hypercrypt

dblumenhoff

Don't know if this info is useful at all, but I got an op-up from WT to WTP about 8 years ago and my KSML followed me.

cupsandsaucers

I haven't had an upgrade in over 7 years. I have been bronze, gold and silver during that time.
I really wouldn't worry about it...Order your vegy meal if it's what you would rather eat.

ThatT1Feeling

I have an assumption that this algorithm holds for planned upgrades maybe from T-72 to about T-2 (possibly), but that when a seating challenge / oversell / late connection pops up at the gate, then the gate agent (or someone on the end of the phone) has to take the decision and then it seems to be based much more on CIV / maybe even how far forward you're already sitting.

It's total conjecture, but let's say the gate agent has to find a Y seat in a full cabin. They scan down the manifest from the front of the Y cabin, find the first Gold or the first 97+ and voilà.. The reason I say this is that most of the upgrades I have received recently have been at the gate with hardly any notice, not a day or hours before departure. I've also twice now had upgrades offered which split me from my companions on the same PNR. I doubt that DUT would allow this??

corporate-wage-slave

Kind-of. As I understand it, three process levels are in play here
- DUT (mainly)
- FMU - Flight Management Unit (or "Control") who step in if DUT isn't able to solve a problem, they run DUT anyway at this stage
- Turnaround manager + Senior Cabin Crew Member + captain - who would normally step in if something urgent was required to maintain punctuality.
If they need one seat in ET liberated (and perhaps in a specific area given babies and oxygen) and mostly upgrade targets are in groups, then something has to give, but yes normally all people in a booking would be upgraded. It's more complicated than it looks.

orbitmic

My understanding is that this is not how it is happening and that it is now all Altea. Station/flight manager can override things but that is actually more likely to occur early on and would need to be justified, especially in the case of an audit.

mikebg

Going by our own family's experiences with this, that is probably because they were also upgrading from WTP-CW, and upgraded someone there who had a KSML. Likely to have been enabled by someone in F with a KSML not showing up, then a CW with KSML upgraded to F, etc. Of course there could also have been a no show in WTP or CW with a KSML ordered. KSMLs are catered precisely for the number of passengers confirmed in each cabin, with no spares allowed for.

Pascoe

All bar one of my LH OpUps have been WTP to CW. And mostly when travelling with my wife during a period when we were either both golds or travelling regularly and flitting between gold and silver.

Never checked it at the time but my theory was always that we often had the highest combined couples' CIV in WTP and were therefore at or near the front of the queue if that cabin was full, there was space in CW, and they wanted to upsell from WT as AUPs.

I think at one point it got ridiculous - we did a trip to west coast US including a couple of AA internal flights too (so LHR >> LAX >> SFO on way out and LAX >> LAS >> LHR on way back and were op-upped on 3/4 including both longhaul legs WTP to CW). Shortly after getting back I had to do a few weeks in HKG and my wife came out to join me for part of it (I'd flown ahead) and got the same result.

Incidentally (and it was a while back so of less relevance) - my one op-up from WT was in fact a double. LHR >> JFK about a week after T5 opened. So maybe they had been instructed to try extra hard after all the baggage fiasco. I was travelling for work, with a Y ticket as had been a last minute booking so was suitably impressed when I got sent to the CW cabin.

crazyanglaisy

You've been unlucky. In ~50 flights in Y on that route, I've been fortunate to have received 15 upgrades, including 5 times to J (3 of which were op-ups). You need to pick your days and months better!

To the OP: no, I wouldn't change your meal order to try to increase your chances of an op-up. It's likely to lead to disappointment.

jbfield

Thanks - sounds like I will stay in my preferred Y seat and have some food then. My thought on higher Op-Up chance on this route was the anadotal overselling there seems to be. My last flight LHR-SIN in J was full to the brim with people Op-Uped from other cabins; but this may have been due to the other (later) BA LHR-SIN flight going tech. One of my former bosses (no status) flew SIN-LHR in WTP and found themselves downgraded due overselling - never heard the end of that one!

By the way, wasn't expecting a double upgrade from Y > C, rather Y > Y+, but not if it meant a middle seat...that would be too claustraphobic for me and would mean changing my FT tag line.

Right I'll stick to the VLML and maybe hunt for a better exit row seat - just gotta make sure it has a window else I will feel quite confined.

orbitmic

Well, tips on what days and which flight to pick definitely most welcome!