Want an Air Canada upgrade? Bid for one.

[Cold]

Interesting promotion by Air Canada. They're encouraging economy customers to bid for a premium seat on certain routes by using an auction style program. Bids are made online using a sliding scale with a set minimum and maximum amount. When passengers pick their price, a chart lets them know the strength of their offer. Travellers find out if they have the winning bid about 48 hours before departure.

CBC.ca link

(Cue the first comment about how shoddy AC is and how they'd never fly with them anyway...)

[Mattt]

Others have been doing this for years - Etihad I've bid a few times

[mgreenwood]

Air New Zealand also do this we are flying out to LA from Heathrow on the 31st March in Premium Economy and have bid for an upgrade to Business class for the return overnight flight.

[halfpenny43]

KLM do the same. I went to LA just before Christmas to visit a friend in premium economy and bid for an upgrade to business but was told that popular destinations (New York, LA, Las Vegas etc) especially at Christmas time rarely have availability in business.

[Ari]

Virgin do this but the starting price is quite high - you can't bid a fiver and hope you get lucky.

[IanUAE]

Add Gulf Air to the list of companies offering this service.

[robm3]

I brought an upgrade at the gate in Edmonton CA recently, was CAD$100 for a flight to LAX. Seemed like good value and I was feeling sick so appreciated the extra room.

Qantas only offer it as a frequent flyer points deal sadly otherwise I'd be going for this more often.