Airline Workers: Top Upgrade Tips Please

penypincher

I was very lucky to have a friend who worked in check in for a major airline. I can think of at least 8 times in the last 6 years (and i do mean at least, most likely it was far more) that she upgraded my family, or myself to business class, from the flight leaving from her airport. and, i travelled with children. small children. the first time i was upgraded i had a toddler in arms and the 3 of us in 2 seats. my little ones became very well behaved travellers, as that was their strict instruction if they wanted to continue to enjoy the special seats! i was so sad when she left the airline. (and that was of her own free will, not, for any cynics, because she was sacked for upgrading!) on the rare occasions when she was unable to upgrade to business, she could usually sort out seats in premium economy. and we were always invited to use the lounge. because of her, we remained regular with this airline, usually booking very low cost tickets, but sometimes paying more than their competitors with our fingers crossed for something extra.

come to think of it, i never actually 'asked' her to upgrade, i just told her when we were flying. and sometimes we were upgraded when she wasn't even there.

the special meals can sometimes pose a problem (i always order children's meals). if i recall correctly, the one time she didn't upgrade us to business, rather to PE, she mentioned the special meals...

i was also upgraded (without her help) with the children (then about 3 and 5) from economy to premium economy, on a very full flight. so, for those travelling with children, don't give up hope!

Lantana

Thank you all - I have been reading this thread with interest.

Slightly off topic but a couple of times I have flown recently the airline were offering exit seats for upgrade 'sale' at check in.

I paid extra at check in for a Virgin exit seat from Las Vegas to Heathrow and also on a Thomson flight from Majorca.

My question is - I always thought that exit seats were kept for allocating to people who were fit and able to cope with any emergency, or not impede any other passengers should the exit door need to be used?
So I was suprised to find that both these airlines were prepared to sell the seats to anyone who fancied paying a bit extra for leg room?

Can anyone from an airline shed any light on this ? or is it just that policy has changed and it's now an extra way for the airline to make money? just curious!

Just to stay on topic - I have been lucky enough to be upgraded a couple of times to business thanks to a friend of mine who worked for an airline and put in a request for me. It was not a dead cert however - and my end of the bargain was to turn up dressed smartly and be duly polite and grateful. Which I always try to be anyway. Check in staff have a tough job as it is dealing with the often stressed out travelling public!

richardw

Lantana wrote: »

these airlines were prepared to sell the seats to anyone who fancied paying a bit extra for leg room?

er not to just Anyone http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/us/faq/preassignedseats.jsp#exit

Lantana

Thank you ! I obviously met the criteria then....ha ha
Still...it seems to be a fairly recent thing ?

_Andy_

Lantana wrote: »

Thank you ! I obviously met the criteria then....ha ha
Still...it seems to be a fairly recent thing ?

Virgin have been charging extra for exit-row seats for some time. I haven't flown economy for a couple of years but I think they charge £50 per sector for shorter flights (e.g. Boston, New York) and £75 for longer flights (e.g. Vegas, SF)

Katys_Grandad

JessicaF wrote: »

I forgot to mention this in my last post, you can do this on American Airlines as well.

If you buy full fare economy - it is only 10,000 miles (around £125 to buy) to upgrade to business class. Also get the advantages of a fully flexible ticket.
Works out far cheaper than business class itself.

However, limitations are that you can only buy 40,000 miles per year on AA. Also, there isn't always upgrade availability so you would need to check that first (using something like expert flyer where you can see how many upgrades are left on a particular flight).

One return flight will get you most of the miles back, more if you are a FF member.

TG

I am also a member of AA's FF programme and agree with much of what you have posted. However, the cost of Full Fare economy tickets are often very close to paying for Business Class in the first place.

10,000 AAdvantage miles would cost $280 dollars including the rip-off $30 admin fee.

Tojo_Ralph

Since when were Exit Rows and Bulkhead Seats considered an "Upgrade"? :rolleyes:

Tojo_Ralph

.....
So what did we learn? :whistle:

hammy_the_hammer

tojo ....
i think jack **** comes to mind

richardw

That the vast majority of economy passengers have nearly NIL chance of actually ever getting an upgrade.