Getting A Free Upgrade To Business Class

[autan]

I have searched and cant find much on getting free upgrades from economy class to business class with the airlines. I have been upgrade a total of 4 times in the past 3 years, whilst travelling alone. Just a point to note, it is virtually impossible to get an upgrade if your travelling with children.

OK heres the rules for those who are travelling by themselves.

1. Dress smartly & formally.

2. Clean shaven and wearing aftershave. (Lipstick & Perfume for the Ladies).

DO NOT CHECK IN ONLINE.

Leave plenty of time before you need to check in.

When you are called to the check in desk say the following:

"Hi, could you tell me if business class is full today or is their availability ?"

If there no seats, you have not embarrased yourself. If there are seats ask the following :

"On my planned trip next month, I would like to travel business class, would you be able to upgrade me today, so I can try it on this leg, they say once you have tried business class, you always fly business class. Is that true ?"

At this point the check in staff wont know if you intend to pay or trying to get a free upgrade.

"If you would upgrade me for free for me to try it, then I will email the airline after I have booked my next trip, saying it was thanks to you. Whats your full name please, so I can write it down".

You will get, a reply like, "Sorry I cant do that Sir, if you want to upgrade, I can direct you to the ticketing staff".

This is when you say "Is your supervisor on duty. Simply repeat the statements above".

This worked on 4 seperate occasions over three years. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesnt.

But if you dont try, you will never be upgraded for free.

[submaniac]

^^

This is actually very clever and useful information. Are you sure you want to give it out though? Like everyone will be trying it and there certainly will be no more upgrades.

[londoedan]

Nice work pal ! I'm not sure I have the brass-neck to carry this off though. Plus I like to check-in on-line or get to the airport early and nab one of the Emergency Exit aisle seats.

I've only ever had 1 upgrade in about 15 years flying around Asia - and it was on one of the shorter routes - Jkt to Sing. We were up and down again before I had a chance to enjoy myself

[autan]

^^

This is actually very clever and useful information. Are you sure you want to give it out though? Like everyone will be trying it and there certainly will be no more upgrades.

I was under the impression everyone sort of knew. I got the info from watching a cheeky Austrailian Girl in her 20s pull it off. She was dress in a ladies suit and looked the part. At the time, I thought is she going for a interview or something (hehe), then I saw her being move to the business class check desk and handed her boarding cards. I thought you cheeky lush.

[autan]

Nice work pal ! I'm not sure I have the brass-neck to carry this off though. Plus I like to check-in on-line or get to the airport early and nab one of the Emergency Exit aisle seats.

I've only ever had 1 upgrade in about 15 years flying around Asia - and it was on one of the shorter routes - Jkt to Sing. We were up and down again before I had a chance to enjoy myself

Most people dont try it. This sort of answers the post above too.

Imagine dropping your bags off at the checkin and going to the business lounge, drinking a few beers and eating some free food. The waiting in the gate with the hoi paloy and getting called up first. The cabin crew taking your hand luggage and stowing it for you. Asking you if you would like a scented towel to freshen up. The bringing round some champagne, sipping it gently while you relax into your lie flat bed/seat.

Your only worry and concern is do you stay awake to drink champagne and watch the films or do you lie flat and arrive at your destination refreshed after leaving the plane first.

Business class used to be a better seat, now its a better life.

I've only ever had 1 upgrade in about 15 years flying around Asia - and it was on one of the shorter routes - Jkt to Sing. We were up and down again before I had a chance to enjoy myself

You need to travel business. That emergency bulkhead seat will pale in comparison.

Edited September 5, 2012 by autan

[Forethat]

[SeaVisionBurma]

Imagine dropping your bags off at the checkin and going to the business lounge, drinking a few beers and eating some free food. The waiting in the gate with the hoi paloy and getting called up first. The cabin crew taking your hand luggage and stowing it for you. Asking you if you would like a scented towel to freshen up. The bringing round some champagne, sipping it gently while you relax into your lie flat bed/seat.

Your only worry and concern is do you stay awake to drink champagne and watch the films or do you lie flat and arrive at your destination refreshed after leaving the plane first.

Business class used to be a better seat, now its a better life.

You need to travel business. That emergency bulkhead seat will pale in comparison.

Are you serious? This is by far one of the more bizarre threads I have seen on this forum.

You sound like you are having delusions of grandeur - perhaps one is aspiring well above one's station?

I feel you may have some issues......

Hilarious.....

[Mosha]

Heck I once got down graded to France, when the London flight was full. Despite confirming my return 4 days earlier.

