I flew to SYD yesterday (first time here ) and was very grateful that my upgrade cleared for the TPAC leg - oh, that's a long flight.

What struck me was the incredibly civilized way that the upgrades were handled in YVR; the concierges handled all the upgrades in the lounge. This avoided all the last minute waiting at the gate, it avoided having to leave the lounge early, it avoided the hassle of watching the rest of the flight board before they even start to process the upgrades (I'm talking about you, FRA).

I can't understand why all (or at least, most) upgrades are not handled like this. I'm not suggesting that there be any change in the order of the upgrade priorities ... but surely the vast majority of people whose upgrades do clear, will have lounge access - so for those people, have a concierge in the lounge who can clear the list and issue the new BP.

Obviously there are details to work out, there would need to be some upgrades that are announced at the gate for those very very last minute clearances, and also for people who (for whatever reason) were not in the lounge ... but it seems that this could be a low cost way to reduce the workload of the gate agent, and substantially improve the experience of the customers.

It worked really well in YVR (kudos to the concierges there) ... and I'd love to see the approach rolled out more broadly.