*PRO TIP – If you want to bid $300, bid $301 instead as it will give you an edge over every other person bidding with a $300 budget.

Do all Airlines offer bidding?

Unfortunately, not all airlines offer bidding as an option to upgrade. That being said I know 3 other great ways to secure a Business Class flight at a fraction of the normal published fares on non-bidding airlines. I will do a deeper dive on these in an upcoming blog. My first successful bid was with Copa Airlines in July 2022. Since then, I’ve flown on many business class flights, thanks to bidding, all with similar experiences; my favourite two being with Qatar Airways and Air Canada. On my Qatar flight, I unknowingly bid myself into an A380, with private onboard lounge (Qatar now offers flights from Toronto (check out Qatar Airways here ). My Air Canada flight was on the Dreamliner 787-9 with the MOST AMAZING crew who made my experience memorable. Here are other examples of airlines I have already had bidding experiences with:

Copa Airlines
Latam Airlines
Air Canada
Qatar Airways
Fiji Airways
Air Transat
Egypt Air

What if I’m travelling with a friend/family/spouse?

I actually stumbled on bidding initially. It was a splurge for my sons birthday gift and worth every penny! Copa Airways send me an email offering the opportunity and I bid $200 with the understanding that it was per seat because the tickets were booked together. (Total $400). For this example the bid was also accepted together. (I’m not sure if they would have skipped us if there was only one seat left to upgrade but I would imagine that would be the case.) In December of 2023 I flew Latam Airlines with another friend but this time our tickets were booked separately. I placed a bid of $390 and she placed a bid for $70 less for $320. The day of our flight I received an email approving my bid around noon but interestingly enough her bid wasn’t approved until 3-4hrs later so it is definitely a process sorting through the bids.

Is there other types of bidding?

I have heard there is another form of bidding where the airline will actually tell you you’ve been outbid and then ask if you’d like to bid again. I have never encountered this type of bidding and would not recommend it. From what I’ve heard passengers get so caught up in this type of bidding they actually exceed the original published fare in their excitement. There is also bidding on some airlines sites directly but I don’t find the savings are as great as the bids that come via an email invitation to bid.

Can you give examples of airlines that do and don’t do bidding?

Yes I’m happy to share this but please note that only the airlines that I have mentioned above are ones that I have had bidding experiences with and therefore I can confirm do the email route to bid, others you may have to visit their bidding page on their website.

Examples of airlines that DO offer bidding:

See list above +
Turkish Airlines
Hawaiian Airlines
Quantas
Eva
Westjet
KLM
Aer Lingus

Examples of airlines that DO NOT offer bidding:

American Airlines
Delta
United
Any budget airlines that do not offer a premium experience

Final important notes and tips!

Although most bidding processes similar there are a few exceptions I wanted to highlight:

Air New Zealand’s OneUp program lets passengers bid one class up. So you cannot book economy and bid to business class, your option to bid would be for premium economy.
Bids are per leg of a route. For my Latam flight I flew Brazil to Mexico City and Mexico City to Toronto. I bid for 9.5hr flight from Brazil to Mexico City and but flew economy for the Mexico City to Toronto.
On some airlines if you book with the cheapest fare offered it puts you in a class not eligible for bidding
Some business class upgrades come with business class perks and some do not so read the fine print of what you are bidding on (My Air Canada bid gave me access to the Maple Leaf lounge in Toronto but my Qatar bid did not give me access to the business class lounges in Doha).

*PRO TIP – The fuller a flight is the less chance there will be for bidding opportunities so booking a less desired flight time or day may result in higher chances of having an offer to bid!