Unpublished benefits when flying with partner airlines
 

I can imagine that as Flying Blue members, most of us tend to do most of our flying with AF or KL or the European-based Skyteam partner airlines. When flying with other Flying Blue partner airlines, however, the level of benefits given to FB members, especially unpublished benefits, can sometimes be different; sometimes even in a good way! With this thread, I would like to share my own experiences and hear from you on what unpublished benefits you have received from FB partner airlines as a FB member. For the sake of accuracy, I guess it makes sense to share experiences from the past 12 months.

In my experience as a gold member booked in Y…

Delta: waitlisted and upgraded to FC 50% of the time on domestic/cross border flights (2 out of 4 flights). Also got placed in EC.

Aeromexico: quite easy to get upgraded on domestic legs simply by asking (75 % success rate); comfortable seats and a plate of peanuts were on offer. My international flight got cancelled so I can’t share my experience on that, expected that I was able to reserve AM Plus seats for free before departure.

Alitalia: difficult airline to deal with, but it did allocate exit rows for free on day of departure on several recent flights this year.

Xiamen Air: able to pre-reserve bulkhead seats for free before departure.

Air Europa: complimentary upgrade on the Barcelona-Madrid route due to full Y cabin; comfortable flat-bed seat. Front row seat allocated for free on other domestic routes in Spain that don’t have business class.

I would love to hear if others have had similar or different experiences.

I am also very interested in hearing experiences of Garuda, Saudia and Vietnam Airlines, as these are three airlines I will be flying over the next three months.

Did you ask at the airport or were you simply able to choose an exit row seat during on-line check-in? As far as I'm aware, Extra Comfort seats are made available free-of-charge only to AZ's own Freccia Alata/Plus members. Up to roughly a year ago, as ELP with FB, I used to be able to select those seats during on-line check-in but this is no longer the case, even though at the airport (especially at outstations) they are normally quite flexible (when asked gently).

G

My approach with Alitalia has been to avoid checking in online and ask nicely at the outstations' checkin. So far this year on six flights, it's been successful :)

I have not received any benefits with Garuda or Saudia as FB Gold (2-4 flights with each over the last 12 months) - but maybe this is my fault for not asking!

A "relatively frequent" benefit with Asian members is lounge access when flying domestic.

Sorry to hear that! Yes, it never hurts to ask nicely ;)

A nice benefit indeed Have you received that when flying Garuda or Vietnam in Y, Goldorak?

GA, but the lounge was total crap (JOG). Also VN but that was a long time ago.

On China Eastern, flying in Y, access to lounge in Tokyo and Shanghai, with Platinum status

Good to know. Will avoid JOG on this trip. Will fly CGK to DPS and after from DPS to SIN..

That just sounds like regular benefit or were you on domestic flights?

FWIW, you got lucky with Delta. FB FFP members come after their own SkyMiles Silver tier, so even as an Ultimate or Platinum you get the last upgrades after their most infrequent frequent fliers.

Yes, I saw that. In my experience chances of an upgrade seemed to be higher on off-peak periods for business travel: e.g. Toronto to Atlanta on a Sunday morning had free seats in FC which meant everybody on the list enjoyed an upgrade

Indeed I'm still on 0% with them. Also note all fb elite members are one category so plat has no advantage whatsoever over silver.

For the last 4 months, I got 2 upgrades from main to Comfort+ and one from main to F (all domestic). Not too bad if you consider that I'm talking about 5 flights, but still a downgrade compared to before when Comfort+ was guaranteed at the time of booking.
BTW, I didn't know that all FB elites were the same category for DL :td: