Airline Workers: Top Upgrade Tips Please

MSE_Martin

Hi,

I'm in the midst of writing a completely new 'How to get an Upgrade article' as the current one is now quite old and out of date (and the new one will be a lot more detailed).

This will cover both

Free upgrades (which are rare)
And paid for upgrades (how to get them cheapest)

What I'd like to ask airline staff

However I wanted to ask those who work for airlines, especially check-in staff and cabin crew especially about free upgrades as the information on paid for ones is easy to aquire and we've already found many good ways.

Just to say, I'm aware that this is something that isn't too common, what I'm talking about is how to increase people's chance.

If possible please let us know the airline, but if that's a problem there's no need...

Information that'd be great

• In your airline who has authority to grant free upgrades
• How common are upgrades
• What do you think is the best approach
• In what circumstances are upgrades given
• Are upgrades even given to passengers who aren't members of frequent flyer clubs?
• Is it better to ask for an upgrade or is that just annoying
• Anything else you want to tell us...

Plus any stories of people getting it very wrong or very right would be wonderful...

Thanks

Martin

MSE_Martin

to Help Keep This Thread On Topic - Rather Than General Discussion Of Upgrade Chances As These Have A Tendancy To (please use the many other threads for that)- We're Going To Delete Off Topic Threads.

carl_2

I was watching I think it was the bbc airport programme a while ago the airline had over booked in economy so they had to upgrade some passangers the ones they upgraded was the ones that were smartly dressed that look like they would fit into first class.
So it might be an idea to dress smartly when traveling to be more in with a chance.

donny_osmonds_mad_fan

so why the heck was mine deleted??????? I spend a lot of time and effort typing out everything you asked from a former check in girls point of view...nothing was abusive or off topic it was exactly what you wanted martin.................so you know what fine sod it shan't both again!

Insert by Martin

You had actually posted on another thread (I checked your prior posts) ... it hadn't been deleted... and is still there... however I've copied it from here below to make you a bit happier
____________________________________________


I agree there is no science for it however having worked on check in for united airlines who also dealt with many others such as jet airways, bwia, air china and air new zealand, the best tip is dont be an over jokey idiot who jokes and begs for an upgrade with the check in staff as nine times out of ten we are the ones who put your name forward.

With most airlines if it is not oversold in the back you will have to pay for your upgrade with points or cash. In this day and age airlines can not afford to be giving things away.

If the back is oversold they will be looking for people to upgrade but it is nearly always done to frequent flyers obviously the higher ranking ones first and work the way down, failing that on airlines who dont always have lots of members (for instance in the days of BWIA) we would be asked to comment SFU (suitable for upgrade) and at the gate they may get one, we would be asked to look for smartly dressed nice polite people. If we were oversold and looking and we had a half decent nice couple who were honeymooners or if someone mentioned it was their birthday or I noticed in the passport they were off for a special birthday etc then I would point that out to the supervisor too and comment it....apart from that unless you were an exceptionally handsome business man..not a lot of hope lol....I would also comment if we had other airlines staff travelling as they would also be quite suitably dressed on the whole.

On united if we were oversold, then they may well have special offers on for next cabin upgrade so maybe economy to business for £300, or business to first for £300 etc and they would always ask us to try to sell them to make the airline some money and failing that would upgrade at the gate if that hadn't worked.

As for getting bumped off a flight and making some cash or upgrade that way on the whole you may not be bumped even if you volunteer for it if you have a connection, you dont as routine on the whole get awarded an upgrade as well as a payment (some airlines may differ but none of those ones listed did it as standard and AA didnt when we offered as a family of 5 to be bumped...they wouldn't even promise some seats together so as we had children we decided not to take that risk), get to check in early if you think this maybe te case as if they get a few offers of bumps they would then tell us not to ask any more.

hope that helps

WiseInvestor_2

Under current UK/EU Tax laws each passenger pays tax based on his/her class of travel, so a First Class passenger will pay considerably more than someone sat in Economy. Therefore 'free' upgrades can pose serious tax implications for the airlines. For this reason, only VERY FEW staff (ie the Duty Manager) has authority to upgrade people and must be able to justify that decision to a tax auditor. HM Revenue & Customs would consider cabin oversales as a valid reason, but not because somebody asked nicely. Asking for a free upgrade is effectively asking the airline employee to break the law. Please don't do it.

Most of the larger airlines have a set rate for payed upgrades which can be much cheaper than booking the higher class from the outset. The risk is that there may be no seats available on the day in your chosen cabin and you may not be offered the improved meal as many airlines cater based on the number of known bookings. Moving, for example from Virgin's Economy to Premium Economy or BA's World Traveller to World Traveller Plus shouldn't pose too much of a problem because cabin crew can usually accommodate paid extras. It's not quite so easy moving from Economy to Business Class since the onboard product is usually very different so stocks may be limited.

Gone are days when Frequent Flyers were routinely upgraded because the airlines realised that passengers were deliberately under-booking (so paying less) knowing they'd sit in a better seat anyway. If the airline has to upgrade due to oversales the decision is often/usually made behind-the-scenes in advance of check-in where staff have little more than booking profiles on which to select suitable candidates. They'll usually select those who've already paid the highest fares so a passenger with a Fully Flexible ticket is far more likely to be selected than one who's opted for the lowest "restricted" fare online. That said, check-in staff may be asked to be 'on the lookout' so I wouldn't turn up in shorts and flip-flops if you want to stand any chance of sitting further forward.

As for predicting which flights will be oversold is almost impossible. Even the airlines' highly sophisticated sales software can't do that. I would, however predict that upgrading could/will become more common as businesses scale back their travel budgets forcing the airlines to fill their planes with leisure travellers, as it's better to make some money from a seat than none at all.

Looking at upgrades from the other perspective, airlines are VERY keen not to upset their regular premium passengers who've paid significant amounts of money to sit in a higher cabin. That expectation not only suggests a nicer/larger/flatter seat but also quieter, more spacious surroundings and a more individual service from the cabin crew. Premium passengers DO NOT take kindly to overhearing excited couples discussing how lucky they've been to be reclined with a glass of Champagne having paid only £200 each! If you are lucky enough to be upgraded, suppress your excitement and retain your dignity by behaving as though you're already "one of them". Cabin crew do pick up on such conversations and the level of service offered to you may be scaled down somewhat!

I often see "Suitable For Upgrade - Honeymoon couple" next to passengers' bookings, usually on flights to exotic beach destinations. Let me assure you that you're not the only ones; half the plane are celebrating something (wedding, anniversary, 40/50/60th birthday...) so don't expect any special treatment. In fact, many frequent flyers take their families to such places on holiday using their Airmiles which carry significant weight when deciding who gets to sit where.

The worst/funniest(?) situation I've encountered was a 'foreign" gentlemen who refused to sit beside a woman, who he (and supposedly his religion) deemed unclean! The Captain invited him to take his seat or get off, whereupon he promptly sat down. Realising that he was simply trying it on just to get upgraded and given the obvious offense he had already caused his neighbour, the Chief Steward promptly removed her bags from the overhead locker and invited her to move forward instead.


In summary, the airline industry is suffering desperate times, both from unfair competition with US airlines being protected from debtors (Chapter 11 Bankruptcy laws) and overseas ownership/traffic rights (Open Skies), and record oil prices pushing $140 per tonne. Many airlines have announced network reductions, staff lay-offs and some even bankruptcy. Over 10 airlines have gone out of business this year already, half in the UK! The airlines are looking to rationalise their businesses to earn as much money from as few people as possible. Upgrade is becoming a dirty word for the staff trying to hold onto their jobs, so please think twice before asking them to give you something for nothing and break the law in the process!

smala01

After logging a number of frequent flyer points (bmi star alliance) i decided it was a good time to redeem them for a "free flight".

Well after taxes, fuel surcarges, security supliments my free flight with points suddenly because MORE expensive than simply paying for a flight in cash based on a best buy table. (£219 to New York on points, Vs £203 paying in money)

So IMHO the "cheapest" way to upgrade and get best value from your points is to use your frequent flyer miles to upgrade from economy to business/first.

Smala01

therealdessie

I often fly to the US with United Airlines because their points seem to offer the best deals. Not only does the Mileage Plus Visa rack up a fair number (if you remember to pay off/transfer balance), but you can "double dip" at many hotels and earn free nights in the process. A one-way fare class upgrade with United costs me 30 thousand points for a flight to the west coast of the USA - 1 mile is given for every mile flown so it was easy to get these after just a few trans-Atlantic flights and some promotional offers, surveys and the like. Best of all you continue to earn miles when flying the upgraded flight. It's also important to note that you can buy miles either direct from UA or from eBay (...!). As for being given an upgrade - I've never seen it happen to anyone below their Premier/1K club (which requires a lot of flights).

Another key point is that you can usually bump yourself if you're quick enough. When selecting your flights if you can book far enough ahead in advance and have the option of choosing your seats I would always recommend being seated as far forward as you can in Economy class. Very often early on the plane allocated to the flight is smaller than the one the airline intend to use, so by the time your flight comes around you'll find a larger plane is being used. Inevitably this means that your seat which was in economy is now in "extra economy" and you can enjoy a slightly larger amount of legroom - check sites like seatguru.com to find those seats. Of course, sometimes the airline realise and move you, but if you can get away with it... That said United offer a chance to make that upgrade as many times as you like through a year for yourself and one other person for £100 (from memory, and subject to availability) anyway.

superfurryanimal

I think I've been pretty lucky as I've been upgraded twice in my time and am not a frequent flyer, usually just once a year.

The first time was a classic 'bumping off' scenario where the airline had overbooked the flight during the Easter hols. It offered us £250 each, put as up for the night and we travelled first the next day.

The other time I was on a group fundraising trip to Africa. I'd gone a bit earlier than the others and got chatting to the desk staff. The plane was pretty empty and I guess because it was a charity thing they were very nice and upgraded us! It was a fairly small airline though, and th whole plane wasn't that busy.

jayeatman

Back in the good old days when I flew full fare and had a BA Gold card, upgrades were easy to come by: You asked and often got!
I don't think many airline staff would be offended by a polite request for an upgrade, but don't hold your breath. If you are a frequent flyer, and look smart, you will certianly have a much better chance.
My most recent upgrade was when I got a bulkhead seat at the front of the economy cabin. In BA cabins at least this is where they put mothers with babies because there are fixings for the cot on the bulkhead. They needed my seat for one such mother so I was asked to move forward.
For this reason, if you check in on line, the bulkhead seats are never available. The same goes for emergency exit seats as certain passengers (children, old, fat ones to be blunt) mustn't be put there, so either don't check in on line or when you get to the airport ask to change your seat to a bulkhead or emergency exit seat.
If you don't get an upgrade, at least you'll have more legroom. Downside is you might get stuck next to a screaming baby.

stuart07970

donny_osmonds_mad_fan wrote: »

so why the heck was mine deleted??????? I spend a lot of time and effort typing out everything you asked from a former check in girls point of view...nothing was abusive or off topic it was exactly what you wanted martin.................so you know what fine sod it shan't both again!

I can only sympathise. Having sat behind a check-in desk for 12hours a day in my youth, it becomes a very lengthy task when every single customer asks for a bulkhead seat or upgrade.
Economy seat = £400
Business Class = £4000

You wouldn't try it in Tesco would you?
"i know I've paid for Liebfraumilch but can I have Dom Perignon?"

I await this post being deleted to keep this thread 'on topic':eek:

stuart07970

Airlines ONLY upgrade if the class in which travelling is OVERBOOKED
and the class above has space.

It is common practice to overbook all cabins when possible.

Another reason to arrive early.

Sometimes frequent travelers were pre-bumped, but generally we'd just look for 'suitables' on the day.

A guy I used to work with would always target old people, simply because they were generally more polite, and always more grateful. Bless 'em!