I fly a lot. Not “Up in the Air” a lot, but still—minimum one cross-country round-trip a month. In the next year, I’ll likely be flying to Toronto, New York (2-3 times), San Diego, Boston, Hawaii, China, India, Thailand, Dubai, Germany … and lord knows where else in the USA.
I’ve been doing this level of domestic travel for close to 10 years now (the intl. is only in the last year). Unfortunately, Portland is not a hub city, so I’m always flying different airlines and not building up crazy miles with just one airline loyalty program, like some business commuter types do.
As a result, I have only had silver status once with one of my airlines, and I have never gotten involved with flight upgrades.
How do they even work? How do those folks get their names up on the board to be upgraded from Coach to Business/First Class? Is there a minimum status (silver, gold, etc.) required? Do they automatically offer it to you then, or do you have to do some special procedure at/after check-in for each flight, or beg or plead or bribe the gate attendants? How does it all work?
I used to work for singapore airlines. Let me try answering this.
Firstly, the checking in manager gets to decide. Flights are usually overbooked to accommodate no shows. However, if all booking passengers turn up - they would usually upgrade their most loyal members with the most points, or passengers who paid more for their tickets so as to ‘reward’ them.
Based on experience, sometimes, the manager might even upgrade the passengers merely glancing through the list, as he already expected a full flight - especially holiday weekends.
During flight, the attendant also has the autonomy to upgrade passengers to a better seat if the entertainment system is not working, or being harassed by passenger etc…
…or if the passenger is disabled. I use a wheelchair and back when I did a reasonable amount of travelling (my last flight was approx 2008) I’d get moved into business class by the flight attendant about half the time (although they wouldn’t always give me the good food that real b.c. passengers got). Makes life easier for them as well as me.
Last time I flew with my <2 daughter we got upgraded - I am sure so that we would have more space to take care of her. (and I spent most of the flight standing in the back of the section rocking her to keep her quiet)
It depends on the airline, but some of them have a written policy for how it works. On American, you typically have to request upgrades, which are given in order received. Depending on your status and the length of the flight, you may be added to the upgrade list automatically a certain time before the flight. American also has special 500-mile upgrade points that you have to use on flights over 500 miles unless you’re their highest status.
More info here: Complimentary upgrades − AAdvantage program − American Airlines
I do a lot of flying on Delta. Upgrades can be hard to come by in some cases and surprisingly easy in others.
On any given domestic flight, a certain percentage of first class seats will be reserved for the upgrade bucket. About five days out, they start calculating the probability that these seats will be sold. If they think they are unlikely to be sold, they start automatically giving them to full-fare coach passengers in priority order of frequent-flyer status. (Diamond then platinum then gold then silver.)
Some portion of the first class seats may still be held for last-minute bookings. The gate agent will generally upgrade these (if still available) immediately prior to boarding, with the same priority order.
The result is that, aside from short regional hops, it’s pretty damn hard to get an upgrade at any level below gold. Even as a diamond-level flyer I frequently don’t get them.
Upgrades for international flights are a lot more stingy. I get a number of international “upgrade certificates” each year by virtue of my status, but I can only use them by booking far ahead, and then only if there’s upgrade inventory still available, and then only by paying for a full-fare coach ticket.
There are people who get really deep (like, terrifyingly deep) into this game over at FlyerTalk. They can provide you with more details than you could possibly imagine.
it’s nearly as simple as one word… “loyalty”. Purchasing within one loyalty alliance (SkyTeam, OneWorld, Star Alliance) goes a long way to getting upgrades; but you’ve got to prove yourself first.
Once you get to a certain status, upgraded are given out to the highest level members automatically, based on availability within the business or first-class cabins.
If you’re going to spend hard-earned miles for upgrades, most airlines will allow that only in certain fare-levels; and usually never if you’re trying to do so from the lowest fares.
The more money you’ve proven to spend with a certain carrier or alliance, the greater the chances that you’ll be rewarded with the perks of upgrades.
Recently, some of the US airlines have included the price you paid for your ticket as a factor in ranking along with status. The result being that a Diamond member who paid full fare will be higher on the upgrade list than a Diamond member who paid a discount price.
Once the airlines went to the automated lists, I would be curious if gate agents have any autonomy in choosing who to upgrade. I’m not saying it isn’t done - I don’t know - but if the Diamond/Platinum/Gold status flyers with their names on the list became aware that the list was being circumvented I am guessing they would not be happy.
I’m blind, I walk with a white cane. The airlines are very generous and solicitous of my disability, both in the aircraft and in the terminal, often overestimating my need. I’ve flown 17 sections in the past year on seven airlines, and have never been offered a flight upgrade. Not that I want it, and I’d probably decline it if offered, in deference to another passenger who might appreciate it more.