Passengers 'upgrading' themselves - what do you do?
 

Out of curiosity, I started a thread on a frequent flyier Forum earlier - and I wondered whether Cabin Crew have any amusing stories on the subject! (I love air travel and love hearing amusing stories about the goings on even more!)

Have you ever dealt with passengers who simply 'upgrade themselves' by moving to business/first class seats?

What did you do? Any funny stories?

I couldn't do this, the fear or getting caught and marched back, red faced, is more than enough deterrent!

Happens all the time. You politely and firmly inform them that they may not sit in that seat and tell them to return to seat they have paid for.

I don't understand this mentality at all. Would you walk into a supermarket, pay for a carton of eggs then march back in and help yourself to cheese, milk and bread without paying for it? No, because you know it is called stealing.

Just because a seat on an airplane is unoccupied doesn't mean it belongs to you. It belongs to the airline and it's not for you to decide what will happen to it. A business class\first class seat is a product, the same as cheese in your supermarket. Having that seat empty if it hasn't been sold is worth quite a lot to the airline and to everyone else who has paid for the experience of sitting in that section. If you had just paid 400% more than everyone else on that plane you would not want someone on an economy fare sitting next to you.

If you want caviar then pay for it. If you'd rather pay less than enjoy the experience that you have paid for, which includes middle seats, less legroom and a full cabin.

I do not see someone upgrading themselves as fun and cheeky. I see them as someone who is not prepared to pay for the experience and is therefore entitled only to the economy seat they have paid for.

I know people who have done it, but I wouldn't have the nerve.

I also know I would be less than impressed if, having paid good money for Business Class, some herbert took it upon himself to just sit there.

Ask the passenger to move back to their original seat. If they refuse inform the passenger that you are going to ask the skipper to call the police to meet the aircraft as they have commited an act of theft and refused to comply with a crewmembers request.

You can be nice about it, show them the features of the seat and service, as if they're just checking it out in case they'd like to travel there next time. It can avoid embarrassing them (if they pass the attitude test that is), and who knows maybe earn extra revenue for your airline in the long run.

Or just ask them if they'd prefer to pay with cash or credit card for the upgrade, usually sends them scuttling back.

When they try the "Well nobody else is sitting here, why can't I?" routine, ask them if you mind if you use their house while they're away on their trip.

Threatening to hand them over to police/security is pretty much a last resort.

is it actually possible to do this? pay for a first class ticket while in flight?

certainly is at some airlines - I personally only took cash.... kidding - at my previous employer you could pay for an UG with a credit card at a rate which was about 1/10 the full fare price so for instance M class to J class was £600 and M Class to F Class was £800 and some variations in between.

It is/was a cheap but unconfirmed way to get a better seat however you couldn't always provide the upgrade if for instance catering/other products were not available onboard - not just a seat availability issue.

thanks, good to know :ok:

I was in economy next to some one who was 'size challenged'. Less than ecstatic at the prospect of several hours with him spilling over into my seat, but the flight was pretty full so decided (without much hope) to keep quiet and look for an empty seat after take-off. He started a campaign for an upgrade on the basis there was insufficient room for him. After a fair old rant the CSD came and agreed it was unreasonable to expect him to sit next to another passenger - and asked me (almost apologetically) if I had any objection to an upgrade. Beautifully done. The guy was furious - he had obviously got away with it several times before. Made my day.

i was coming back from SVO to LHR with aeroflot, when a number of people were asking if they could sit up the front, i mean the cheek of it, i would never do such a thing, even on staff travel i was always happy to sit at the back (always like to sit just behind the wing, dont know why, but i always sit there). why cant people just put up with where they are sitted? if they dont like the seats they are in, check in earlier maybe? lol. makes me laugh watching them though, gives u a bit of amusement before u fly :}

brilliant :D

I second that. I find such behaviour unacceptable, both as a SLF and as someone working in a similar industry. We didn't get into Club/Premium/Upper/First by cheating our way in, we earned it fair and square by either paying for it, or the airline rewarding us.

S.

