Originally Posted by
clubeurope
Upgrades (especially to Business/First) are incredibly rare these days, and like everyone has pointed out, is usually reserved to very frequent flyers with status.
That of course is only partially true
Paid upgrades happen quite regularly, as showed by Quatar upgrade thread as well as threads in AA and UA forum (and probably others that I don't read). I myself am more familiar with UA, being a regular (not necessarily frequent) recipient of both complimentary upgrades on domestic routes and longhaul Int'l that require a sizable chunk of miles AND Ca
$h copay (hundreds of dollars to Asia and Europe). And I know that UA offers PAID upgrades to nonfrequent leisure travelers per long thread in UA forum.
Both upgrades that I requested this year went through several weeks before my flights and made the long overwater redeyes much more tolerable.
In fact, the copay TO Europe was more than roundtrip ticket itself
For daytime flights I am normally content with coach ...