Airport Upgrade Incentive
Jun 14, 2019, 1:39 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2016
Programs: BAEC
Posts: 23
Airport Upgrade Incentive
At check in for my flight yesterday from FLL I was asked (unprompted) if I wanted to upgrade from WT+ to Club.
I fly long haul at least once a month and 50% of the time I'll go for an upgrade it if its available and the price is ok. When I enquired how full the flight was and if the seat beside mine was empty I was told that it was full and the space beside me was no longer free and he suggested I'd be more comfortable in club.
I declined but he kept pushing the question, asking me 3 more times if I wanted to do it before finally accepting I was happy where I was.
What makes it odd is on boarding I discovered that WT+ wasn't even half full and the seat beside me was empty. Not sure why he'd tell me otherwise.
Is this normal? Is there an incentive for check in staff to push paid upgrades?
I fly long haul at least once a month and 50% of the time I'll go for an upgrade it if its available and the price is ok. When I enquired how full the flight was and if the seat beside mine was empty I was told that it was full and the space beside me was no longer free and he suggested I'd be more comfortable in club.
I declined but he kept pushing the question, asking me 3 more times if I wanted to do it before finally accepting I was happy where I was.
What makes it odd is on boarding I discovered that WT+ wasn't even half full and the seat beside me was empty. Not sure why he'd tell me otherwise.
Is this normal? Is there an incentive for check in staff to push paid upgrades?
Jun 14, 2019, 2:01 am
#2
Join Date: Feb 2019
Location: UK. West Sussex
Programs: BAEC. Gold
Posts: 786
Perhaps the passenger originaly in the seat next to you was offered the same upgrade deal as your good self and jumped at it
in any Sales orientated organisation, most staff in a position to generate or increase GP, are rewarded with a small commision to encourage the Sales person to actively upsell .
BA check in staff are no doubt the same.
in any Sales orientated organisation, most staff in a position to generate or increase GP, are rewarded with a small commision to encourage the Sales person to actively upsell .
BA check in staff are no doubt the same.
Jun 14, 2019, 2:47 am
#4
Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: Rio de Janeiro
Programs: BA Oneworld
Posts: 582
Did you get the meal of your choice? I always wonder if airport upgrades at outstations have the means to cater for additional passengers when the galley has already been loaded according to the original manifest.
Jun 14, 2019, 3:17 am
#5
Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Feb 2010
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold; Flying Blue Life Platinum; LH Sen.; Hilton Diamond; Kemal Kebabs Prized Customer
Posts: 63,766
Outstations often have targets for AUPs to fulfill. The ground agents don't have any insights as to how that figure was arrived at, it seems a combination of revenue and fill management, but they know that they are at least half expected to meet that target. In most locations this isn't treated terribly seriously unless it really is fill management related (i.e. anyone not AUP'd means some last minute gate complications). In the USA, a target driving culture is well embedded, let us say, so you are more likely to get the hard sell over there. There is a lounge agent I'm friendly with in JFK and we now both treat it as a joke since I'm never going to pay for First, and she knows it. She also knows that mostly I'll get that upgrade anyway so I make an exaggerated attempt to profusely thank her for working her magic on FLY, when we both know that it's down to some DeepBrain or whatever.
Jun 14, 2019, 4:53 am
#6
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2016
Programs: BAEC
Posts: 23
Perhaps the passenger originaly in the seat next to you was offered the same upgrade deal as your good self and jumped at it
in any Sales orientated organisation, most staff in a position to generate or increase GP, are rewarded with a small commision to encourage the Sales person to actively upsell .
BA check in staff are no doubt the same.
in any Sales orientated organisation, most staff in a position to generate or increase GP, are rewarded with a small commision to encourage the Sales person to actively upsell .
BA check in staff are no doubt the same.
Just interested to hear if anyone has experienced the hard sell in this way before, I'm not adverse to it, just never happened to me before and felt odd, usually i am the one pushing for the upgrade, ha.
Jun 14, 2019, 5:33 am
#7
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: ±38,000 feet
Programs: LH HON, BA GGL, AF Plat, EK Plat
Posts: 6,428
Outstations often have targets for AUPs to fulfill. The ground agents don't have any insights as to how that figure was arrived at, it seems a combination of revenue and fill management, but they know that they are at least half expected to meet that target. In most locations this isn't treated terribly seriously unless it really is fill management related (i.e. anyone not AUP'd means some last minute gate complications). In the USA, a target driving culture is well embedded, let us say, so you are more likely to get the hard sell over there. There is a lounge agent I'm friendly with in JFK and we now both treat it as a joke since I'm never going to pay for First, and she knows it. She also knows that mostly I'll get that upgrade anyway so I make an exaggerated attempt to profusely thank her for working her magic on FLY, when we both know that it's down to some DeepBrain or whatever.
