intltravel90

Hello,

Does TK typically -- or often -- upgrade Elite Card holders?

Thank you.

duvin

Usually only in case of overbooking economy.

intltravel90

Thank you for the reply.

nacho

Never on long haul after they removed comfort class.

aircommodore

I was supposed to fly from ADB to ESB but due to heavy snow in Ankara my flight was delayed for 5 hours. I asked the rep at the sales office in the CIP lounge if I could be on the next flight to IST instead since all of my meetings got cancelled and there was no point for me to fly out to ESB any longer. She right away booked me to the next flight to IST in C. Not sure if my Elite status played a role in this case as involuntary flight changes do not automatically grant an upgrade. My original booking was in Y and I'd be just happy to be on the first flight to IST anyways so this turned out to be nice surprise. Furthermore my mileage accrual was 1,250 miles as opposed to what would have been 250 had I flown the original route.

Elifla27

Having done +500 take-offs with TK and being an E+ holder since the program started, I have so far NEVER been given a complimentary upgrade at the gate if economy are not full, and even in cases where economy has been full they have prioritized on at least two occasions that I know about off duty staff travelling to be moved up to C before E+ holders... However you do get two complimentary per year to use as you want as an E+.

LH4116

I've been upgraded twice as Elite. Once on IST-AMS Y->C, and the second time on ARN-IST Y->C. The latter being the best upgrade since it was an A321 with proper Business Class seats. Out of the 4 flights I've booked in TK Economy, my upgrade track record is 2/4.

IAN-UK

The idea of allowing frequent travellers to develop the notion that they can depend on free upgrades (and therefore buy only cheap tickets ) is seen as crazy thinking by most carriers. Well, carriers outside the US .

faustthetraveller

I have been upgraded many times on heavy loaded itineraries like Germany or Sweden as Elite+. But it is less likely for Istanbul outbound flights, I guess due to many more important passengers than Elites. My best upgrade was from Y->C on an award ticket to Bangkok from Istanbul. My ratio is around 15-20 upgrades out of 50 flights a year.

LH4116

Yeah I pretty much fly TK exclusively in C, so those have so far been my only upgrades. I'm pretty sure it would happen more frequently if I chose to fly them in Y. On my last IST-ARN flight all passengers except me in the cabin were upgrades (all were placed in row 4, which is the rule for upgrades. Cabin was pretty empty, so as soon as boarding completed they all moved to their own row).

From ARN there are very few Elites/Star Gold traveling, so it's not uncommon to see non-status passengers get upgraded. On one flight 7 out of 10 passengers were op-ups, including a family with two kids and two young-ish holidaymakers who seemed completely clueless about their new seat assignments.

Last minute equipment swaps also increase the chance for an upgrade, in particular the A321 which can be swapped from a 3-3 to 2-2 config.

nacho

Very different in CPH - they rarely hand out upgrade there (I can remember it happened once). If we ever get any it would be ex-IST.

LH4116

At ARN they've had the problem of people making "pay&fly" reservations, and showing up at the airport without ticketing their itinerary, thinking they've got a free ticket. Hence why they frequently overbook those flights. Also the pay&fly option has been suspended from ARN until quite recently, so I assume they've managed to solve that problem somehow.

kiwitakingflight

Have had operational upgrades on at least one leg for almost all economy class tickets I have purchased with TK in past few years (which I really don't mind since many intra-europe/ middle east flights C/CL is almost identical to Y/CL on most aircraft...it just comes with an extra bun and some salt and pepper shakers.)

GRU-EZE x1 (U->C)

BCN-IST/ IST-BCN x2 (Especially in summer. At IST only find out when actually boarding at the gate and they scribble a new seat number on it. Nothing exciting on 320/321s)

TLV-IST x2 (At TLV, on these occasions they upgraded easily 5+ pax all with Elite and Elite Plus status. Both were 330 a/c. One of these times they had so many upgrades they just made a call for all Elite and Elite Plus customers to report to the gate agent...no personal calls)

exs2

Travelled HEL-IST and IST-HEL and received OpUp both times as Y was full.

We had whole family in same PNR with two having TK Elite and son as Aegean Silver. All received OpUp at gate both ways.

Nice surprise as A321 has decent business seats and personal AVOD.

aircommodore

Last week SAW-ADB due to overbooking. It was a one-way award ticket. I write this because some airlines don't allow award tickets to be op-up'ed to the higher class regardless of status.