With its 'Step-Up' program, South African Airways now offers its customers a fantastic opportunity to experience luxury travel at its finest as passengers can now bid their way from Economy Class to Business Class.

The Step-Up' program is a bidding system where passengers tell the airline what they're willing to pay to upgrade from Economy to Business Class and they might just be on their way to the premium cabin.

How Step-Up works

Once you have obtained confirmed SAA flight tickets, the airline will send you an email notifying you about potential availability of seats for upgrades, along with a link to the Step-Up page, where you can start bidding.

The minimum and maximum bid range is dependent on the original ticket purchased and where the passenger is flying.

If you bought you ticket from a travel agent and the transaction email is that of the travel agent, don't worry as your travel agent can bid on your behalf. The travel agent may also pass the email to you allowing you to bid by yourself.

All bids stop 36 hours before departure, and customers have the ability to view, modify and cancel their bid before this cut-off. Customers are notified 24 hours before departure of the outcome of their bid.

For successful customers, their credit card will be charged with the amount they have bid. While unsuccessful passengers will retain their original itinerary and pay nothing extra.

Tickets booked using redemption tickets, free tickets, tickets already upgraded using miles and bookings with infants are not eligible for Step-Up Upgrade.