Pauillac

for sure they will be upgrades on this flight, this being said upgrade priority on AF are not really obvious to understand.

It is vacation time so in general it is a very good season for upgrade since most business frequent flyer are off and planes are filled by un frequent flyer.

It is a 744 at least I recommend you to get a seat in the upper deck during the online checkin process. Very private feeling and a little more leg room.

SDQBound

Thanks for the response. I was able to select an Upper deck seat when I booked the flight (for some reason, they were available to select online about 3 weeks ago), and it was really nice on my SDQ-CDG flight. Most of the plane was filled with tourists, so I expect it to be the same on the way back. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Zembla

I think they had a good promo at that time for 50% if I remember well...
Personally I think it's not up to us to judge what people do with their money, miles or whatever...

If it's overbooked, yes. Otherwise. Tiny tiny chance.

Regarding the vacation season. For the past years I have never seen J cabin so expensive as in the current and coming months. Even made me bail out to cheapest Y available!

troje

Credits where they belong: I got upgraded on KLM!!

Flew AMS-WAW last Wednesday, booked in U. I was already checked in at an exit row seat using OLCI but could not print my ticket, so I went to one of the kiosks at AMS. There the display showed a business class seat instead of the exit row economy seat. I happily accepted.

C load was 3 pax, got full C service with meal, papers, etc.

Miles got credited as U class, that's 562 miles (75% of 750 miles).

I'm astonished as this is the first opup on KLM in a very, very long time. This year I flew 16 segments on KL metal. No opups. In 2010 I flew 48 segments on KLM, no opups. Last time I got an upgrade was years ago...

johan rebel

In my experience it is quite unpredictable.

I've been commuting every couple of weeks between CPH and AMS for many years, and on occasion (once or twice a year, mostly in summer) get an OpUp when the flight is overbooked in Y. This is by no means guaranteed, though. I've been on several flights this year where other pax were given OpUps, not all of whom struck me as frequent flyers or top-tier elites.

Johan

MichielR

My flight yesterday was almost full - no opup therefore.

They op-upped one pax though, a rather large gentleman, who was clearly a nuisance to his neighbor pax, using half their space. Why they didn't choose to op-up (or move to another empty seat) the neigbor is anybody's guess, that would have been fairer.

To make matters even more interesting, the pax in question left his hand bagage in the overhead bin at row 10 and after landing just went back through the aisle to retrieve his bags. Given his size, this would have been quite a challenge in an empty aisle, let alone doing this when all pax had stood up and collected their hand luggage to wait for the doors to open

troje

Wow, another opup, the second within a month, I feel lucky

Flying AMS-OSL tonight, this time the ground staff upgraded me at the gate. Flight was full so probably overbooked, I got the bump into C.

Klm is Dead - Long Live KLM

Whether they were elites or not would not be my concern.
It is bad enough that some struck you!

AlexanderCDG

2010 : Twice (long haul only)
2011 : First Time (long haul only)

Always / only on "full flights".

BRU-CDG-LAX (booked in Premium Voyageur "S" Class) and BRUssel issued me both ticket for BRU-CDG and my CDG-LAX connection the next day.

The next day I arrived 20min before CDG-LAX checkin closing.
As some people said, busy with holidays etc.
Got upgraded at the CDG Check-In from Premium Voyageur to Business on the CDG-LAX Quite happy.

AF-FF
flying almost all the time in full or high decent price Economy (K) , Premium (A,S) or so, currently FB GOLD (down from Plat).

As usual as that time of the year as you said, plane was full, so guess they where happy to free my Premium Voyageur seat for a "regular" Pax.

For my personal information as rally a newbie here I have a question / interpretation --which is out of nowhere and probably false---

Quick question :
To your knowledge : the later you show up at the check in (altough online booked/registered) the more changes for upgrade in a packed flight or absolutely total non-sense ?

I assume, of course the "passenger/pax list" is the all time "Master" for any upgrade decision, and can always lave room for anything to happen at the gate, with a review of all the passenger list/FF Status/VIP etc.


But though, in a normal situation, regular passengers, plane full and freequent flyers, with all Pax (incl. any FF (Gold/Plat) slowly checking in and being "served/registered/checked in at the beginning of the checking, filling it up and to see how it goes...

Do you think Perhaps towards the end of the check-in, like the last 10-20% of bulks of pax a full flight, (and the beginning of the "overbooking situation") the check-in staff have a better vision of the situation/quicker decision, and therefore morelikely to upgrade a FFP Gold/Plat which is right now in front of them, with a full price eco ticket, and at the same moment the seating screen showing a "becoming full" plane seat-plan situation than 2hours earlier ?

In a way sounds logic to "deal" this overbooked FB Pax right now, plane full, borading closing, pressure mounting (if any?) rather than digging back to see back on the FB Pax checked in 2hours before and somehow "allocated" / dealt with already.

