How to get a flight upgrade article discussion

_Andy_

HDRW wrote: »

Incidentally, these days if you ask for an exit-row seat on Virgin (which on a 747 has a large empty space in front, with cabin crew sitting facing you opposite) they want to charge you £50 for the privilege! And since there's no seat in front, there's no seat-back pocket for all the accoutrements that I carry: water bottle (taken on empty and filled onboard), book, magazine, music player (usually MiniDisk), noise-cancelling headphones etc, so for me sitting there is a Bad Thing!

£75 each way (assuming LH route like LAX/SFO).

_Andy_

flyperson wrote: »

Hi there, Many thanks for the excellent article. I am not a frequent traveller so please excuse this question if it is a daft one. I am due to travel to San Francisco by Virgin Atlantic in a few weeks time. I intend to put your ideas into practice on the small chance of a free upgrade. I see from the Virgin website that I have the option of "checking-in" on-line with a simple "bag-drop" when I arrive at Heathrow. My question is this: by making use of this service (which I suppose is a time saver) do I lose any chance of a free upgrade? My thinking is that the upgrade can only come about at a proper check-in desk and not at a bag-drop area. Is this a legitimate concern, or does it make no difference, in that a bag-drop operative has as much discretion as a check-in one? In a similar vein, is it a bad idea to choose a seat on-line before travel? Many thanks in advance to anyone who can answer this one, Richard.

To set you an expectation, assuming you're on a discounted economy ticket and you don't have status with Virgin, it's not going to happen.

debt_free_soon

I'm lucky enough to get flown first class long haul on BA once a month or so, it's definately the best way to travel, although if I was paying for it myself, I would go club world instead as the difference between the 2 is relatively minor.

As there's no picture of First on the article, I took one on the flight last week.



Sadly it was a night flight, so the lights were dimmed during dinner and I couldn't get the camera out.

Luvmyfreebies

debt_free_soon wrote: »

As there's no picture of First on the article, I took one on the flight last week.

quote]

Like the pot plant!! Does it fall off the shelf during turbulence???!!! :rotfl:

pinkcandyflossprincess

my chap said his friends b/f is a steward so could get us upgraded, i said i dont think that will happen really with 5 kids:rotfl: probably oh will be in first and ill be in the back like that film soulplane:rolleyes:

andyalfa

Does anybody know if there are guidelines (or a a legal requirement) as to how tall a person has to be (or how long their legs are anyway) before they are offered more leg room?

I'm 6'4" with a 36" inside leg. Most short haul aircraft (and all Boeings as far as I can tell) have seats so close together that the person in front couldn't recline, even if they try (and they have, believe me. I have the bruises to prove it.).

There's no way I could ever get in the "brace" position in an emergency situation, so the confined space in cattle would constitute a health & safety issue on anything other than a plane.

Moonchild

andyalfa wrote: »

Does anybody know if there are guidelines (or a a legal requirement) as to how tall a person has to be (or how long their legs are anyway) before they are offered more leg room?

I'm 6'4" with a 36" inside leg. Most short haul aircraft (and all Boeings as far as I can tell) have seats so close together that the person in front couldn't recline, even if they try (and they have, believe me. I have the bruises to prove it.).

There's no way I could ever get in the "brace" position in an emergency situation, so the confined space in cattle would constitute a health & safety issue on anything other than a plane.

As someone who if 6'6, and frequently flies long haul the answer is no, as the choice to fly is always yours! If airlines forced you to fly, it might be a different matter.

And it doesn't matter how big you are you can get into a partial brace position.

Therefore you have to pay for additional space.

If i'm not paying for an upgrade, the trick is to be savvy. That to me is flying on unpopular flights at unpopular times. For example, I'll often fly Malaysian as they have 34inch seat pitch. I'll take their 10:50 am flight from Heathrow as it's less popular than their 22:00 flight. I'll fly during the week, not weekends. I'll avoid peak months to travel - July / August / December. I'll book a seat towards the back of the plane where empty seats congregate. And then after take off (with permission) i'll almost always move myself into an empty row of 4 seats, and get really comfortable

Remember, no-one owes you anything for being taller or larger than normal, so be practical as opposed to hopeful.Upgrades HARDLY EVER happen.

WiseInvestor_2

HDRW wrote: »

I carry: water bottle (taken on empty and filled onboard)

The maximum container size is 100ml regardless of the contents (or lack of)

Aidenr

HDRW wrote: »

I've flown with Virgin several times a year for the past 10+ years, and I've never managed an upgrade, so I wouldn't worry about it. More often than not (on LHR-LAX and LHR-JFK flights) Premium Economy is full anyway, so there's nowhere to be upgraded to!
Anyway, the bag-drop is very much a check-in desk, but with shorter procedures and a much shorter queue - there are still formalities to go through, even if you do everything including printing the boarding pass online beforehand, but I recommend always checking in online if you can - especially if you're into brinkmanship and arriving just in time - the queue length can put you "just too late"!

Incidentally, these days if you ask for an exit-row seat on Virgin (which on a 747 has a large empty space in front, with cabin crew sitting facing you opposite) they want to charge you £50 for the privilege! And since there's no seat in front, there's no seat-back pocket for all the accoutrements that I carry: water bottle (taken on empty and filled onboard), book, magazine, music player (usually MiniDisk), noise-cancelling headphones etc, so for me sitting there is a Bad Thing!

Virgin aren't as good as they were when I first started flying with them, but I still prefer them to any American airline or BA!

Happy Landings,
Howard

As crew for VA, if I had a £1 for everytime someone tried a line on me for an upgrade, i would not need to be on this site :rotfl:
The straight answer is no on all upgrades. like most other airlines, VA would leave a seat empty unless premium/economy is over booked. then it would be done on frequent fliers / non discounted fares etc.
Just landed in in LA a couple of hours ago as a passenger and yes i too was in Economy ! lol

Exit rows ( VA ): cant comment on exact pricing as this is done by the check-in / ticketing staff but a few things to remember.
You must be fit and able to sit there. in the event of a emergency you may be required to assist.
In most cases if you are allocated either the A or K seats at exits rows the chances that you will have reduced leg room is very high due to the emergency slide pack will be attached to the door ( called a door bustle if anyone hears it mentioned )
as far as I am aware exit row seats are held back from online checkin until shortly before checking closes, to give the chance to sell the seats. As crew we require two people at EVERY exit row. So if you get onboard and see exit rows free, speak to the crew and offer to sit there and let them know where you are sitting. This saves us finding someone and you bag an exit row for nothing !
As for the comment regarding a seat pocket. no there is not one in front of you, however, on VA they are to the side of you. There is a large pocket for storing personal effects including the safety card. Its attached to the wall next to the window (fuselage) this has ample space for storing water/magazine etc

If all else fails, then you can purchase an upgrade onboard the aircraft. Please note that crew are unable to offer any deals that may have been mentioned by checkin staff and we are unble to cash in miles !

Good luck !!!

and if anyone has any cheap deals on flights from LAX - LAS let me know. unable to use my discounts LOL

A

debt_free_soon

I recently flew LHR - IAD return (booked in economy)

Flew economy on the way out, but on the way back I was pulled to one side and upgraded to WT+

Apparently my CVI score with BA is such that when economy is overbooked I am a ways up the upgrade list. Which is nice!!

So upgrades do happen, but seemingly only for operational reasons.