Just remember you are special, and so are the other 200 odd passengers on the flight...:E

Saw a case on a flight from HKG to PEK on a Chinese airline. They asked the offending passenger for his boarding pass. He said he had lost it but insisted he was in business class. The crew finally gave up arguing and the passenger sat down smugly in business class. When we arrived in Beijing the police came on board and frogmarched him off the plane. The look on his face was priceless and not smug at all anymore....:)

The majority of people who do this know they are 'chancing it' and when caught accept their fate with good humour.

But occassionally I get the odd one who finds it incredulous that if seats are empty they cannot use them. I usually ask what would happen if they went to a BMW dealership and bought and paid for a 3 series car. Upon collection they see a top of the range 7 series car sat unoccupied on the forecourt. Do they suggest to the salesperson that the car isn't been used so I might as well take it instead of my 3 series. What do they believe the response would be.

As I said, this is a rarely used back up tactic. A complementary newspaper of glass or bubbly and a cheeky grin resolves most issues amicably.

I have to say that when I am positioning in uniform, the CSD on all the BA flights I have ever flown on has always kindly and discreetly upgraded us. A really wonderful way to start or finish the day. :D

But one question for CC here (specifically any CSD's). If I'm not in uniform (sometimes because its packed away) or I'm flying for personal travel what is the most polite way of enquiring about the possibilities of an upgrade? I fly long haul to see close family and a quiet corner in club would be much appreciated.

Would a hand written note with my ID help?

;)

Slightly off-topic, I know, but on one occasion flying Club World from Hong Kong to London a fellow-passenger persisted in arguing with a flight attendant over something (others were trying to sleep) to the extent that the crew decided to upgrade him to First, presumably for some peace. I did wonder whether this was a technique he used to obtain an upgrade. I was pleased to see the back of him but never got to know what he was complaining about.

They should've upgrades you and the people around you. Not him. :-)

S.

Unfortunately the annoyance factor pays dividends for some and that is why they persist in it. But you do find by and large people who habitually complain stress themselves unnecessarily and don't get the best of anything. You just don't bring out someone's compassion, understanding or thoughtfulness by complaining at them.

We all get irritated by little unavoidable things (slow queues, don't get the seats we want etc) but you've got two choices. You can decide its a small irritation and not get worked up about it, thereby having a better day. Or you can ruin your whole week over it by huffing and puffing, rolling your eyes and feeling extremely put out by every small thing.

This is life, stuff like this is going to happen often and if you decide to feel personally victimised and want compensation everytime it does happen you'll have a very unpleasant life.

Upgrades happen, but they are rare and are just someone's good luck if they do. If it happens to you sit in the seat, enjoy the experience and tell your grandkids about it for the next 30 years. Appreciate the fact you got something for nothing, that's rare in life. However, there is no way to ensure you continually get upgraded for free and nor should you expect it. If you want to guarantee yourself that experience then pay for it. It's not as painful as you think it is.

Sorry it's a little off-track, but I was inspired by the previous post to go there.

to avoid :
 

to avoid avoid pax to move from club to First, best it is to be at teh gate and accompany all your first pax individually to their seat in first, therefore you know who is seating where, and also crew in the first galley can that no pax wondering around on their own to First. Most of teh time on BA, First cabin crew will meet their pax at the boarding door.
Otherwise when they try to upgrade themself from WT/P to club, big no no.... Just politly invit them to regain their seat and if they are difficult, tell them that now they wont seat anywhere as you are about to offload them!

pax upgrading
 

some years ago i flew from lgw to lax with virgin. i was booked in economy and traveling on my own. when the flight was fully boarded a family who had arrived towards the end of check in closure had not been allocated seats together (because there were none - cabin almost full) started complaining to the cabin crew that they could not sit for such a long journey without being close to their children. the children were not very young, probably about 13 or 14 years old. anyway, the mother was demanding to the cabin crew that she MUST be sat with her children. i stopped one of the cabin crew as she was walking down the aisle looking for the odd empty seats to see if she could accomodate, and advised her that i was travelling on my own so if she needed me to move to help accomodate the family from hell i had no problem. she thanked me and asked me to move into the back galley, she would sort the family out and then advise me which seat was empty for me.
after about a 5 min wait she came back and thanked me again and said that she would take me to my seat. she walked me through the economy cabin, through the upper economy cabin and showed me to an empty seat in upper class! i was so chuffed. she put my hand baggage away for me and showed me how to use the features of upper class cabin and thanked me again for offering to move seats and told me i,d made her day a lot more easy.

malagamike,

I think that's absolutely fair enough.!!

