Complimentary Upgrade to La Premiere

Old Sep 14, 2017, 7:38 am
  #1  
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Complimentary Upgrade to La Premiere

A funny thing happened to me today:

This morning I booked a ticket from TXL to IAD via CDG in November. I booked the ticket in Affairs (J and Z class). Interestingly, the price difference to La Premiere was relatively small (something like 400 EUR more per leg). The problem however was that this is a work trip and I am only allowed to fly business. So I had to pass the option to buy La Premiere.

Once the booking was finalized I called AF (I am FB Platinum) as asked whether it would be possible to change the ticket. The idea was I could pay the upgrade out of my own pocket. But this did not work out since the modification fees for my ticket were excessive.

This afternoon I went online to select my seats. And it seems that I got a complimentary upgrade to La Premiere for the IAD - CDG leg. At least I cannot select a seat in Affaires but only in La Premiere for this leg.

Any idea what happened here? Did AF Upgrade me automatically (2 months prior to my trip) and for free? I have never heard of such a policy? Or is this a glitch that will be corrected tomorrow?
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Old Sep 14, 2017, 7:50 am
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I would strongly suspect it's the latter. But fingers crossed!!!
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Old Sep 14, 2017, 12:30 pm
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Originally Posted by irishguy28
I would strongly suspect it's the latter. But fingers crossed!!!
Same opinion. Fingers crossed too
please let us know.
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Old Sep 14, 2017, 2:49 pm
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Fingers crossed. But what I do if there's a cheap upgrade is to capture the screenshot of the ticket showing the itenerary / price per the company guidelines, then book the trip with the upgrade and when expensing it, have the reimbursement for the original price and put the screenshot there as attachment with the price breakdown and a small explanation.
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Old Sep 14, 2017, 3:35 pm
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Originally Posted by Sjondorn
Fingers crossed. But what I do if there's a cheap upgrade is to capture the screenshot of the ticket showing the itenerary / price per the company guidelines, then book the trip with the upgrade and when expensing it, have the reimbursement for the original price and put the screenshot there as attachment with the price breakdown and a small explanation.
Let me get this right - you pay for your business travel out of your own pocket and then you're reimbursed afterwards? Just to understand the flow of things.
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Old Sep 14, 2017, 5:06 pm
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What does your booking say if you check your reservation? If you have been upgraded, it's going to say La Premiere; if it still says Business, it's most likely a seat map glitch.
I actually had the opposite problem (P booking, but J seat map displaying when trying to pick a seat) and it was a display problem.

Originally Posted by Sjondorn
Fingers crossed. But what I do if there's a cheap upgrade is to capture the screenshot of the ticket showing the itenerary / price per the company guidelines, then book the trip with the upgrade and when expensing it, have the reimbursement for the original price and put the screenshot there as attachment with the price breakdown and a small explanation.
I do the same! And would have definitely done it in this case.
If I can stomach the price difference between what I'm allowed to book at work and a superior class of service, I just make a dummy booking with what I'm allowed, take a screenshot, put that in my expense report, and then I make the actual booking with the upgrade. I guess that only works for people who make their own reservation and expense them, if you have to use a company travel agent it might be more complicated.
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Old Sep 14, 2017, 5:31 pm
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Originally Posted by Milkman
Let me get this right - you pay for your business travel out of your own pocket and then you're reimbursed afterwards? Just to understand the flow of things.
Yes. We can choose from direct billed, using corporate AMEX card or our own credit card (and then get it reimbursed later). I pay it using my own credit card as I get travel rewards points for that.

Our travel agent generally doesn't support personal upgrades for the direct billing, simply because we have the choice on how to pay. And it sucks anyway (mixing airlines from different alliances = big no no).
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Old Sep 14, 2017, 8:35 pm
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Originally Posted by Sjondorn
Yes. We can choose from direct billed, using corporate AMEX card or our own credit card (and then get it reimbursed later). I pay it using my own credit card as I get travel rewards points for that.

Our travel agent generally doesn't support personal upgrades for the direct billing, simply because we have the choice on how to pay. And it sucks anyway (mixing airlines from different alliances = big no no).
If the F fare is still available, I suggest that you keep the receipt for your current J class ticket, use that in your expense report, cancel the ticket altogether (if allowed/possible without paying a hefty penalty) and then book a new ticket in F class.
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Old Sep 15, 2017, 9:15 am
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Originally Posted by Milkman
If the F fare is still available, I suggest that you keep the receipt for your current J class ticket, use that in your expense report, cancel the ticket altogether (if allowed/possible without paying a hefty penalty) and then book a new ticket in F class.
Does AF also allow free cancellations within 24 hours, so could always book J for the expense claim, cancel and book F.
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Old Sep 16, 2017, 11:14 am
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Thanks for all your comments!

@Milkman -- Yes, that how it works. I book the ticket with my own (personal) credit card, then submit the receipts to my company and get reimbursed afterwards.

@Klems -- the booking says "Class : La Premire", which I guess is good news.

In any case, at this stage (some days later), I still have a seat in La Premiere and the segment booking class is La Premiere and not Business. So either it's indeed an upgrade or a very persistent glitch :-)
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Old Sep 17, 2017, 2:23 am
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As a friendly statement : there is no complimentary upgrade months in advance. So it can't be anything else than a glitch.
Did you look at your booking on KL site or app ?
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Old Sep 17, 2017, 2:59 am
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Could it be that this segment was actually booked in Premiere? Perhaps business was fully booked. That may explain why the price difference between Business and First was so low (as one leg did not need to be upgraded).

What are the fare codes for the legs (I Z D C J F P) as mentioned on the original booking confirmation?
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Old Sep 17, 2017, 3:01 am
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Originally Posted by Goldorak
As a friendly statement : there is no complimentary upgrade months in advance. So it can't be anything else than a glitch.
Did you look at your booking on KL site or app ?
Agreed.

I assume that you received an eticket and that it specifies business class (some fare bucket).

I guess that the AF agent tried to do a booking in F to see what extra fee you would have to pay. Then the agent forgot to close or cancel that dummy booking.
It will be corrected at some point of time wjen they discover that payment has not been done.
In the meanwhile, all good J seats might be gone.
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Old Sep 17, 2017, 4:59 pm
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I once managed to book on the phone an economy ticket and immediately get it modified without change fees for a business ticket (company policy as well). This was a nice gesture from the Platinum line agent.
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Old Sep 20, 2017, 9:44 am
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Originally Posted by Mirk
I once managed to book on the phone an economy ticket and immediately get it modified without change fees for a business ticket (company policy as well). This was a nice gesture from the Platinum line agent.
FWIW, some airlines (AA for sure, and I think UA) have policies to waive the change fee when up-faring a ticket to a higher class of service. It's short-sighted not to do so.

Then again, AF preferred to send me 600 cash instead of letting me use an 800 voucher (EC261 comp) for a $1500 ticket for my husband. (Vouchers are non-transferable but they don't indicate as such...) So we spent the money with La Compagnie, which was much more comfortable for him than AF PE would have been. AF's loss, our gain.
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