[marshbags]

Imagine dropping your bags off at the checkin and going to the business lounge, drinking a few beers and eating some free food. The waiting in the gate with the hoi paloy and getting called up first. The cabin crew taking your hand luggage and stowing it for you. Asking you if you would like a scented towel to freshen up. The bringing round some champagne, sipping it gently while you relax into your lie flat bed/seat.

Your only worry and concern is do you stay awake to drink champagne and watch the films or do you lie flat and arrive at your destination refreshed after leaving the plane first.

Business class used to be a better seat, now its a better life.

You need to travel business. That emergency bulkhead seat will pale in comparison.

Are you serious? This is by far one of the more bizarre threads I have seen on this forum.

You sound like you are having delusions of grandeur - perhaps one is aspiring well above one's station?

I feel you may have some issues......

Hilarious.....

Agreed

The world is full of chancers.

I hope he never parks next to me when I,m flying, especially long haul, can you imagine the line of conversation he try to make with you.

He,d not last longer than his start up before I ignored him / her.

Fancy opening a thread like this on a respectable forum, it speaks volumes about his character

marshbags

[CharlieH]

I got upgraded by simply saying " feel free to move me up if you want" and a big smile. whilst checking-in.

Agree that if you are travelling alone its always worth saying something, moved many times once on the aircraft and the seat belt signs were off after take-off. Just go look if there any empty seats and then talk to the cabin crew.

[steelepulse]

I can't see it working very often on top tier airlines where they have a regular clientele of paying business class passengers and wanting to maintain an exclusive image. Kazakstan Air on Air Banglasdesh might fall for it though .

[marshbags]

I got upgraded by simply saying " feel free to move me up if you want" and a big smile. whilst checking-in.

Agree that if you are travelling alone its always worth saying something, moved many times once on the aircraft and the seat belt signs were off after take-off. Just go look if there any empty seats and then talk to the cabin crew.

A lot depends on which airline you travel with of course..

As far as I am aware Qatar are not one of them if listening to requests being turned down is anything to go by.

marshbags

[flightcrew1]

I see upgrades from economy to business class on many flights I work. This is usually because economy is overbooked and not because someone want's to "try" it. That said most of the upgrades are done near the end of the flight being closed at check-in. Those arriving early with assigned seats will be given their seats and sent on their way. Those arriving just before the flight being closed with no seat assignments bare a better chance of being upgraded if the flight is full, but they also stand a chance of being denied boarding as the flight is now overbooked. These days because of frequent travellers and passengers now being offered to bid on upgrades one month before the flight the chances of being upgraded in the way the OP talks about is less likely.

Getting upgraded once onboard is also less likely unless their is some passenger conflict and we need to move people.

[theoldgit]

I was checking in for my flight from London to New York when a smart arse guy in the next row said to the lass checking him in "I am booked to fly in business class and my wife only has an economy ticket, we really need to sit together", the lass said "that's no problem sir I can arrange that", big grin from the guy to his wife, "I will seat you in economy".

I thought that was pure class, those check-in staff have seen and heard it all.

[tartempion]

But if you dont try, you will never be upgraded for free.

Kee kwai that is. (bullsh*t), all the OP recommendations are kee kwai.

I fly Etihad since 5 years and have been upgraded on many legs because economy was overbooked and I do have some status with the airline.

I even had one upgrade form eco to biz at check in counter and subsequently to first at boarding time.

Now on a 4 segment return trip one upgrade to biz doesn't make you That happy, so I now fly business paid ticket all the time.

Furthermore Etihad found a new way to sell it's unsold biz seats 10 days before departure by a bidding system.

Most of the flights I take don't have first class, so no more opus to be expected, and the chance to get upgraded fromr eco to biz is seriousely reduced with Etihad.

You want to fly biz for sure?

Pay for your ticket

[yermanee]

You want to fly biz for sure?

Pay for your ticket

Indeed that's the only way.

As flightcrew1 said upgrades happen because of overbooked economy combined with empty business class seats.

The airlines give preference to high ranking FFP members for free upgrades, and as you said it's only for that part of your trip.

Yermanee

[BoonToong]

I got downgraded once

[candid]

I get upgraded about 1 flight out of 3 with Emirates. Never asked, just happens if you fly often enough

[jibberjabberjibberjabber]

Status with the airline is by far the easiest way to swing any upgrades going.

As a general rule of thumb airlines will only upgrade should the class you are booked in be oversold, they don't typically give away the seats just because there are empties.

When they have checked everyone in they will then typically take a look at who they have got and rank them based on their status with the airline and across their alliance eg if you are flying on Thai, they would look at Thai Plats, then Thai Golds then Star Alliance Golds then Thai Silver then Star Alliance Silver.

