Originally Posted by
canadiancow
Are you talking about buying an upgrade (you can do that at check-in if there's space), or bribing the gate agent?
If the former, yes, you can do it.
If the latter, I don't want to say it will never work, but on a flight that's long enough that you'd be willing to pay "a couple hundred", but not do a real LMU, there are going to be multiple gate agents (watching each other). And I don't think any of them would want to risk getting fired for a couple hundred dollars.
Just imagine if you were on the upgrade waitlist, saw this happen, and didn't get your upgrade. I would make a huge scene at the gate, and I would do everything in my power to get that GA fired.
So in short, don't count on bribes to work.
I hear you. I'm not interested in making a scene or simply getting something for free especially if there are others deserving - I was honestly curious if this happens a lot or not ? I had no idea.
This is not the same but I can say I did have two upgrade certificates that actually expired or something ( this was a few years ago and honestly can't remember why they were not accepted at the time ) - Anyway long story short, I asked the lovely lady if there was anything she could do for us. It was not a super long flight or anything but was brutally honest with her and told her I would put a $100 bucks in her pocket. Done deal
As I said that was a little different though.