Regular Passenger & keen to be a pilot

[FN-GM]

Hi all,

This is my first post here to be kind

I work in IT and from Manchester, UK. I frequently fly around the word with work and for holidays. In my opinion Singapore Airlines provide the best service. They are always kind and more than willing to help.

I am due to fly out to Australia, to visit a relative in a few weeks. I currently have a sore leg, i damaged it whilst moving some heavy equipment at work this week. When i sit down for a long period of time it causes discomfort. I am 6ft 1 and i struggle for space as it is. I am going to have plenty of discomfort during my long flight. Business class will help as i can spread my legs etc, I cannot afford to upgrade to business class. I know i am being cheeky but what is the best way to get an upgrade for free? The airlne is Singapore.

Also i am keen to be a commercial airline pilot. I have no flying experience at all. I have applied for the CTC Wings Cadet program, not heard anything back yet but fingers crossed.

Many Thanks

Z

[Bealzebub]

You could try delaying your flight for around 10 to 15 years, and embarking on your career plan. If you are succesful (and the airlines haven't gone out of business by giving their premium class products away,) you may be lucky enough to become a pilot with SQ. That would give you a very good chance of a free upgrade.

Failing that you might find yourself on an overbooked economy flight where the airline is looking to upgrade somebody who is suitably dressed and assuming there are no quality frequent flyers who the airline feels deserves the benefit. A bit of a long shot, but it happens.

Failing that and slightly more in the realms of reality, you could request or purchase an extra leg room economy seat in the vicinity of an exit etc. There may or not be an extra charge for this. The airline may be sympathetic to your injury and comply with such a request on that basis. However it is worth remembering that exit seats should only be occupied by able bodied passengers and an injury plea might not help your case in this regard.

Lastly you can simply ask for an upgrade at check-in. The check-in agent will not look in the least bit surprised and simply provide you with one of the stock answers they are trained to provide to this very common question.

[TightSlot]

Bealzebub is a well respected regular in this forum and has taken the time to give a pretty comprehensive answer - you're lucky that He/She got to you before I did as I would normally have deleted your question immediately - here is why...

The 'How do I get upgraded?' question is often asked by newbies who have not used the forum search facility, or read the FAQ or even just a few posts to get familiar with the forum tone.

Once in place, word gets out, and the forum can easily drown in similar threads.

Lastly, many of the most stalwart and frequent contributors to this forum are people who travel extensively, and spend large amounts of money with Airlines in First/Business class. 'How do I get upgraded?' translates as 'How do I get something for free that others are dumb enough to pay for?'. It's just possible that those same folk that pay might not appreciate this question? The answer is always the same - the best way to get an upgrade is to pay for it.

[FN-GM]

Hi,

Thanks for taking time to reply i totally agree with you and what you saying. I thought it would be a risky move that why i said it was cheeky. As it was my first post someone approved it so i thought i got away with it. I am a moderator on a large IT forum with 30,000 members and i would have done the same if someone did something similar on there.

I am a regular flyer with smaller airlines such as Easyjet. I travel around Europe allot with work. I am not a frequent long haul flyer with bigger airlines, so i dont have any point etc. I asked on a last resort, i have looked at paying for the upgrade but i simply cannot afford it at the moment. I wish i could

Thanks for replying Bealzbub.

[phineas]

Choose the day you travel

My guess is to try to travel on a tuesday or wednesday, it won't increase your chances of being upgraded but it is possible that standard class will be half empty. I have no evidence that these 2 days are quieter but is logical. Most people start or end their holidays at the weekend. With business travel there is this thing about using the weekend or work day to travel, my guess is that most business travel is on sunday, monday or friday,saturday.

Give me half empty standard than an upgrade on a busy flight

[Final 3 Greens]

I currently have a sore leg, i damaged it whilst moving some heavy equipment at work this week. When i sit down for a long period of time it causes discomfort.

Engage an ambulance chaser, you'll have more than enough money to pay for J.

[greggx101]

I love it how you all get wound up by obvious trolls.

[eliptic]

I am a regular flyer with smaller airlines such as Easyjet. I travel around Europe allot with work. I am not a frequent long haul flyer with bigger airlines

Hi,

I donīt get it! what kind of upgrade you looking for,,have you ever seen the "business class" on the short haul flights? and easyjet

to your question,, technical upgrades happens, but you are probably far down in cue for that upgrade after ,,Crew, Frequent flyer's (plat gold silver) and last the other 100 regular pax ask the same question

conclusion on your odds = second to none

[Cyrano]

Originally Posted by FN-GM

I currently have a sore leg, i damaged it whilst moving some heavy equipment at work this week. When i sit down for a long period of time it causes discomfort. I am 6ft 1 and i struggle for space as it is. I am going to have plenty of discomfort during my long flight. Business class will help as i can spread my legs etc, I cannot afford to upgrade to business class. I know i am being cheeky but what is the best way to get an upgrade for free?

FN-GM: I'll offer you two real-world answers for your situation. Neither of them answer your "how do I get something for free that other people pay for?" question.

1. You booked a flight, then you suffered an injury which will make it very uncomfortable for you to fly. It would seem likely that a doctor would certify that flying long-haul is inadvisable for you at present. This would normally allow you to cancel your flight and get a refund under your travel insurance. You did take out a travel insurance policy, didn't you?

2. If you insist on going, you could explain the situation to SQ Reservations (spare them the "I'm 6'1", this is a struggle for me" spiel, though - I'm assuming you were already 6'1" when you booked, unless you're on growth hormone treatment, so you knew what would be involved) and ask them if they could block a free seat beside you, load factor permitting. They *might* be willing to do this if the flight is not too full, and that would give you a bit more space.

I echo Phineas's point: if you can get extra space in Economy (a free seat beside you) it will provide a good deal more comfort.