Free flight upgrades discussion

skivington

When I had a BA silver card I found every time I flew to NY to see family, always cheapie seats booked well in advance, I got upgraded to business class, apart from one time on an empty plane where I had a whole row to lie down on and once to 1st class, I think the champaigne I drank that trip cost more than my ticket Each time the ticket was already changed when I bag dropped either after after self service check-in a minute earlier or OLCI, for that reason I think it is pre-ordained who gets shuffled and someone with a 'card' of sorts will be flagged by the system automatically. There will probably always be the odd place available and as my card has expired I will try a few of the tricks here this xmas - thanks. As for being smart, polite and 'charming' this is how we should behave anyway, not because we want something; being nice is free, and if it is free have you not already saved?

shoppaholic_returns

We travel alot to America and often in premium economy and upper class, I have been told on many occasions in particular by Virgin staff I know that, generally they would only upgrade 1 grade if necessary.
Therefore it would be highly unusual for someone to be upgraded from economy to upper class, more likey economy to premium and then bump the premium passenger/frequent premium passenger to upper.It certainly makes more sense and seems to have rung true in my experiences,and seems fairer!

littlereddevil

Most airlines do it by this method

malkie76

Absolutely correct - in 99% of cases a single cabin upgrade is given, with someone from that cabin being upgraded if space is required. However, (at least with BA), there have been reports of double upgradeds in recent times due to gross overbooking in economy. However, in every single case it's happened to higher level status holders.

That's the general rule of who gets upgrades when they are required - highest status first, followed by lower status, followed by highest ticket price holders followed by the status sign-ups.

I do find some of the nonsense stories people have posted in this thread rather amusing.

neilbond007

I fly Delta week in week out.. they have an "upgrade list" displayed on the monitors so there's no "surprise" upgrades.
Flying from CVG to LAX on Monday I was a solid 49th in line for an upgrade... to the 16 "first class" seats

stoneman

neilbond007 wrote: »

I fly Delta week in week out.. they have an "upgrade list" displayed on the monitors so there's no "surprise" upgrades.
Flying from CVG to LAX on Monday I was a solid 49th in line for an upgrade... to the 16 "first class" seats

That is so funny. We see this all the time with Delta. Last trip ORD-LAS they were so over booked that they wanted 15 people to volunteer bumping for 2 hours, and in return gave them a free return fare to anywhere in the continental U.S. There was a stampede to the desk!:rotfl:

skivington

shoppaholic_returns wrote: »

We travel alot to America and often in premium economy and upper class, I have been told on many occasions in particular by Virgin staff I know that, generally they would only upgrade 1 grade if necessary.
Therefore it would be highly unusual for someone to be upgraded from economy to upper class, more likey economy to premium and then bump the premium passenger/frequent premium passenger to upper.It certainly makes more sense and seems to have rung true in my experiences,and seems fairer!

My double up was at JFK flying back to LHR just after newyear (4 or 5th Jan I think) and got upgarded to business class at check-in (I was a BA silver card holder at the time) and was called from the lounge to go to the desk and the guy there said "I'm afraid we have to take that upgrade off you sir", I smiled and replied "thats ok sir" then he ripped up my boarding pass passed me a new one and said "beacuse your going into first class" my jaw dropped; he laughed and said "I love it when I do that" made my trip meamorable, I kept the menu's and goodies as a momento as I will never be there again.
Of note is that I always purposley booked the last flight of the day as I thought this would be busiest with more liklihood of economy class being full.

Alecko

December 09,my wife and I en route Glasgow-Perth WA via Dubai on Emirates.We have used them a good number of times.Boarding time at Dubai and the man on the desk examined our boarding passes,looked at his colleague and handed me back the passes but they were a different colour."Enjoy the flight,sir"says he."Thank you"It pays to be polite and pleasant.Sat down and checked and he had given us two business class Dubai-Perth.It was as though he had given us a lottery prize.The flight was really good,Great food and a bed.Why us? We are both late 50s,dress respectably and try to treat the staff well.Im off to Oz today,21.6.10, and have already been on to Emirates asking about upgrades.The lady was superb but explained we didnt have enough accrued air miles.We had a chat and I told he we were going to visit was daughter who is going into hospital.She said,"Im sure you will have a great flight!"So its off we go.Ill let you know if we got a result.

buffy500

Wife + myself flew LHR - JFK in September.
We were booked in Virgin Premium Economy, no idea what the ticket was as it was a flight + hotel (was only £1500 for both of us)

We were upgraded to Upper Class in both directions.
We were not Virgin Flying Club members before the flight. We did book in very early both ways.

lisyloo

Lucky you.
Chances are they were full and needed to bump someone up.
Normally thy go for the business customers or people with most loyalty points, but maybe you just got lucky.