How to blag an upgrade (apparently)

[Pax Vobiscum]

I don't normally read Forbes, but this article - How To Score The Best Airplane Seats (http://www.forbes.com/2009/09/14/airline-seat-upgrades-lifestyle-business-travel-airline-seats.html) - was linked to by The Economist. I find it hard to believe that these tricks still work, or is it just a US thing?
The next thing you know, Forbes will be producing a 'Rich List' based on assets and ignoring liabilities - oh, hang on, they already do ...

[raffele]

The points made in the article are nothing new - a quick search of these forums will find all these out! They're all fairly obvious anyway - pay for a better seat, gain upgrades through ff privileges... Possibly a slow news day?

[VS-LHRCSA]

One could always try telling the ground staff or crew that you pay their wages...:}

[Final 3 Greens]

One could always try telling the ground staff or crew that you pay their wages...

According to the article, actually paying the gound staff some of their wages worked\:}

[dubh12000]

With BA, downgrade yourself from Gold to Silver :-(

Seriously..

[phineas]

You would hope that reduced loading factors would lead to fewer upgrades. For somebody who pays to travel near the front I would like to think that the only time people get upgrades is if economy is full.

The only exception are people with gold membership, to get that many tier points you must fly so much that it becomes a chore.

[Capetonian]

The best dialogue on this topic that I overheard at an airport when I was Duty Officer was this :

Smarmy unctuous male passenger, with tight white shirt open to navel, reeking of aftershave, gold medals clanking on counter as he leaned forward, puffing cigar smoke over check in agent :
"Tell me sweetheart, what do I have to do to get an upgrade?"

'Sweetheart' didn't miss a beat, she didn't even look up at the slimeball. She said one word. "Pay".

[L'aviateur]

Personally, I think it comes down to luck. I've been upgraded a couple of times in the last few years. Seeing people upgraded, i've never seen a pattern, sometimes its with frequent flier cards, sometimes without, sometimes old, sometimes young, sometimes well dressed, sometimes in jeans and t-shirt. So I think luck or paying!

[Jarvy]

My wife has been Gold with BA on and off for a few years, never dropping past silver. Number of times upgraded = 1.
Why do people seem to want something they haven't paid for?

[Final 3 Greens]

Why do people seem to want something they haven't paid for?

It's human nature, Jarvy, to like a freebie.

Think of the Italian restaurants who give a 'free' sambucca with coffee, etc.

I'm flying business class to the middle east on three occasions over the next 8 weeks - I'd love to get a free upgrade to F, but I don't expect one and the odds are I won't get one and I would not ask for one (unless trading miles for it.)

On the other hand, some of the advice in the article about choosing better seats within the same class is fair enough, for example, I always look at Seat Guru or the airline charts and try and get a seat with a window, not one of the 'wall view specials.'

[VS-LHRCSA]

From what I've seen over the years, some of it is route specific. For example, when I was at LGW, the Club cabin on the ATL service was quite often at least half full of involuntary upgrades. There was no pattern as to who was upgraded, the decision was often made prior to check-in, so it was not always possible to chose who to upgrade according to how they were dressed or how nice they were. There weren't too many Exec Club members in Y to upgrade either. KIN was often the same, with Y being heavily oversold - but the flight would still go out with empty seats.

[Mr Quite Happy]

I've been upgraded so many times I cannot remember, but it generally came through being top-tier flyer. There was a time when I got bumped from C to F on a flight FRA-Seoul (INC?) and I was nothing but status blue back then.

The ONLY rule I have found is the following:

Airlines will bump THEIR OWN GOLD or SILVER ahead of their other partners GOLDS. So when I regularly flew LH from FRA-America I would regularly get bumped from C to F ahead of the yanks who were also gold but with AA, not LH.

