Originally Posted by Krysia
It has been several years, but before 9/11 gate agents could, did, upgrade folks when they needed the coach seats, often if there were no elites requesting upg or they were all taken care of, the well dressed couple on their honeymoon, or the nice little old lady, or the folks traveling to a funeral, etc, etc.would get put up there. Often this was done even if coach was not over sold.
Never heard of any agent getting in trouble for upgrading folks, never heard of an audit, that was then...am not sure the old timers would have changed that much
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Yes, previously you could get upgraded just because the gate agent could do it.....this was especially prevelant at smaller airports that feed larger airports. Had a co-worker that flew out of El Paso and would get upgraded all the way through about 50% of the time....he had the same gate agent almost every week.
I on the other hand was flying out of Dallas and never got upgraded (even though I was paying 2X the fare he was for one less flight).
Today the best bet is to be EXP on international flights that are oversold...I'd say that leaving JFK about 1/2 - 1/3 of the time during the summer you'll get upgraded to make room in coach. Coming back across the pond I think the odds are slightly less. When it happens its nice, but not really something I'd count on being able to "plan" for.