jdeliens

Upgrade policy is obviously depending of the Airline you are flying on.
I would say it is somehow the best kept secret of their own upgrade policy that all of us -Arliners- try to disclose!

It might be weird at some occasions and very complicated to find out the way it really works.
Every airline have their own system that may vary even within alliances.
Well, it is all about marketing...

I will speak mainly for AF case as I had numerous examples with them about upgrades.
Of course it happens only when your flight is overbooked in Y.

Few years back, before the introduction of Flying Blue, AF FFP was called Frequence Plus and it was definitely easier to get upgrades.

Now time has changed and it seems really difficult to secure an upgrade or have the very nice surprise at the gate during the boarding process. (What a memorable moment....)

Being a non very frequent flyer on AF (basic Frequence Plus at that time equivalent to the Ivory Flying Blue tier now) , I used to be upgraded - due to surbooking or voluntary stand-by for the next day flight - at the gate on long haul flights to Asia.

I noticed (not only me was upgraded) it was not due to my FFP miles (as I was not silver or higher status) but based on the fare class of my air ticket (for AF, B or K)

This procedure seems quite fair for the passenger being on the upgade "priority list" whatever the airline calls it.

The computerized system will use two main criterias

Based on upgrade from Y to C:

1) The higher fares (from full fare Y all the way down such as Y B K H W T V L N X for AF)
2) Taking in consideration the FFP status (Elites, passenger flight history, potential, etc.)
3) First or last passengers checking in have more chances.
4) Voluntary upgrade, agent will ask if you can change your flight to the next day and give you a confirmed upgrade as a gesture of courtesy (In that case, airline must arrange meals and hotel rooms at their own expense and eventually give you a compimentary cash voucher according to the Vienna convention)

(By the way stop thinking it all depends of the airline agent upon check in... it is useless to come with a nice suit and gold swiss made watch to multiply your chances, it is already done in advance however if you can seduce her/him, that is another story that cannot be "handle" by a computer..)
Agents are less and less empower to assign seats according to each passenger request.


However and here is the trick that is really weird, sometimes even with an heavily discounted fare (e.g. V or N for AF) it is possible to be upgraded.
My bother and my mum flew CDG-HKG in 2004 and were upgraded to Business Class. At that time they got a very good deal and the fare code was V.
And the real thing that I quite do not understand, they were not member of the FFP Frequence Plus.

I heard similar examples that only AF kept the secret to know how it really works.

Do they have additional criteria (such as potential frequent flyer coming from the competition, reservation paid with the airline credit card), may be folks from FFP marketing team could tell us. It would help us SO much.

Another possible way to have upgrade is to pay upon check-in according to the airline offer (I guess UA and VS are doing pretty well on this and it is an additional source of last minute revenue for the airline.
Based on first passengers to check-in, they will give you a choice to have a good value upgrade from Y to C or C to F to be paid upon check in or simply use your miles at a lower amount than usually requested.
I am also used to ask upon check-in if there is any offer to pay an upgrade and easily got very good deal. (TG offered me -once requested- an upgrade to C class from HKG to BKK for less than US$200 based on a very low fare
(AF (what a pity!) does not have this policy, but numerous airlines like UA commonly uses it.

And last but not least, I do believe everyone has a chance to get an upgrade depending on the airline and conditions, it is not a lost battle,
believe in it...or? (simply pay for the class you want to fly..)

Good luck folks!!!