upgrades

sgm6670

Airlines will only upgrade someone if they have to! Having worked for an airline for over 12 yrs, upgrades are hard to come by nowadays due to costs etc.

If the flight is overbooked, the airline will be on the look out for upgrades. Never ask for an upgrade outright...but you can say.....if you are looking for any upgrades today, would you consider us (if it is an anniversary, birthday etc...add that in).

Otherwise....join every frequent flyer club you can....they tend to be the first to be upgraded!

Good luck

dmg24

sgm6670 wrote: »

Airlines will only upgrade someone if they have to!

They will upgrade if you are a well known person who they deem to be a VIP. I know someone that regularly gets their choice of seat ... anywhere on the plane!

stoneman

We have flown with both Delta and AA. afraid that even if upgrades were available, if you bought a deep discounted ticket, the upgrade would not be offered to you. Must say though, out of all the airline frequent flyer schemes that we are with AA seem to have the best, more chance of using miles to upgrade sectors, and seating priority with very little travel

decsdad

My wife and I were upgraded going to Bangkok, didn't ask, didn't even know until we boarded the aircraft, everyone else turned right, we were directed left. Interestingly though, while in the queue to check in for the return flight, some Bangkok customs officials marched over carrying a table, lifted our cases onto it and searched through every bit of our cases, in front of everyone. AND then once back in Glasgow, taken aside to be searched again. Of course there was nothing to find anyway.

pennylane99

hethmar wrote: »

Coming back from Boston last month we arrived early at the airport and asked if we could upgrade on Virgin to exit seats (£50 for two). The check in girl called over a chap with a clip board and he at first said we could for £100 - I argued with him that it is definitely £50 for two if you are travelling with some one and he then agreed. Almost at once he said, but why dont you pay $400 and go to the next class up.

Well, £50 is one thing, $800 more is quite another. He was quite persistent and had he knocked the price down to say £50 each we may have waivered. But we stuck to our guns and got the exit seats which were so much better than the cramped ones we went out on.

You were lucky, its normally £50 each for the exit row seats, not £50 for 2

malkie76

....but as you highlight, the seat you get for free doesn't have extra legroom (ie the exit row window, due to the exit door bulge).

BA don't charge for exit row in economy or economy plus, and those seats can be preselected at the time of ticket purchase (if you have status, buy flex tickets or use certain travel agents).

pennylane99

hethmar wrote: »

The additional fee for both types of seats is £50/$75 for flights of less than 10 hours and £75/$110 for flights of over 10 hours (or the equivalent in local currency) The fee is for each leg of the flight and the times are the “scheduled” flight times. If you are travelling with another passenger, the VS will sell the exit row seat by the door (with restricted leg room) on a buy 1 get 1 free basis (i.e. you are seated together, but only one of you pays for the extra leg room).

now I see thats the seat with restricted leg room, so in effect its just the one seat you are getting the extra room anyway for £50...I wouldnt take that restricted seat myself.

Pay the £50 each for the other 2 seats in that row, and that seat by the door is usually empty, more space to stretch out...;)

They do have a couple of rows of dedicated extra legroom seats further back on the flights from Gatwick, the purple seats.

malkie76

The extent of the restriction on the exit row aisle seat is plane config dependent - on the majority of planes it is definitely is 'restricted' on both BA and VA.

The "other two seats" would be the aisle and middle seats of the exit row - nothing to do with bulkheads. They always have completely unrestricted legroom and hence Virgin believe they can charge a premium for them.

dmg24

hethmar wrote: »

Ah, got you. Oh I wouldnt have liked the aisle one - all nursing mothers in that row

You don't get nursing mothers in the exit row! You are thinking of the bulkhead in the middle of the plane.

Have to agree with the others, the seat next to the door is often worse than many 'normal' seats ... and I'm only short!

malkie76

It's only being pointed out in case it misleads other posters. Misinformation is a terrible thing and can often spoil people's holidays.

Fact remains that on most plane the exit row seat immediately next to the exit door has restricted legroom - there is no benefit to sitting there.

On VA 747s economy is 3-4-3 with the two 3s being exit row seats, and the 4 in the middle being bulkhead, which gives the possibilty of a baby and mother getting those seats. However, on many VA 747s there are exit row seats either side of the galley which means no babies, but potential noise from cabin crew. Similarly they also have them either side of the lavs, which would be a bit of a gamble.

See here for more info http://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Virgin_Atlantic_Airways/Virgin_Atlantic_Airways_Boeing_747-400_2.php