LAX-JFK red-eye decision
 

I'm vacillating between a 9:15 pm and an 11:30 pm mid-week flight. Which time might give me the better chance (MVPG) of an F upgrade?

I don't take the redeye, but they seem to have better upgrade availability in general. Midweek, either should be pretty solid chance for an upgrade in advance of check in.

Not sure how soon the trip is, but you can also look at the available F and the seatmap for Y to somewhat (very somewhat) try and deduce options. If F is pretty open and only a handful are sitting in PC and maybe none in the exit rows, you have a sense of the elites on board already. But this is by no means foolproof and elites often book close to departure.

Sold ^ I currently have a red-eye LAX/SFO/JFK as my odds of F upgrade are mostly excellent from SF (and I'm chasing 75k this year so extra miles matter), but I'm a little jumpy about taking the last SF flight out of the day. At least at LAX I have options and the routes are wide open. Thanks to all....

When I took the SFO-JFK redeye, no one was upgraded and all the people in the F cabin were paid passengers. This was a Wednesday departure too.

This would also include paying passengers that purchased eligible Main fares or applied a GGU and F awards too. A space is independent of U space and full-fare Y awards in Z are also eligible. ;) It is possible to have a full F cabin before gate control but it doesn't necessarily mean that all passengers in F were revenue.

James

on a redeye I would have no problem telling said person to STFU even if they were the president. or maybe especially, in that case. :rolleyes:

You're ignoring time zones. What feels like 3am to you might be 10pm to that person sitting next to you.

Additionally, not everyone works 9 to 5. There are many people that work "graveyard" shifts...including the people on the ground and in the air ensuring that your flight is safe. Those people travel, too. Airlines are public transportation. You shouldn't expect everyone to change their way of life just to please you.

That said, there's no excuse for not using headphones. But next time you should pack some ear plugs and a sleeping mask.

As an Australian (only mentioned for timezone clarity) who often does USA red-eyes, I do find it very hard to sleep but any normal traveller out of pure courtesy would get the hint that people are trying to sleep all around and that would be a pretty clear cue not to do the newspaper / bright reading lights / watching movie all night thing. I usually sit back, drink beer and listen to hard rock using earphones.

But then again, more and flights are full of stunned goannas!

I’ll be running on vacation energy so time frame isn’t too critical for me this trip – after my conference in Dallas I’ll spend a few days in NOLA and then head to NYC via DAL-LAX-JFK for a 7pm curtain that night. I won’t feel the pain until my last leg from LAX-ANC the next day, but for that I’ve booked F – I know my limitations.