LH4116

I've been upgraded at Arlanda and Istanbul. Both times the staff have been very strict with only selecting status passengers. In IST two Elite Plus and me Elite were upgraded at the gate. It also helps to be traveling alone.

sliiide

I talked to two lounge agents at separate times at the TK lounge in IST earlier. They both said that "E+, E, *G" was the order of priority, but one said that the selection for the upgrade between passengers of the same priority-level was randomly done by a computer while the other said it depended on the amount of miles they had in their M&S account. Does anyone have any info on this?

aulrik

Based on my experience this is not true, but who knows. I'm E+ usually with 300.000 miles+++ on my MS account. I can't say I have never been upgraded, it do happen once or twice a year, so maybe in one out of 30 TK flights. However, I have several times experienced that people without status have been upgraded, while I'm left in a cramped middle seat in Y (I don't complain, if I wanted to travel in C, I should have bought a C ticket). I have also experienced my upgrade being canceled at the gate, and given to someone else, which I doubt fly more on TK than I do, but it's only speculations from my part.

sliiide

So, it's basically been completely random in your experience and you must be one of their most "accredited" E+ passengers.

Amazing how different that is to what the two lounge agents told me.

But then again, at the start of all this yesterday, a separate lounge-agent to the two I mentioned told me to go to the help-desk behind gate 215 if I wanted to get a paid upgrade while the guy at 215 said that only the ticketing office (which is outside; before check-in) can handle it. This was later confirmed by one of the two lounge agents that I mentioned in the last post. So it's pretty much that nobody is on the same page.

Which routes do you normally fly on and on which were the upgrades given, if you remember?
Also, when people without status were upgraded, was it because you weren't at the gate early enough? I think that being in the TK Lounge till boarding is under way should not compromise eligibility for upgrades.

aulrik

Honestly, I haven't spend much time thinking of this. I doubt I'm in the top tier among TK customers, so I'm just happy when I get an upgrade, but never expects it (I fly around 300K miles a year, most of it with TK).

SGN-BKK-CPH/OSL/ARN every 2nd week. I have been upgraded at the gate in IST traveling to BKK a few times, also got upgraded at SGN during check-in and got BP's for C all the way to CPH. In IST however, I was downgraded again and my seat in C given to someone that didn't exactly look like a frequent flyer

I don't think being early or late at the gate makes a big difference, don't they usually have a list with upgrades before the boarding starts anyway? Again, I don't really have a clue, this is just my experience.

Forrest Bump

TK in my experience follows the status/booking class mixed procedure for opups.
May be status first, then booked fare, but when upgraded it was never on the cheapest eco fare (last week IST-NAP on "E", Elite status), and it was signaled to the GA via phone call. Flight full.
But here comes into play that NAP needs desperately a second daily.

sliiide

Thanks for all the info. Seems like you get that many miles mostly without bonuses for C then. That's a lot of flying! I thought you'd be near the top tier..but it's a total guess as I don't know how much those people fly.

Maybe it was based on a non-technical reason. Someone got sick and needed a more comfortable seat?

Yeah, but it is possible that they try to find you in person before boarding starts and give it to someone else if you aren't there. Just a guess on my part. But it shouldn't apply if you're in a TK-lounge before boarding.

sliiide

I wonder if upgrades happen with TK when flights aren't full?

triplesevenloverr

At JFK of their gate assistants told me that they only upgrade if the flights are overbooked.

sliiide

Thanks. I wouldn't be surprised at all if I get upgraded one day on a nearly empty flight

Forrest Bump

My guess is no. The feeling at the gate is that they need to upgrade, not show any goodwill.

sliiide

It's a shame.

aulrik

There is a guy here on the forum that quite often experience to be upgraded on the ARN - IST route, as far as I understand it, also when the flight is not full.

However, I travel frequently on IST -CPH and IST -OSL and have never, ever gotten an upgrade, not even when Y is completely full and C is more or less empty.

sliiide

i think it's "thatjonasguy"? Or something like that is the name..

as i've said, quite amazing

johhenrik

No, I think it would be me to be honest, not LH4114 (thatjonasguy on Instagram). I don't fly TK economy that often anymore, so I can't really say, but I used to buy TK comfort class and I was often upgraded between ARN and IST. Never on long haul though. I have even been upgraded when Eco wasn't full.