Originally Posted by
Sam Bee
Picking up on OP's comments - I suspect these were 'Upgradeable Subject to Availability at Check-In' tickets, so fairly decent chances of upgrades. Working in the travel industry still has a few perks, primarily thanks to Middle Eastern carriers (shame the pay in travel tends to be dire though!).
I've just been on similar tickets with one of Qatar's competitors - you go out of your way to pick the quietest flights on the quietest days to maximise your upgrade chances. Still, I have in the past been downgraded at the aircraft door due to last minute full fare Business Class passenger, you just have to smile and take it on the chin!
Firstly, thanks everyone for the comments - much appreciated!
As for the comments above - I had no hand in picking our flights, so I guess we were just lucky! We had a choice between this 45 minutes connection in DOH or a 17 hour one, so that was about the only choice we had to make...
SamBee mentions being downgraded at the door - one of my colleagues was once downgraded at the seat! She was flying VS back from LAS to JNB via LON and just made herself comfortable in Upper Class when she was ousted from her seat back to Y+ due to a full fare paying customer...
Talk about tough luck!