The lesson I take from this is fly your own airline to get bumped, not a code share and if you can fly when the plane is a connecting flight for a bunch of yanks coming back from India/ME all the better because they'll fill C and you get the bump to F. I expect this is only useful if flying LongHaul regularly, find a the flight time where a large %age of the C/D wears white shirts with button down collars and you'll be in 1A before you've had time to spit..

[simfly]

A big part depends on the load. I've been fortunate to have had 2 upgrades this year with BA, 1st Stuttgart - Heathrow which was a full flight and moved to Club Europe whilst boarding. I was the first to check in, and only a blue exec member. Then 2 weeks ago at Bangkok for flight back to Heathrow. Checked in 4 hours before flight, and got upgraded to WTP as flight was overbooked in WT. I would expect that with BA's current financial situation, upgrades will be more or less where they have to, even if I do work in the industry.... It does do my head in when I see silver / gold members moaning as they are not getting a complimentary upgrade! I did notice on BKK-LHR flight that even after boarding, there was a screw up, and they head hunted certain pax from the CW cabin and moved them to first.

[LiSrt]

Twice for me.

Years ago (i.e. before 11-Sep-2001), on a British Airways Glasgow-to-Heathrow, I asked the purser if I could sit in the cockpit (that counts as an upgrade, right?) - as I was going to a BA aptitude test day. Showed him the letter and a few minutes later he came back and asked me to change to the jumpseat. (passed the aptitude tests, but failed the interview a couple months later)

Last Christmas, I was flying from Amsterdam to Portland (NorthWest, booked through KLM) - but due to snow the flight was cancelled and they put me on one to Seattle (cue (Successful!) $750 insurance claim for a taxi :E ), I only found out I got an upgrade when I noticed "business class" on the boarding pass while walking away from check-in.
Nice, but the hassle at the destination end (long security queues, baggage delayed 2 hours) completely cancelled out any relaxing effect.

[fastrobert]

BA is the only airline I've been upgraded on - about half a dozen times over the past few years. I've never asked or assumed and it's always been a nice surprise. The last time was when traveling with my wife and children, including baby. We got bumped from economy to the front row of WTP. I've noticed the last couple of times I've flown US - UK, that at the US side they've been offering $250 upgrades to WTP and $500 upgrades to business class at check-in. I also noticed a 50 pound upgrade offer on the website from economy to WTP on a fairly recent trip, I paid the money, went to check in online, and found my seat had been moved up to Club. Bargain!

[wowzz]

I am not sure if this is true, but in the past I have always thought that a SFU [suitable for upgrade] policy has applied - [based on number of sectors flown/fare paid/frequent flier status etc]
Now - my question is this - does a NSFU [not suitable for upgrade] status also apply? - in the past I have been pleasantly surprised to be upgraded [like F3G I never ask] and IMHO I never take advantage of the upgrade [well perhaps one glass of champange if you insist!]. However I have noticed that on occasions one or two of my fellow 'upgraders' do make the most of their luck, even to the extent of refusing to moveseats for full fare paying customers.
Do CC make a report ensuring that such customers never get another up-grade in the future?
I would like to think so, otherwise all my subservient posturing has been in vain!

[ulxima]

Airlines will bump THEIR OWN GOLD or SILVER ahead of their other partners GOLDS


I would tend to agree with you and it would also make sense.
I got five upgrades (from Y to C), three with KLM (two on long haul sectors) when I was Flying Blue Gold member and two with Alitalia when I was Freccia Alata member (equivalent to Gold).
In both Alitalia cases I was travelling with my daughter.

Ciao,
Ulxima

[A2QFI]

I have read all the previous thoughts and can't see where my partner's experience fits into this. She flies one round trip a year, LHR to Toronto and that is all. Last year she got an upgrade to First on an overnight AC flight; she is a lady in her 70s, smartly dressed and travelling by herself so I think somebody decided to give her a nice suprise!

[lexxity]

SFU exisits in the UK.

[Final 3 Greens]

I've always found that offering the airline money and sometimes miles makes one SFU

Funny that.