upgrades?
Feb 10, 2001, 7:02 pm
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 1999
Location: FTFOE
Programs: TalkBoard: We discuss / ad nauseum things that mean / so very little
Posts: 10,225
You are referring to operational upgrades, no? These are really quite rare occurances. If it happens to you, be thankful and gracious about it and enjoy! Don't be expecting it to happen nor try to go fishing for one as there really is no particular "way" to get an op upgd. Smile, be pleasant, and enjoy the flight, no matter what cabin you're sitting in. Sometimes you'll get lucky. 
FewMiles..
FewMiles..
Feb 11, 2001, 7:36 pm
#7
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Posts: 220
I worked with FedEx for nearly 5 years. FedEx maintains Interline agreements with most passenger airlines around the world.
The rule of thumb internally is to just ask the gate agent, by showing our employee ID, and asking really nicely for an Interline upgrade.
By doing this (and having no status), I got upgraded about 3 times in the past year on CP (once with my wife), a couple of times on AA, but never on AC. My manager and another employee got upgraded on an AC trip to MIA a couple of years back, but it's the only time I heard of it on AC.
It's a lot more easily done in the US. One FedEx friend of mine has done this dozens of times on NW and AA, flying US domestic routes
The rule of thumb internally is to just ask the gate agent, by showing our employee ID, and asking really nicely for an Interline upgrade.
By doing this (and having no status), I got upgraded about 3 times in the past year on CP (once with my wife), a couple of times on AA, but never on AC. My manager and another employee got upgraded on an AC trip to MIA a couple of years back, but it's the only time I heard of it on AC.
It's a lot more easily done in the US. One FedEx friend of mine has done this dozens of times on NW and AA, flying US domestic routes
Feb 12, 2001, 8:57 am
#8
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: YYZ
Posts: 138
I had 5 upgrades this past summer when AC/CP were trying to merge their flights. On one YYZ-YVR trip, the agent at check-in said the flight was oversold by 40 people! I asked at the gate, pulling out my CP Gold card, if I could be upgraded since the flight was oversold. Without a word she took it, keyed it in, and gave me a new boarding pass. And the EXACT same thing happened on the return flight - oversold by 15 people. Doesn't hurt to ask - nicely.