Originally Posted by shuly

A few years ago, in Milano, I requested to to board an earlier flight to Germany. My reservation was in one of the lowest booking classes (W or V), and there was a hefty change fee. I went directly to ticketing, explained that my plans had changed and that I knew my ticket was highly restricted, but in case they had available seats on the earlier flight, I'd be most grateful etc. One call to a supervisor and they gave me a boarding pass to the earlier flight. I was a Senator (gold) then, which surely helped.

Shuly