How to Bid for Discounted Airline Flight Upgrades

Lufthansa business-class seats including one in the lie-flat position with a pillow and blanket atop it — Lufthansa is among the airlines that auction off upgrades, including for business class, on several flights from the United States to Germany.

Savvy travelers have a myriad of tools in their arsenal to score upgrades on their flights, including using credit card points and membership miles, hoping for a complimentary elite bump, or paying for a day-of departure upgrade offer in their airline app. However, one arguably lesser-known option is to place a bid for a first-class, business-class, or premium-economy seat.

More than 50 airlines now run auction-style upgrade programs—many powered by Plusgrade, a third-party travel technology company that handles the auctions—that let economy passengers name their price for premium economy, business class, or even first class. The strategy allows airlines to earn some additional revenue while allowing travelers to score a premium seat for a fraction of the price. Here’s what you need to know about bidding for airline seat upgrades.

How does the bidding process work?

Airlines that offer bidding programs typically open online bidding between two and seven days before a scheduled flight (and close it as few as five hours before the flight, according to the airlines’ bidding terms). Some airlines, like Icelandair, will inform fliers that they have the option to submit a bid for an upgrade, though many airlines do not. For airlines that don’t alert passengers, you need to visit the bidding page on their website (more on that below), input your booking reference number to check your eligibility for an upgrade auction, then name your price. If you’re not eligible, it’s likely because the route doesn’t qualify, you purchased a basic-economy fare, or you didn’t book directly with the airline.

You may be upgraded automatically depending on factors such as how many seats are available, how much you bid, and how close it is to the flight. If not, you should receive confirmation (or rejection) by the day of departure.

If you win an upgrade bid, do you get added perks?

Beyond better seats, winning bids usually include all of the perks of the upgraded fare class: priority boarding, lounge access, checked baggage allowances, premium meals, free alcohol, and more.

However, the terms around your original booking (whether or not you can get a refund, how many miles you accrue, etc.) stay the same, even if your bid is accepted. That last point matters more than ever as airlines increasingly tie mileage earning and upgrade priority to co-branded credit cards. An upgrade via auction won’t suddenly boost your earning rate.

How much does a bid cost?

Airlines will set a certain sum as the bidding floor, so you’ll have to offer at least that amount to be in the running. It’s often at least a few hundred dollars to bid on an upgrade, so sadly, you can’t offer $10 and hope nobody else bids. There’s also usually a price ceiling (which is lower than what you would have paid if you’d initially bought a premium seat) so you can’t overbid.

In a traditional auction, bidders will see (or hear) the competing bids, but that’s not the case in this virtual auction. Airlines will tell you to make the best offer you can to try to beat competing offers from other fliers, but they don’t readily offer insight about how many other people have submitted bids and for what amount. But that doesn’t mean you can’t try to take a temperature check.

One practical tactic: Check websites like Expert Flyer, where you can look up a flight and see how many business-class and premium-economy seats are still unsold. Conventional wisdom argues that if there are numerous unsold seats, you can probably get away with a lower bid, whereas if only a few seats are available, you’ll want to bid higher. Even offering a few dollars more than the minimum should increase your chances of winning, as many people will offer the lowest possible amount and cross their fingers.

Still, for some, comparing against buy-up offers may be a better route—airlines typically share fixed-price upgrade offers in their apps. If a confirmed upgrade costs $450 and the minimum bid is $400, bidding may not be worth the uncertainty.

It’s worth noting that the bids are per leg, not for the entire itinerary, and that you’ll be asked to provide your credit card information when you bid. Also, the bid is for one person, so if there are multiple people on your ticket who would like to vie for upgrades, you’ll need to make bids for each person separately.

Should you win, the funds will be charged to your card automatically, and depending on the airline, you might find it hard to get a refund for the upgrade if you change your mind later (unless the flight is canceled, in which case you’d definitely get your money back).

People sitting at the bar and at various tables in Cathay Pacific's light and airy business-class lounge in Hong Kong, the Deck — An accepted upgrade bid often comes with added perks, including access to lounges like Cathay Pacific’s business-class lounge in Hong Kong, the Deck.

Airlines that offer upgrade auctions

More than 50 airlines worldwide, big and small, offer bidding programs. Here are some of the airlines that offer the opportunity to bid for an upgrade:

By clicking the links above, you can see each airline’s full bidding program and policies.

While Plusgrade has broader ancillary revenue partnerships with the U.S.-based “Big Three” airlines (American, Delta, and United), those carriers don’t offer bid-to-upgrade programs and rely instead on mileage upgrades, elite priority systems, and increasingly aggressive fixed-price buy-ups. In fact, the only U.S. airline with an auction program is Hawaiian Airlines (though its partner airline, Alaska Airlines, does not have one). Similarly, some airlines with stellar first- and business-class seats (that are coveted by Afar staffers and contributors), such as Air France, KLM, Emirates, and Qatar, sadly don’t offer bidding programs.

Is bidding on seat upgrades worth it?

It depends. Bidding is no longer the sleeper hack it once was. With airlines aggressively monetizing premium cabins, upgrade inventory may be tighter than in years past; however, there are certainly scenarios that make it worthwhile.

I’ve personally had success with the strategy on Icelandair’s seasonal route between Anchorage and Reykjavik. A few years ago, when the carrier was still ramping up its Alaska service and premium inventory wasn’t consistently full, I won a bid to upgrade to business class for $150 each way—a fraction of what the fare difference would have cost at booking. On a roughly seven-hour overnight hop across the North Atlantic, that translated to a far more comfortable seat (Icelandair’s Saga Premium isn’t fully lie-flat but does recline significantly), lounge access, and a meal service that made me feel far less bleary-eyed upon landing in Iceland. I wouldn’t count on those numbers today, but it’s proof that on the right route, at the right moment, bidding can genuinely pay off.

If getting a first- or business-class seat is important to you, it may not be worth buying an economy ticket and risking the certainty (either because your bid didn’t win or because the higher tiers were sold out).

But for those who don’t want to, or can’t pay full price for a higher seat class (or don’t qualify for a “free” upgrade by using miles or airline status), being able to offer a bid of their choosing can make those seats more affordable and attainable.

This story was originally published in January 2023 and was updated on March 4, 2026, to include current information.

Bailey Berg

Bailey Berg is a Colorado-based travel writer and editor who covers breaking news, trends, sustainability, and outdoor adventure. She is the author of Secret Alaska: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure (Reedy Press, April 2025), the former associate travel news editor at Afar, and has also written for the New York Times, the Washington Post, and National Geographic.