Whereas the same staff 2hours before (beginning of checking), wouldn't knew "yet" if to upgrade Mr Z. Gold/Plat or Mr X Gold/Plat, so keeping them for the moment at their "initial" seat, to see how the rest of the boarding goes, who shows up, Plat/C2000 etc.

So keeping the "upgrade" quota for the end of the check-in, and the best chance then... Rather than upgrading a lucky Silver or Ivory and leaving a Plat/C2000 on the road
(I'm trying to think the AF side - Upgrade way ;-)

Or another exemple :
16h00 Flight

13h30
1 x Mr Joe Noboby among ten others: same Gold/Plat (checked in first at the checking opening get his Boarding Card and goes, "problem solved, seat allocated".

15h30
1 x Another Mr Joe Nobody : same Gold/Plat (arriving in front of the checking counter before closing, and flight full to allocate more "economy/tourists") "Problem appearing : flight full/overbooked, let's deal this smart and simple, quick."

Would you upgrade the second "Joe Noboby" , as in front of you and you have to allocate him a seat you have left even if only in Business, or go back and loose time to question to upgrade the first Elite Plus Joe Nobody or the other Elite Plus Joe Random FB which all already have their passes since 2hours and "dealt with"?

Obviously I also heard about the "gate" upgrade which i would think is a slightly different approach, as reviewing the list afterward/checkin closed even those already issued a 35A and turning into a 03A for instance !


Anyway basically any idea how all this "works" even if secret and perhaps no reliable rules... but very curious about it, priorities, timings, decisions of all that mystery.
And if in this case, my "later than usual show up" (yet far from "late" though!!) played anything in my luck this time.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
Alex

Goldorak

I don't really have answers to your questions but, according to my own experience, I think there are different situations. In my case, I had upgrades like you directly at check-in but most of the time it's upon boarding at the gate. I had also 3 cases of op-up long-haul (2 from Y to J and one from J to P) when I was seated at my originally assigned seat and a F/A came to give me a new BP with the new seat (plane still at the gate).

I think it all depends what is the overbooking situation. If a flight is heavily overbooked and it's 100% certain that op-ups will be needed, AF operations prepare in advance the upgrades and if you are part of them, you are informed of this at check-in and receive directly the correct BP. In this case it does not matter if you check-in early or late.

The other situation is when it is overbooked but not to a point where it is certain that op-ups will be needed (no-shows, missed connections, etc). In this case, at check-in, you get a BP in the class of travel you booked. And close to the check-in closing until start of boarding, they review the situation of your flight and decide for op-up. That's the case when your BP is making the magic beep/red light at check-in and you get a new one ^. But for people not checked-in yet and who arrive close to the end of check-in time, you can be upgraded directly and so check-in "late" might play a positive role.
But that's just my thoughts

stimpy

I think it also depends on where you are. I think it may be handled different at many of the outstations. At CDG and other Euro airports, I have been upgraded at check in, and at faraway places like BOM or LAX, upgraded at the gate.

Goldorak

Hello Stimpy
yes, it may depend of the station but in my case I don't see any trends. I had many cases of upgrades at the gate at CDG. The cases I remember are :
- upgrade "in the plane" : CDG, ORD, NOU (all these 3 cases where quite a while ago)
- upgrade at check-in : CDG, BOS, NRT, ORY (long-haul)
- upgrade at gate : CDG, HKG, FDF, EDI, ARN, FCO, BOS

jsfr

Not sure when you hqve the best upgrade chances, but of one thing I am sure - check in late and your chances are much higher of having a middle seat.

Overall by checking in late I think your chances are infintely higher to end up in a middle seat than they are to end up ugraded...

Your cal but its kind of like playing russian roulette with a single-barrel shotgun.

AlexanderCDG

Thank for your infos and feedback. Very interesting on different situation.

Regarding the late check in, I agree for the horrible "middle" seats... In such case i would still "online" check in 24h before and show up at the check in counter to collect the BP, if any sense...

Henry III

That does make sense! There was a spell a while back when I was op-upped quite a lot on my GLA-AMS runs: I invariably check-in online and print my own BP at work; and, as I almost always travel without check bags, I completely bypass the check-in desks/staff at GLA.

When I get the op-up, there is an announcement at the gate shortly before boarding starts, summoning "His Imperial Majesty, Henry" () to the gate!- When I go to the gate desk and present my BP/ID, the gate attendant, more often than not, will look at me slightly curiously, then at my own-printed BP, and say, with an air of 'I've just made a discovery', "Aaah, on-line check-in! That explains it ... you've been upgraded, on you go!" Then, as instructed, I duly and dutifully board the plane.

What this suggests to me is that, had I presented my Majestic Presence* at the check-in desk, I would probably have been offered the op-up there and then.

-- Henry

* This is, after all KLM Royal Dutch Airlines I'm talking about: similar displays of Imperial Puissance towards Air France agents (notably, Lounge Dragons at CDG) generally elicit a response in the form of a wicked grin, accompanied by a muttered, barely-audible sarcastic remark of which the only word I can make out is "Robespierre!"