Captain Schmidt

YMMV. I've had 2 op-ups to intercontinental F on AA. One was out of NRT to ORD and at the desk they told me specifically it was because of my OWE status.

shorthauldad

Hmm... I asked about upgrades as I was leaving JFK on AA Domestic and was told that OW status meant absolutely nothing, that only their own FF members status mattered.

thegreatmrsj

I think this thread reminds me to remember "blessed is he/she who expects nothing for they shall not be disappopinted"

colmc

Happened to me on VS on the return leg first ever flight with them, with no VS status - JFK to LHR (which one would assume is a status flyer heavy route!). I always wondered if it was a free "taster" as described above!

Airlines work in mysterious ways.

Captain Schmidt

US Domestic is a completely different matter as the domestic F cabins generally fly full courtesy of either cheap F buy-ups at check-in or complimentary upgrades to their own elite fliers. As such there is no need to op-up another OW elite.

Intercontinental flights on AA are handled differently and AA will at times need to op-up pax in the same way that BA does. As I said I've had two instances of J to F op-ups. One Trans-pac and one TATL.

digistil

FWIW, my first ever flight on BA was two years ago (chosen due to it being the cheapest). A long-haul from LHR to YUL, for which I was upgraded to WT+ upon check-in. It was my first long-haul not-in-Y, and I couldn't believe how much better it was (IMHO). Now fly only BA if I have the choice.

Paralytic

My anecdotal experience from flying as Silver and Gold with colleauges who are Blue, Silver is Gold is as follows-

• Upgrade done systematically and done by checkin time - status taken into account
• Upgrade done for UK departure by behind-the-scenes team more than a few hours in advance of flight - status taken into account
• Upgrade done for UK departure within an hour or two of flight - whatever is easiest for staff and/or whoever smiled the most/dressed nicely/whoever they fancy
• Upgrade done at outstation - whoever smiles/asks/is friend of team making decision

I might be well off the mark, but its my experience from my own upgrades and those of my colleagues and from inferences from posts here

littlefish

All interesting stuff, I kind of empathise with the OP.

I would have thought WT upgrades might be a teeny bit different, in that BA might see it as a chance to offer 'new' or potentially future customers a free taster so-to-speak. Reading posts in here does seem to indicate this happens and can be successful.
However, I would be dubious that same simple strategy would work as well WT+ to CW or CW to F ... as you'd need different targetting (for which you'd have less robust info).

Meanwhile, I'll stick to the general rule that BAEC status is taken into account (per Nicci's copied post) and that Gold / Silver would normally be >> lower ranks, and combine that with a recognition that when extra upgrades need processing pronto then status checks could slow things down.

timezonehopper

Re. BA Op-ups, I do agree with the premise that BA offer Op-ups to new BAEC members with the underlying rationale that if you sample the next class up then that might entice you to pay for the same class the next time. Shortly after I regularly started flying with BA I had a MAN-LHR-PVG return booked in WTP and had both legs bumped to CW. That said, the outbound sector was rammed and at least 10 pax were offloaded. However, since receiving status I still can't complain. I've received one 'holy grail' double op-up from WTP to F on LHR-NRT (I actually bought a WT ticket - as my work dictates - and paid for the u/g to WT+ myself) and a few other WT-WTP or WTP-CW long haul OpUps as well. There are factors other than status that are taken into account - e.g. if you're travelling alone or with other family members/colleagues, it is always easier to move a single pax.

My only experience on AA since attaining BAEC Gold was in May on two short DFW-ABQ sectors when I was upgraded to First both times. On the first occasion the AA agent actually said to me "we've upgraded you to First as you have the same status as our AA Executive Platinum".

orbitmic

To be honest, I think that the only part of what you describe that was 'bad handling' was in the BA staff telling you that there had been 'a mistake'. As you point out later, upgrades are nice but should not be expected, and if you 'get plenty' while some others 'get none' then I think it is not absurd that those other people should get the occasional opup instead of you even if they have a lower status. Indeed, considering the number of G/GGL on each flight, if we get all the upgrades, then most silver or bronze would never get any, and yet, BA will want to retain their custom by incentivising it.

Generally speaking, (1) European airlines only upgrade passengers when they effectively need to (opups) or when there is a strong service recovery reason to do so (flight cancellation, significant disturbances, etc). (2) They all do so with a certain amount of opacity to avoid habituation (basically they seem to have failed with you since you were 'disappointed' to say the least not to be upgraded) and ensuring people continue to buy the most expensive ticket they can afford on the occasion. (3) They consider it a gift and something they do not (and should not) have to justify.

In your case, I think that again, apart from the silly 'confession' of a mistake, they handled it perfectly well: (1) once they told your flying companion he had been upgraded, they shouldn't withdraw that from him unless he wanted to decline, (2) there was absolutely no reason why they should upgrade anyone beyond what they needed, (3) if the person upgraded did not want to fly in a higher class for reasons that belong to him then they should indeed cancel his upgrade and give him to someone, even better in this case if it allowed him to get what he wanted ie fly next to a specific person. Incidentally, as a seasoned traveller, I'm sure you know that linking PNRs was certainly not going to give one of the two PNRs a joint upgrade if he was not entitled to it in the first place according to BA's opup list on the day. I also very much doubt that what they told you about the linking creating the confusion was correct.

Last point, I genuinely hope for your colleague that he didn't feel pressured into giving up on his upgrade because you seemed upset that you hadn't had yours. Travelling together is good but being upgraded is nice too especially if you aren't used to F and it remains a 'treat' rather than something you feel blase about. I'm sure you did the right thing and insistently encouraged him to accept the upgrade even without you when it became clear BA would not upgrade you and that he valued the company more than the upgrade at the end.

Globaliser

It really doesn't work like that on BA. It's commercially sensible to prevent status passengers from developing the sense of entitlement to an upgrade that you refer to, whatever the operational reason for upgrades being necessary.

economyman

Actually I disagree with most of what you wrote and resent some of the tone. To begin with BA messed up up by upgrading one of us when there was specifically a request in our bookings saying we wanted to be seated together. So that's the first bit of bad handling. It's a simple request which should be handled correctly. The second bit in my eyes was they could have fixed this in a much neater way by upgrading me. They didn't have to of course but I think their approach was wrong under the circumstances - each to his own.

My intention in linking the PNRs was not so that my colleague gets upgraded if I do but actually to ensure I was not upgraded because I knew the flight was overbooked.

Finally besides the fact that we are good friends we also needed to work together. My colleague is more senior than me and had he wanted to sit in F, he would have had no problem taking the upgrade. There was certainly no pressure on my part.

itsmeitisss

+1 plus the Economy man's colleague didn't get downgraded - his operation upgrade was cancelled at his own request.

PanGalactic

Is your friend's surname beginning with a lower letter of the alphabet than yours?

Flying Doctor

There are many factors that come into who gets the upgrades - status, CIV scores and OW status are just some of the variables.
There are also some routes where upgrades become common and there would then be a deliberate ploy to not keep upgrading the status pax. to protect revenue.
Also - as has been stated an OpUp is a privilege, not a right.
FD.