I am a BIG BF Concierge fan . . . since it is he (she) who is the guardian of the beloved, elusive, joyous Op-Up (when they bump Plats from Y to BF if Y is oversold and BF is not). I have sweet talked many of them to make sure they knew I was Plat, available, and ready to accept their most generous offer if it became necessary to do so.

And have many Op-Up experiences to remember. Especially ones where I was able to drag my traveling colleague into BF with me - those are especially satisfying. One time, my colleague (who is definitely "seat challenged" when sitting in a tight coach seat) thought we had not been so lucky so she boarded (2nd row in 757 (yuk!) to EU somewhere). Minutes later, they handed me BF boarding passes for me and my friend. So I played with her . . . boarded the plane, made eye contact with her, shook my head "NO" with a sad face, then suddenly smiled ear to ear with a "YES!", waving her new boarding pass. She was so confused - but once she realized we were movin' on up, she was grateful beyond words. There's no better feelin'.