Hello everyone. My wife and I are not frequent fliers, we fly for leisure a few times a year. She is 6 feet tall and 200 pounds, I am 6' 5" and 240. We're flying to Thailand next March, and we can't afford business or first class. A couple times ticketing agents have taken pity on us and upgraded us to business or first class at no charge, which is terrific when you're our size. I don't care about better meals or better TV selection, but we love that extra room. My question is: what is the best way to try and get a free upgrade from an agent at the counter? Do we look sad and hope for the best? Can I ask for an upgrade and slip the agent a 50 dollar bill or a hundred? Or is there some other way? Economy just kills us on a long flight, we try for exit rows or bulkhead but we don't always get them. Is there a way even to try and secure those early like before the day of the flight? Help!
Also one of our layovers is like 9 hours in San Francisco, from 4 p.m. to 1 a.m. Is there anywhere we can go to just rest for awhile besides those fine airport chairs ? Any help is much appreciated. Thanks.