markis10

Choosing to run a cabin empty can affect crew levels as well, and as a result no J cabin available for upgrades or possibly sale.

LCY8737

For a slightly more American perspective on this topic, the following book is pretty good. It even has a chapter on airline upgrades (though clearly pre-DUT). In a nut-shell, you need to ask in a way that makes the other person want to help you.

Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as If Your Life Depended on It

corky

So when checking in to a hotel, you would never inquire about the possibility of a nicer room? I always do and have had some decent success. My motto is it doesn't hurt to ask...the worst that can happen is they say no. I always ask nicely or even jokingly. I have also asked at shows....I was recently moved to a better seat at a Vegas cirque show because I asked. I am sure that wouldn't have happened if I didn't politely ask. Also restaurants. It has nothing to do with respect.

13901

This thread reminds me of when I used to handle departures to obvious honeymoon places.

Half of Economy had a special message on the lines of “passenger on honeymoon pls consider upgrade”. At the gate there’d be a procession of newly-wed husbands trying to score an upgrade. Some would go the chummy way, some would attempt the pity way, some would refer to the cousin of their hairdresser’s football mate who had a sister who worked in BA, some (almost always with a chevaliere on the pinky) would go the “do you know how much money I move through BA?” way.

And. it. never. happened.

mainly because the powers of a gate agent are next to inexistent, mainly because the upgrade function is fully automated, but the truth is that “free doesn’t exist” and if you want something, well, you got to pay for it.

Cyberhacker

This is a key observation...

On those occasions that I get to speak to check-in staff, I've been known to ask, in a conversational sort of why, "any upgrades on offer today?" - usually the answer is an apologetic "No", occasionally you get offered a price (sometimes worth taking, usually not)... once I got moved from Y to J (skipping W) for free :-)

But as others have observed, if you don't ask, the answer is No.

fdem

I think with hotels the situation is different. If you hold status, part of the deal is upgrades subject to availability. I am lifetime bonvoy platinum and would expect some sort of upgrade, and sadly these days you do need to ask, whereas being silver BA would never expect an upgrade or ask for one ) even in the past when I was GCH.

DaveS

I only ever asked on BA once and it was a few years ago. The upgrade was given With other airlines I have asked and with some success. I would not criticise anyone for asking, as I see it blagging is part of being a frequent flyer.

TheChangingMan

I have never asked for an upgrade but have been the fortunate recipient on a number of occasions. On my most recent TATL I was upgrade from W to J on both legs.

I think being a solo traveller helps.

Can I help you

No I would not ask a hotel about the possibility of a nicer room, I would expect the best room in the category that I had paid for, if I were to be given a nicer room it would be because it was the hotels decision. Personally I see asking for an upgrade as a form of begging and that is why I said I have more respect for myself.
When I was a CSD and boarding customers probably around 10% of customers would ask for an upgrade and in the days when you could pay for upgrades onboard I told my crew not to assume that they wanted a free upgrade and to say yes if asked, when I had a moment I would inform them how much it cost, well you can guess what happened?

AJA_

I would be too embarrassed to ask, nothing to do with my self-respect. I just pay for the cabin (usually business) I wish to travel in so upgrading to the next one doesn't usually occur to me.

However I have in the past been offered upgrades on outbound TATL flights from LHR. It happened on a route i flew frequently and as a solo traveller on a Saturday from WT+ to Club.

Globaliser

It would have been interesting if you had offered to pay for an upgrade. It's possible that you might have been told that you could upgrade, but there would be no catering for you - an aspect of the flight being planned to operate without any passengers in Club. Of course, it's also possible that if you had actually started to pursue that route, you might you have been told pretty quickly that you couldn't upgrade even for payment.

Comair has its own issues at the moment, and I wouldn't be surprised if some of the effects are not publicly obvious.

chriswiles

I was once told that the crew does not load the flight with business class food and drinks.....just in case people are upgraded (for free). It's all done with as careful pre-planning as possible. Please don't think there's business class food and drink going to waste as there's no-one booked into business.

Also, there's the crew requirements, too. If there's no-one (or hardly anyone) booked into business, the crew can be allocated elsewhere. If you get upgraded - for free - and almost the only person in business, then this requires crew to be on standby and much more. There's a cost for this.

Please think things through.

DorsetKnob

Interestingly my first ever upgrade was on honeymoon flights to an Indian Ocean island. I'd booked Club. At the checkin desk at LGW we were met by a rep from the travel company we had used who knew it was a honeymoon. Checked in & I didn't mention a thing. Got to the gate & were given new boarding passes in 1st.

No status (is Blue a status?) & to this day I still think the rep had a word after we had checked in.

noFODplease

I wonder why BA stopped offering this - it seems like a decent revenue stream to have; if was sat beside a screaming baby or maybe a row with no window, I could see myself using this!

12d121

This is exactly the sort of info I was looking for. I did say in my post I had no issue with not being upgraded but I was wondering what the operational considerations were - which you have addressed so thank you