Upgrade Flights

markmat

truscott_uk wrote:

With upgrades, has anyone ever tried bribery - slipping in a note with their passport at check-in?

You're joking, right? :rolleyes:

markmat

pin wrote:

Best way to get an upgrade, pay for it.

I'd have to agree, although I appreciate that not everyone can necessarily afford to do this.

But, if you've made the decision to pay the extra for World Traveller+ or some other variant of premium economy, consider what else you might get for only a little more (especially if there are two of you travelling).

For example, I visited Australia last year and WT+ would have cost just over £1600 per person for the dates I needed to travel. So that's £1600 for "7 inches of extra legroom" over the standard BA seat (A.K.A. "just 4 inches more than Air NZ, Malaysian etc.").

However, for £1750 each I could get a business class companion fare on Malaysia Airlines, which I can assure you is a very worthwhile use of the extra £150 :cool:

In addition to this there's also the frequent flyer miles you'll earn. I got just over 29k miles and credited them to a Virgin Flying Club account. You can top this up by spending on a Virgin credit card, buying from Virgin Wines or transferring points you've earned buying petrol at Texaco. 40k miles (+Tax) is then enough for an economy round trip to Virgin's North American destinations.

ianwall

I've always thought that checking in online would decrease your chances of getting an upgrade. Checking in online guarantees and reserves your seat in the original booking class. Once this has been done, I would have thought it would have been much harder to upgrade you than if you checked in at the desk, where the agent could deal with the upgrade - especially when overbooking applies.

I don't know if the same situation applies when you book the ticket online and are able to choose the seat you'd like to sit in. Would you be better in the case, of not selecting a seat, hoping the flight is overbooked and getting the upgrade. Even though I'm aadvantage gold, I never select a seat (even the privilidged ones) to try and increase the chances of an upgrade. Needless to say it's never worked!

A tip I do have though, is to sit at the very front of your class. Once I was in the front row of AA Business Class the senior pursor said to me and a stranger next to me "come this way". Both of us were upgraded to First Class!!

fatboyonadiet

Just sent a nice e-mail to Swiss and will see how that works, could this work with Hotels too? Might give it a whirl and see what happens!

A1B

Many years ago when computer systems were not as advanced airlines found it difficult to forecast how busy their flights would be. However, these days they are much better at it and hence instead of in the past loading food for every seat in business they may now only load food for 50% so although there may be seats available they know that the flight will not be full. So upgrades are very much now if the airline needs you to move in that they have overbooked economy ......not that they want to make your trip any better when in fact you have only paid for an economy ticket and most probably a discounted economy ticket.

Best tips for an upgrade is be a frequent flyer with the airline and / or buy a full fare economy ticket.

mark_jones13

Rizzo wrote:

Do we not reckon there's a case for the European Court of Human Rights here though? If the airlines stopped trying to cram as many people as they possibly could onto the planes then there would be no need for people to beg for upgrades. They could still have the fancy first class/business class sections where you actually get proper crockery to eat your dinner off, etc!!

I recently flew to Hong Kong with Swiss Air-part of the journey involved flying from Manchester to Zurich, and the vice versa on the return leg. The plane from Zurich to Manchester was so tiny my hand luggage would not fit in either the overhead locker or under the seat in front of me- something you would have thought the airline staff might have told me- I spent that part of the flight with my knees under my chin- not something I enjoyed very much after a 13 hour long-haul flight!

Swiss boasts that they have made their seats 5cm thinner to give the passengers extra legroom! If you are unlucky enough to get a window seat on one of their long-haul flights you will find that your legroom is further restricted by a stupid silver box that they have placed under the seat in front, presumably to work the in-fight movie thingy.This reduces the space under the seat in front of you by half width-wise- you have no room to stretch out. I am only 5' 2" and I was uncomfortable!! I dread to think how somebody taller than me would have coped!!

To add insult to injury to get you all off the plane they make you walk through the business class and 1st class sections- just to show you all what you could have had!

I would definitely try and find the extra to pay for an upgrade next time!!

Posts like this really make me angry. This site is full of people who want something for nothing. 40 years ago it would have cost £700 to go to Hong Kong which was equivilent to a few months wages. You can go these days for £500 which is equivilent to one week or a week and a half wages. Air travel is cheaper than its ever been. Flying in Club these days is still cheaper than flying in Economy years ago its just that people won't pay it.

Everyone on here always rants about high prices and airline profiteering (May I refer you to the "British Airways Rip Off" thread). Actually there are very few airlines that make a profit. If people want cheaper flights then they have to put up with less leg room. I don't really think that the BA business model can be faulted all that much because they are the most profitable airline in the world.

bylromarha

fatboyonadiet wrote:

Just sent a nice e-mail to Swiss and will see how that works, could this work with Hotels too? Might give it a whirl and see what happens!

Swiss booked me a bulkhead seat last year before travelling as I was pregnant. I rang too late for them to do this on the trip out, but on the return, the group I was travelling with were pleasently surprised to have the bulkhead seats without asking. I just quietly smiled to myself, not having told any of the people I was travelling with that I was 14 weeks pregnant.

So, if there are genuine reasons, airlines will try to help you out.

eagle

truscott_uk wrote:

Being a tallish person - or someone that likes legroom anyway - don't forget that the person behind can make living hell for the person in front as well. I've had toddlers kicking my chair non-stop while their parents slept and tall people with their knees in my kidneys!

A friend once told me a similar problem. This person was coming back from a US city, Chicago I think. He was sat at a window seat and in the aisle position a lady who took up a lot of space. She was asleep for the entire flight. My friend didn't get up once to go to the toilet - even though he was desparate for most of the 8-10 hour journey. That's plain selfish if you ask me.

truscott_uk wrote:

With upgrades, has anyone ever tried bribery - slipping in a note with their passport at check-in?

I've heard this from a friend doing it in the early 80s. Turned up at the airport without a ticket at all. Got to the check-in desk, handed a £20 note with his passport to the person at the desk. The checkout person took the cash, looked at the would-be-passenger in the face, and without either of them saying a word, gave him a boarding pass. I must admit, this was an economy ticket and it was at the hight of the Christmas rush. My friend tells this story to his friends (rather smuggly) to this very day!

chewyjoint

My apologies if this has been mentioned previously on this thread's predecessor, however.

There is a website https://www.flyertalk.com which - as the name suggests - is dedicated to chat about airline travel.

One thread on this is about upgrades with our great(?) national carrier - British Airways. It's pretty long and doesn't actually give any earth shatteringly good advice on upgrades but for the sake on completeness the address is

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=35507

If you do take the time to wade through it I wonder if you too will come to the conclusion that British Airways is in fact a giant club run mainly for the benefit of its numerous long standing employees?

fatboyonadiet

Swiss have advised to ask the check-in staff/crew (?) when we arrive, but have made sure we are sat together for all the journeys, thought we would have anyway.

The hotel said they would upgrade out room and might give a small discount but I would need to call them to confirm everything.