My daughter is flying to Milan this week on Continental out of Newark. We purchased her coach ticket using FF. (I want to save my FF, to go visit!) Any thoughts on the best approach to get an upgrade to business class? If the flight is not full, do you even want an upgrade and ';feel hemmed in'; if there is a chance of spreading out in coach?
Getting a seat upgrade...does it still happen?
No idea how to get an upgrade, but the coach vs. business choice would be no contest for me. I would much rather ride in business class because the seats are bigger and much more comfortable (especially important on a long -- presumably overnight -- flight to Milan) and have much more leg room than coach seats.
Getting a seat upgrade...does it still happen?
I have been upgraded five times by European airlines (SAS, Finnair, Air France). Once from New York to Europe, once Helsinki to New York and three times within Europe.
Airlines usually upgrade to business only if tourist class is overbooked. I have noted that the key is to have FF card, be groomed and dressed well (quaite casual is ok but no jeans, sneakers etc.) and be nice to the person at check in.
Especially in overseas flights upgading really makes a difference, better seat, more room, better food and service.
Once I wasn%26#39;t sitting with my girlfriend so we asked if we could be upgraded so we could (I was willing to pay). The answer we got back was %26#39;we don%26#39;t upgrade people who ask to be upgraded%26#39; How can you get something if you don%26#39;t ask?! They also said that they don%26#39;t upgrade people wearing denim. All they would do is put us on a list with others who had asked. I felt like complaining about the girl on the desk for being so rude! We never got upgraded or sat next to each other. I%26#39;ve been told by travel agents that if you tell the airline that you%26#39;re an agent you%26#39;ll get upgraded-I%26#39;ve never tried this though!
Tuuli is correct. While airlines can differ, they seem to be getting more stingy. If economy is not overbooked, you stand little chance of an upgrade unless you are exceedingly skilled (of course, it also depends on having empty business-class seats). In general, the odds are against you and a lucky combination of many factors needs to happen.
The only time they will offer operational (unpaid) upgrades is if business isn%26#39;t full and coach is overbooked. They will offer the upgrades to their status passengers first, and Continental will have lots of status passengers out of EWR. If your daughter doesn%26#39;t have status and isn%26#39;t willing to pay, tell her to get comfortable in coach.
My ex husband used to work for BA and once when we were flying home economy from DC as ';staff'; we ended up on stand by. After a while we were called to the desk and it was explained to us that economy was full and ';would we mind being upgraded to business?'; :-)
Although we knew that there we other staff members on the flight that day I think we were chosen because he was wearing a smart jacket, shirt and trousers and he also insisted that I wore my ';sunday best'; as well - never ever jeans or sneakers. So thats my only tip, if they do upgrade people they will choose the more smartly dressed. I%26#39;ve also seen this happen on those behind the scenes airport programmes we get on TV these days.
I recently was upgraded on a flight to Los Vegas. I was flying solo, chated with the guy at check-in counter about my trip, how much I missed my partner, yadda, yadda, yadda. Was dressed from work (it is true that unless you are dressed business casual or more formal it is very unlikely you will get upgraded). Just before boarding he called me up and asked if i would like an upgrade.
Your chances of getting upgraded on Continental are pretty slim. They%26#39;re pretty generous with upgrades for elite FF people...and there are a lot of those people! Otherwise, they%26#39;re not so generous any more. I just tried to give them miles to upgrade a rtp flight to India - there werent seats available for upgrades - and the agent told me if they open them up, it would be 40,000 miles each way PLUS $450 surcharge each way.
then again, on my recent Continental flight, there was enough room in First for them to seat about 15 unattended kids.
The best approach is to be very dressed up and ask nicely. I noticed a mother and daughter get upgraded on Thai after chatting nicely with the gate agent in Bangkok (they were selling upgrades at check in for $700!). Another daughter with an elderly mother approached the same agent in a much ruder way, and didnt have the same result.
if the flight isnt full, you should be able to spread out in coach with no problem
*** Getting a seat upgrade...does it still happen? *** Shhhh ..... don%26#39;t tell everyone ..... but here%26#39;s an travel industry secret. Just wear your TripAdvisor t-shirt, TripAdvisor Hat, put TripAdvisor luggage tags on you bag and slip on a pair of your TripAdvisor undies ..... and you%26#39;ll be upgraded ..... oh you%26#39;ll be upgraded all right.
weve been upgraded and we were wearing combats,trainers etc,so hardly smart and we were upgraded.
No comments:
Post a Comment