Like many airlines nowadays, Air New Zealand offers the option to bid on the next class of service or on one of their Skycouch seats via their Air New Zealand OneUp program.  The Air New Zealand OneUp program allows passengers to upgrade one class on most international flights.

I had purchase a very cheap one-way Economy ticket from LAX to London on Air New Zealand but I wanted to try their Premium Economy product. Air New Zealand has one of the most attractive Premium Economy products out there.

Within a couple of hours of receiving my booking confirmation, I logged into to review and manage my booking on the Air New Zealand website. The Air New Zealand OneUp program option appeared although for some reason I was not able to view SkyCouch options. The minimum bid for Premium Economy was 100 GBP but this was rated as poor. I’ve read of mixed results with the bidding process and I certainly didn’t want to waste too much cash on the upgrade. I bid 270 GBP which was just over the “moderate” threshold. That was about all I was willing to

There’s a couple of things to keep in mind when bidding. Elite, Gold and Silver Airpoints members are given priority by tier status vs non-elite members. And of course, the higher the bid, the better your chances. You can adjust your bid until 7 days before departure and they will notify you of your bid’s success up to 3 days in advance of departure.

About 48 hours before departure, I did receive a disappointing email stating that my bid was not accepted. Too bad! I was really interested in samping their space seat product. On the bright side, I had a fantastic experience in Economy with Air New Zealand. 

Have any of you had experience bidding Air New Zealand OneUp? Share your experience in the comments below!