I flew to SYD yesterday (first time here ) and was very grateful that my upgrade cleared for the TPAC leg - oh, that's a long flight.

What struck me was the incredibly civilized way that the upgrades were handled in YVR; the concierges handled all the upgrades in the lounge. This avoided all the last minute waiting at the gate, it avoided having to leave the lounge early, it avoided the hassle of watching the rest of the flight board before they even start to process the upgrades (I'm talking about you, FRA).

I can't understand why all (or at least, most) upgrades are not handled like this. I'm not suggesting that there be any change in the order of the upgrade priorities ... but surely the vast majority of people whose upgrades do clear, will have lounge access - so for those people, have a concierge in the lounge who can clear the list and issue the new BP.

Obviously there are details to work out, there would need to be some upgrades that are announced at the gate for those very very last minute clearances, and also for people who (for whatever reason) were not in the lounge ... but it seems that this could be a low cost way to reduce the workload of the gate agent, and substantially improve the experience of the customers.

It worked really well in YVR (kudos to the concierges there) ... and I'd love to see the approach rolled out more broadly.

I agree - with the qualifier that gate upgrades being the norm vs an occasional operational fix is not an option that we should even have to be discussing.

It seems to be more a function of YVR handling a limited number of int'l flights at one time and the one hour cut-off, so the concierges in the lounge can handle it. Yes, it is very civilized and the YVR concierges are excellent. I have noticed that they immediately recognize names on the list and are willing to provide information as to how it might play out.

I have experienced the same thing for YHZ-LHR. It is certainly a much more pleasant way to handle "gate" upgrades.

This is frequently done at the YYZ intl MLL, and IME quite consistently at T-55min with plenty of time left before boarding.^

Agreed, FRA is the worst offender in this regard.

This is a great idea and something they could easily do in YOW when you've only got two international flights every evening (838 and 888).

You mean the FRA "we have to wait until 30 minutes before departure to do upgrades, when the plane has already half boarded" gate agents?

At least they'll usually tell you where you are on the list if you ask.

They used to do this in LHR at check-in... "Ok to clear all SEs", but got whacked by AC HQ. Reasons not clear, and I've asked.

Yes, FRA is crazy that way. Not sure why T-60 for international doesn't apply here like everywhere else in the world and despite the huge number of staff working they always seem to be overwhelmed with the tasks.

We can hope that when the lounge is done it gets better, but really doubt it.

SYD does it in the lounge each time I was there. I was not involved.

Seriously? I believe you, but you & I must use different international ML lounges at YYZ ... I've never seen it done there.

My sample size is only about a dozen int�l flights ex-YYZ over the last 1.5 years and almost all of them were YYZ-LHR/FRA, but yes, I can�t remember a case where the lounge agent didn�t call the pax to the front desk shortly after T-50min, and I�m sure about it as I was always among the lucky pax (except once).

Now, YYZ domestic MLL and YYZ TB MLL are a whole different story, but the agents at the int�l YYZ MLL do a pretty good job IME.

Except this is already past the 'boarding time' for international flights, which of course is never actually honoured at YYZ. Stupid me, but I'm always at the gate to meet the boarding time printing on my boarding pass, as I'm used to flying other airlines where this actually means something.

Well having taken hundreds of flights I can�t remember a single flight boarding earlier than T-40min, so processing the upgrades at T-55min or T-50min works perfectly fine IMO (since check-in only closes at T-60min).

As an E or SE you learn to ignore the BP and learn from experience.

Like Jasper2009 I have had very good experience with getting my upgrade boarding pass printed in the International MLL in YYZ.

Ask and ye shall receive.