As crew, it's lovely when pax can see that there's an issue, and offer to help. I love being able to thank people like this.:ok:

Challenging day for the crew of BA392 yesterday. Busy flight and two instances of Traveller pax sitting in Club.

One was fair enough - young Mum with two small children who genuinely (I think) thought that she could take two empty seats. Discretely handled by the crew, who also carried one of the youngsters to the correct seat.

Also well handled, not so discretely, was the waster who was trying it on. Prolonged argument with CC - "Can't find my boarding pass. Seat's empty, why can't I just stay here?". Firmly handled - "No you can't! 22C is near the back. Off you go, there's a good chap!"

And then it got really bizarre. Five minutes out of Brussels, seat belt signs on for the last five minutes. Old chap unstraps and starts to 'adjust his dress'. Ended up in the aisle with his trousers round his ankles. He got more attention than the safety video, I can tell you!

Well done to the crew! Hope the remaining legs were easier.

It happened recently on a flight MUC-CDG, running an hour late. A passenger decided to sit down in Business with his Eco ticket, claiming it to be compensation for the delay..
The FA asked him twice, nicely to move to the seat asigned to him. We had engines running, slot ticking, so I decided not to go back there when the FA came to the front the third time, telling me the PAX would like to know the Captains name and was not going to move...
I got out a business card with my name on it, gave it to the FA and told him to let the passenger know that after this time, his next choice would be to leave the aircraft voluntarily or in handcuffs.
After all, upgrading yourself does constitute fraud.

Nic

Had a well known deaf actress on a flight from LAX to SYD a few years ago who decided that First looked much nicer that than the JCL seat she had been allocated, so she reseated herself!
When it was noticed that she had done this the CSM politely went up and explained to her that she could not do this! She played dumb and pulled the "I'm deaf and can't understand you card".
The CSM calmly walked away and wrote it all down on piece of paper for her. At this she went "spare" yelling and ranting! "Don't you know who I am?" "How dare you insult me by writing things down, Im deaf not stupid!" etc!! The CSM simply wrote on the same piece of paper "police will meet you in Sydney!"
She moved faster than a rat up a drainpipe!! Would have been the most publicity she has had in a while!!

This behaviour is reprehensible and I have no respect for anyone who tries it on.

Noticing Malaga Mike's post, I once voluntarily gave up 1C for a gentleman who had developed breathing problems and took his seat in economy for the remaining 90 mins of the flight - seemed the right thing to do, as there was more space for the crew to administer O2 etc.

Quite often, I'll offer to swap row 1 with elderly or disabled pax in other rows in business, as the extra legroom makes them a little more comfortable.

But try to get into a cabin I hadn't paid for, no.

Little o/t
 

I was returning from a weekend in New York with my wife. The queue at check in went on for ever and the time for our flight to Manchester was fast approaching. A BA staff came down the line asking for Manchester pax. Phew, bout time. Anyway, he said the flight was overbooked and would we go to LHR and take the shuttle to Man. Of course we would be upgraded, could use the Terrace Lounges and a car would get us home.

We had dinner in the lounge, got super seats and after a couple of glasses of champagne lay back the seats and had a good nights sleep. So good my wife had to be woken as we were approaching Heathrow. After breakfast we got the shuttle to Man, a Merc car took us to our door. All in all, a perfect flight with perfect service.

As soon as we got through the door my wife gave me an almighty ear full and that there was no way she would do that again as we got home two hours later than originally planned.

So much nicer being single again :-)

I once heard that the Queen's younger sister Princees Margaret, when travelling to Mustique from London with her retinue, allegedly always had herself booked into what was then BA Economy class. :(

This was done in the full knowledge that, once recognised, they would automatically be upgraded to first class. It was thought that it would be unthinkble for BA her to have travelled in economy class with the proles :D

Can anyone on here shed any light on this, or is it just urban legend?

rob - belter of a first post mate!! :ok:

I once tried to get myself downgraded from Business to Economy on a BA flight from JBurg - same problem := from the ground staff and double :=:= from the CC. It works both ways..

