Have you ever been upgraded on a flight? Poll results/discussion

carolehdb_2

I will drag the upgrades probabilities down a bit! I have family in Holland and so visit annually, never been upgraded then altho not bothered asking for a 45 min flight. However we booked our honeymoon to Thailand and India (5 international flights) and got the booking clerk to note we were honeymooners, even after that and asking at the check-in desk no upgrades....and my husband slipped a disk on the 4th day of the trip so we took another 8 internal flights to get around Thailand (yes I know, what a carbon footprint but we were trying to have our only nice exotic hol ever!) and did not manage an upgrade on any of those despite trying the 'honeymoon' and 'back injury' explanations...........:( so Tojo Ralph, that's 0/13 upgrades in 1 month!

pandy12

I was upgraded in 2001 on a virgin flight from London to San Francisco. I was on my own and the plane was full of American school children and i was sat in the midst of them thinking 'I'm never going to get some shut eye!' A flight attendant came and asked me to come with her and then I was introduced to the 1st class- fabulous leather reclining seats, a choice of what I wanted to eat so I scoffed lots of strawberries and cream and did not say no to the champagne that they kept offering me whilst I was sat at the bar area. Needless to say I got very tipsy and on my way to my friend's house in Marin county accidentally left my bag at the bus station, which caused a security alert as you can imagine- so I certainly arrived in style!
There was also another person travelling on their own they upgraded too, we we just lucky ~I suppose that the plane was full of kids!
On a previous flight from San Fran back in the late 90's a friend of mine who I was seeing off at the airport was offered free vouchers with one of the American flight companies if she took a flight the next day as it the plane was full- which she did! Also a hotel room for the night so we raided the mini bar at her hotel room and she flew back the next day with 500 dollars worth of vouchers! I was flying back to the UK a couple of days later so did not get that option. That was just after New Year so a busy time.

damianw

I've been upgraded, without asking, a few times. Every time, I've had a frequent flyer card for the airline or one of its partners (in one case, the frequent flyer card was literally brand new which may have helped). I managed to get silver status with bmi a few years ago after a lot of flights with work and that was especially good for free upgrades, particularly early morning flights with Lufthansa from Athens back o the UK via Frankfurt. I think it helps to check in early.

I've also checked in and got on the plane several times, to find that I've been given the seat by the overwing emergency exit with extra legroom. I'm not sure, but I suspect the check-in staff are looking for people who appear fit and sensible, have flown lots of times before and look like they would know what to do in an emergency. I've no idea why they picked me either!

Finally, don't forget to be polite to check-in staff - if you're checking in overseas, try and at least learn "Hello", "Do you / can you speak English please?" and "Thankyou" in their language - it shows you've made an effort and people always appreciate that.

seven-day-weekend

Never been upgraded on a flight but was upgraded last week on the Pride of Bilbao ferry from an inside twin-bed cabin to a luxury outside cabin with two windows, a king-size bed, tea- and coffee-making facilities, a bowl of fruit, a tv and free bathrobes. Enjoyed.

kevfra2

This is a tale of two flights, some years ago my mother in law decided she wanted to take all the grand kids to Orlando and there parents of course. The catch 22 was I was the only male parent going, thirteen of us! All the seats were in Virgin Premium economy but not allocated, so when we were checking in it was a free for all, I just stood back and let the mob get on with it. A perfect result! all the seats had gone so unfortunately one adult had to go up the then winding stairs to upper class, me!;) Cracked it so I thought, as I made my way up my eyes fell upon a stunning raven headed beauty of a woman wearing sun glasses dressed in black. It reminded me of Jackie Collins and Leonard Rossiter in the Cinzano advert (though I never spilt my drink on this poor lady I hasten to add) As I got settled the stewardess bought us a drink or two then we took off. I broke the ice telling this lady about all of us being on the plane etc, I asked where she was off to and she informed me she was flying on to the Bahamas to collect her father's body, he had died of a heart attack...............
She sobbed all the way, I ended up standing most of the way so another woman could comfort her.
On the return journey we all sat together, this time I was in the last row of Premium and the seat could only go back so far but worst of all there were babies crying all the way to!:mad:

jamtart6

a colleague of mine managed it for free on a flight to the states by using her "Dr" status ! The year after they said she could upgrade to the emergency exit seats for an extra £200 per person. She declined!

I was upgraded to emergency exit seats on a flight home from Oz when my TV screen broke. I would love to go 1st class..but only see the point for flights above 10 hours in one go.

scarletclark

I got upgraded once - by Virgin Atlantic on a return flight from Washington. However, I did only get this as I had a miscarriage on the flight on the way out and was travelling on my own for work. On the way back they let me go into the upper class lounge and I had a seat/bed in first class. They took away the freebies from my seat though, that they gave to all the other first class passengers! They might have felt sorry for me... but not that sorry!

Topcat2007

My other half works for an airline & it's within his remit to upgrade passengers if necessary. One day he was working on a flight when he was called by the cabin crew to intercede in an altercation between 2 passengers. There was a white South African woman who was objecting to a black South African man sitting next to her in Business Class. He could not pacify this female passenger & she was adament that the male passenger be moved from that seat. So he said to her "Madam I am to understand that you do not wish to sit next to this gentleman & that you wish him removed from this seat" ? She replied "Yes" he then said to the male passenger " I'm sorry Sir, I will have to move you - but I'm sure you will enjoy the seat I have for you in First Class, please come this way!" Apparently her face was an absolute picture - & she did get what she asked for after all.:j

Sophster_2

I was upgraded on the last leg of my second ever long haul flight which was back from Thailand. The airline was Emirates. We were flying Bangkok to Dubai and Dubai to Glasgow. At the gate at Dubai airport as we were just about to board we were informed that my boyfriend and I had been upgraded. We hadn't asked and were totally delighted. I had not been well all the way back from Koh Samui so I was elated to get a chance to lie down and sleep. We had only the basic skywards card. The plane was very busy and I presume they had to make room for overbooking. Great result. I think it helps if you are always polite and also if there are only 2 people or 1 travelling.

snoopy1971

Having worked for a airline some time ago my memory was that flights that effectively work like a shuttle i.e. New York were more likely to be oversubscribed especially in the morning (business travel I guess) and would create a need for movement/upgrades to accomodate extra.

If there was a likelihood that this was the case then we were instructed in a morning briefing to look for suitable passengers to move up one "class" in seating ( for suitability read suitable attire, not on a budget ticket, special occasion etc).

Also if you are flexible with your arrival times turning up last but on time for check in was also a good way of getting bumped (and compensated) to another later flight (assuming there is a later flight) as at some point the airline has to assume that people aren't going to turn up and allow the passengers that are in the airport to check in/board. Again with New York there would be the need for a lot of this when students would be travelling back home for the holidays (Thanksgiving etc).

Any popular business commuter routes are good as well as businesses get tickets that can be rescheduled if they are not used so they book an employee on a flight that may never be needed(makes no odds to them if they don't end up using it), these are often considered as no shows by ground staff in advance and if the passenger turns up wahey you have a potential need to find another seat for one of the numbers of passengers that have been oversold by the airline.