How Air New Zealand OneUp Works and How to Maximize Your Upgrade Bid

Air New Zealand aircraft taxiing on the runway with koru tail design.

Written by

Alex Achille

in

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Airlines have become clever in finding ways to extract additional revenue from passengers. One of the most ingenious ways is to bid for upgrades. What that creates is a blind auction in which the airlines can evaluate offers and consider if to accept them or not. Air New Zealand’s version of this system is OneUp. Here’s how it works and what to know about it.

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How Does Air New Zealand OneUp Work?

The system is not all that different from those of other airlines. Before your flight you can manage your booking and bid to upgrade to the travel class immediately above what you have booked. In essence, if you’ve booked an economy ticket and premium economy is available on the flight you can bid for a premium economy seat. From premium economy you can bid to access business class.

View of New Zealand coastline and mountains from an Air New Zealand aircraft window.
A view of the New Zealand coastline from an Air New Zealand wing – a fitting image for discussing the airline’s OneUp upgrade bidding system.

For the economy cabin, however, there is one caveat. You can also bid to have a so called Skycouch, which means a row of three seats by the window all to your self. Or as many frequent flyers call it the poor man’s business class.

You must ensure to bid an Air New Zealand OneUp upgrade that:

  • The flight is operated by Air New Zealand.
  • It is international.
  • Your booking was made with Air New Zealand.
  • That you are not on an award ticket.
  • That your fare isn’t X-class low cost.

The auction is blind so you don’t know how much other’s have bided or how many other travelers are participating. The amount of money you put on the table is not the only factor that plays into deciding who’s the winning bid belongs to. Loyalty status also is baked into the equation. Here’s how.

How Does Your Status Play a Role in Your Bid?

As part of the perks elite status frequent flyers get with Air New Zealand’s Airpoints (soon to become Koru), there’s a multiplier in the OneUp bid. The higher your status more your bid is worth with monetary value remaining constant.

  • Elite Status (Soon to become Koru Platinum) – get a 50% boost in their bid.
  • Gold Status (Soon to become Koru Gold) – get a 30% boost in their bid.
  • Silver Status (Soon to become Koru Silver) – get a 10% boost in their bid.

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Alex Achille

Ex Emirates Cabin Crew and long time aviation enthusiast. I can remember loving aviation and planes since I was a very little boy. I have developed my passion into a deep knowledge of the sector and industry to offer on my sites in depth and precise analyses of what is going on. I also completed cabin crew training with Ryanair, however, I never worked for the company (more on that another time). Finally I also have taken flying lessons completing my first solo flights.