Upgrading the innocent party
 

Not quite the same thing, but we had a pax at LHR who refused to sit next to a a black girl for a long haul. He said his company did a lot of business with us and demanded an upgrade. The crew called me on board to help and I suggested I discuss it with him in the gate lounge. When I got him there I informed him we would not fly him anywhere. He was offloaded. Luckily we were able to offload his bags fairly quickly. He threatened us with legal action but it didn't materialise. I asked the young black lady if she would be our guest in First as we were embarrassed by the man's behaviour. She declined but after t/o the crew did persuade her to go up front. We rebooked the offending pax on a rival carrier the same night - but seated in an area where there was a large delegation of businessmen from Africa!!! And the carrier's staff were all told to make sure he did NOT get a seta move! Obnoxious pax beware - we have ways of getting back at you!!

I know. Had a scheduled stop at an intermediate port where the 773 went tech - full to the brim and at 1000 hours. In the terminal two staff were valiantly trying to arrange onward travel on other carriers when one sod decided they weren't doing enough to look after HIM. Got quite vocal, 6' 6" at least and fat, so I went and told him to pull his head in and stop being such a prat, nicely of course :E, as the staff were doing their best. On walking down the finger to the restaurant to make use of the lunch voucher which had been given, he followed me with the invitation to step outside and "we'll settle this like men" (I'm all of 5'7", 11 stone). Not taking any notice he then attempted to trip me but only resulted in a glancing kick to the ankle following which he took off. While having the meal a couple of the boys in blue wandered in, saw me, came across and confirmed who I was and asked for details of the incident - had been reported by staff. I pointed out the sod, also in the restaurant, and after asking if I wanted to press charges for assault (said no, but the after thought was should have as he probably practised his technique pinching lunch money off kids in the school yard using his bulk as intimidation) they went to interview him. We finally got a flight out at 1900 and guess who was the last to board? And guess where his seat was at? In the very last row so he had to get from the front to the back with every last passenger sniggering. I wonder who arranged that? What he didn't know, and nor I until later, was that as I walked down the finger with this nitwit in my ear, my travelling companions, the governor of one of our less salubrious (hard case) prisons and a warder from same, were following him lest anything untoward happened.

jinji9
 

Happened to me some years back - I'm retired now. Denver - London, the CSD came up and told me a passenger had moved from Traveller to Club, wrapped himself completely in a blanket, and would not respond when they addressed him. I went back and spake unto him at rather higher volume, inviting him to return to the seat for which he had paid. He said he needed a good night's sleep, and would pay for the upgrade. I said ''No problem'', wished him ''Goodnight'', and sent an ACARS message to a very useful department called Revenue Protection asking them to meet the flight.

You've probably guessed what happened next - when he met up with the RP people, he refused to pay -''What are you going to do - put me in gaol?'' The accompanying Security Officer clicked on his radio and replied,''No problem, Sir, the police will meet us at immigration.'' He paid.

Oh, and by the way, he'd left his wife down the back. I'll bet that was one happy holiday.:O

I confess...I was on the A380 in Economy and after landing decided to sit on the seat...I didn't eat any food...would I be a bad person

jinji9: "I went back and spake unto him at rather higher volume"

haha.
...Spake

Surely the "Herbert" would just laugh at you as they would know full well that "Old Bill" would probably not give 2 S**ts!

alwayslookingup:

Unfortunately, this happens very frequently :(

Cornish,

and I thought it was just urban legend! Are talking only about royal Family, or all manner of Z list celebs who deliberately book world traveller fully expecting to be upgraded. Do tell what happens if they don't get an upgrade?!

I've not known of any occasion where a member of the Royal family hasn't been upgraded but some Z listers can really kick off about it. Take a look thru this thread and you'll see what I mean: http://www.pprune.org/cabin-crew/300...st-celebs.html :ok: