Upgrading with Virgin at Heathrow Terminal 3

Crabman

Labman wrote: »

Because you haven't asked for an upgrade?

If the answer from check-in was to upgrade us, what were we asking for?

That's right, an upgrade :beer:

Voyager2002

I have received a few complimentary up-grades. They were given at the departure gate, NOT at check-in. I had been selected by the computer, and whatever means the computer used to decide, it was not looking to see if I was wearing a suit -- computers don't do that!

bombardier

Not sure why some people feel the need to be stroppy about this, but I thank those of you who have been constructive. Crabman - I read that guide before and that's what prompted the question, but thanks for the heads up!

Sam_Bee

I get a fair few flight upgrades by following these rules. It's hard to hazard a guess in what order these should be followed, but i'd say that chances are the last is most successful.

1. Be early (the airline knows well in advance if they are well overbooked, and how many people they need to upgrade)
2. Fly by yourself.
3. Be smart(ish).
4. Pick your airlines carefully (don't fly Virgin for example).
5. Join the frequent flyers club.
6. Be polite.
7. Be 6ft 6, so they feel sorry for you when you ask for the 'extra legroom seats'.
8. Work in travel, book your own flights.
9. Know people who work in the airline you're flying.
10. Be lucky, because most of the above counts for jack.... or
11. Pay for your upgrade.

thebigbosh

Flown virgin several times, and never been upgraded with them. The several times I've asked, the checkin attendant has always responded, "...and how do you want to pay for that sir?"

BA have been a lot more kind, although recently upgrades have been sparse. I guess it's always worth asking though... nicely!

And really the best advice is to have more than the standard frequent flyer club (silver, gold, platinum, elite, whatever...) as they always get preference

hammy_the_hammer

most of the 'blagging upgrade stories' come from before the widespread usage of networked computers.
the airline know exactly who they will upgrade if the need arises in 99% of cases. they are all no brainer scenarios
you are competing also against people within the airline industry and their friends and families.

stoneman

Virgin use your Flying Club status to determine whether you get an upgrade or not, but only if they are overbooked in Y. If you are Gold, then you have the best chance, and there are usually a few of those on a flight, then Silver, there might be as many as 40 of them on any one flight, then Red, well you can forget that one. You will only know when you get to the gate. When they put your boarding pass through the machine on boarding, you will hear a ding, and get the nice lady saying "congratulations Mr. ? you have been upgraded to UPPER" and how do I know that!!;)

hammy_the_hammer

also for a bit of reality.. when the airline are deciding who to upgrade ....for gold status on BA you could have achieved this by flying 8 return journeys first class from LHR to JFK at an approximate cost of £50K+ in one year.
this customer in chinos is competing against you, who may have spent £250 for the first time ever with BA ...but you've got a suit on.
guess who in 99.999999999999999% of cases will get the upgrade and of course that's with the caveat that they need to upgrade anyone on that flight ?
sorry most of the stories are urban myths these days

Strapped

When we flew to Vegas we had our 18 month old son with us. Economy was full, so no seat for littl'un. The cabin crew took pity on us and let my hubby (who is also very tall) sit upstairs so I could settle little 'un in his seat. Not sure they are supposed to do this but perhaps they saw the advantages of a quiet child!

ginvzt

We are flying to NZ this Friday with Air NewZealand for our honeymoon. Yes, we have economy tickets. It would be nice to get two seats in a row without neighboroughs, we have our seats prebooked by travel agent in row 63, whichmeans that there is an aisle seat next to us which might be occupied by someone. The 'two seat rows' at the back of the plane have been prebooked long ago (we booked our trip in May and these have been reserved already).

However nice it would be to get upgrade, we do understand that these situations are very rare and don't expect any. We might ask if there is a chance to have a seat next to us empty at the check in...

Another question - how early can you usually check-in? We will be coming to the airport at about lunchtime and flying only at 9pm, any chance they would let us to check in? (We want to go to london for a day..)