Depending on the route and your status you will have a greater or lesser chance of getting an upgrade if the route is oversold. EG the Bangkok to Singapore route is going to have a much higher % of passengers with some level of status so even if you are a Star Alliance Gold there is a high likelihood that there will be flyers with higher status than you. Routes that are more vacation heavy eg Denpasar will typically have fewer status passengers therefore your changes (if you have status) will go up but then passenger loads on those routes are usually lighter and the chance reduced because the flight is rarely oversold.

There are always exceptions and people with friends working at the airline can do well as can a bit of chemistry with the check in agent (was the 20 something girl the OP mentioned cute? that may well have helped!)

I have never found that there is a need to dress particularly formal to be given an upgrade, you just need to be presentable. A great resource for this type of information is flyertalk dot com where stacks of information is shared in upgrades and various other related topics.

cheers

[russianrobert]

I don't understand why people prostitute themselves for something they haven't paid for.

You wanna fly biz class-pay for it.

[TXBeth]

About 12 years ago, I was traveling BA from Dallas to Romania via London. When I checked in (extremely early, among the first), the agent commented on the fact that it was my 18th birthday. About 2 hours later, the same agent came all the way through security to where I was sitting at the gate waiting for the flight. He asked for my boarding pass, then said in his lovely British accent, "This flight is overbooked, so there have been some changes. Here is your new boarding pass. Happy birthday; enjoy your flight!" He was long gone before I realized I had been upgraded to business class. It was a beautiful flight.

So my suggestion is...if you want a free upgrade, travel on your birthday. You might get lucky! This year we will be flying to Thailand on my son's 5th birthday, but I highly doubt they will bump all 5 of us. I wouldn't mind, though!

[Rionoir]

I got upgraded to business just for showing up and saying good morning... it seemed like the flight was pretty full so I'm guessing that's why I got moved.

[XCom]

Sounds like a lot of hard work. I tend to hand over two thousand baht (inside my passport) to the girl behind the check-in desk then ask while smiling at the same time. Remember it's Thailand. Anything can be bought.

[apalink_thailand]

The last time this happened to me was on a HK-BKK trip. Unfortunatly, they also upgraded a Chinese Tour group member who actually spat on the floor in Bus Class. He also got up to go to the bathroom just seconds before the plane started its take off roll. Oh well...I still enjoyed it. :-)

[petermik]

Imagine dropping your bags off at the checkin and going to the business lounge, drinking a few beers and eating some free food. The waiting in the gate with the hoi paloy and getting called up first. The cabin crew taking your hand luggage and stowing it for you. Asking you if you would like a scented towel to freshen up. The bringing round some champagne, sipping it gently while you relax into your lie flat bed/seat.

Your only worry and concern is do you stay awake to drink champagne and watch the films or do you lie flat and arrive at your destination refreshed after leaving the plane first.

Business class used to be a better seat, now its a better life.

You need to travel business. That emergency bulkhead seat will pale in comparison.

Are you serious? This is by far one of the more bizarre threads I have seen on this forum.

You sound like you are having delusions of grandeur - perhaps one is aspiring well above one's station?

I feel you may have some issues......

Hilarious.....

Check-in staff at airports have heard this type of bullshit before and I doubt very much that they fall for it

[travelmann]

Im sorry your answer is absolute tripe, it simply doesnt work that way anymore.

A recent reply in "flyer talk" from staff at the airport and on the gates say its all done by tier membership ie if you are a gold or silver regular flyer these are the ones who will get the upgrades as these are the customers who spend the most on flights.

[travelmann]

^^

This is actually very clever and useful information. Are you sure you want to give it out though? Like everyone will be trying it and there certainly will be no more upgrades.

No it isnt its not true go read flyertalk from airline staff about this it doesnt work that way + the person posting does not tell us if he is a gold or silver member.

As a gold member I used to get regular upgrades for free now I only travel once a year I get none I have to pay for them

[jacktrip]

is this for overseas flights? In my experience they are almost always booked to capacity.

[smokie36]

I've never had an upgrade...so I've given up and just book biz class every time.

In spite of having been previously Qatar gold...now silver..and BA silver.

I wouldn't do long haul with BA in any case...horrible airline.

Booking again this weekend!

[travelmann]

is this for overseas flights? In my experience they are almost always booked to capacity.

Some good points that also help are literally arriving at the last minute but again you could also get turfed off the plane BUT what they sometimes do is ask if you could go on the next flight and they will upgrade you to business for your trouble. wearing a smart suit will do nothing staff hear this all day off economy passengers.. Ive been in business class many times and trust me some of the flyers look like they have come straight off a council estate and some behave like they have, in Dubai many rich spoilt brat Arab kids get on and treat the staff like crap in business class.

I have no experience of short haul flights I only use business for long haul so i can arrive half sane.