A co-worker posed this question and my immediate response was "No way, you'd never pull it off, people could get fired". But I told him I'd post here and ask, so here goes.

He wants to fly from LAX to an yet undetermined airport in Brazil, flying yet undetermined dates "at the end of the year". He was wondering if bribing a flight attendant with $400 - $500 would get him upgraded to First Class. And if so, what's the chance of doing it again on the return flight.

Alternately, what are other things he could do to get bumped up (besides paying the 1st class fare, obviously). Perhaps buy a yearly membership to a specifc Airline club (though I'm not even sure that'd give you upgrade privledges)?