The ultimate UPGRADE thread
Oct 22, 2002, 6:28 am
#46
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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by speedbird2018:
9) I am a close personal friend of Lord King/ Lord Marshall/ Bob Ayling/ Rod Eddington
</font>
9) I am a close personal friend of Lord King/ Lord Marshall/ Bob Ayling/ Rod Eddington
</font>
Oct 22, 2002, 8:03 am
#47
Join Date: May 2000
Location: Seattle, WA
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Posts: 2,155
Take a look at them here:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum53/HTML/000632.html
Seems to be some correlation between this thread and the above one!
Thanks,
Richard
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum53/HTML/000632.html
Seems to be some correlation between this thread and the above one!
Thanks,
Richard
Oct 22, 2002, 2:30 pm
#48
Join Date: Sep 2002
Programs: Mucci Gold Class
Posts: 2,045
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Allusha:
Handsome young men who are shameless enough to flirt with female/gay male gate agents or CSDs are usually upgraded first. Or they are upgraded on board to hang out with the FAs/M up front (especially at the bar on Virgin). So put those cute plastic gold cards back into your wallet.
P.S. Another way to upgrade on BA is to make a big stink about your IFE not working on a flight with full economy.
[This message has been edited by Allusha (edited 10-21-2002).]</font>
Handsome young men who are shameless enough to flirt with female/gay male gate agents or CSDs are usually upgraded first. Or they are upgraded on board to hang out with the FAs/M up front (especially at the bar on Virgin). So put those cute plastic gold cards back into your wallet.
P.S. Another way to upgrade on BA is to make a big stink about your IFE not working on a flight with full economy.
[This message has been edited by Allusha (edited 10-21-2002).]</font>
Tried the IFE one on a 14-hour HKK-LHR in '97 when economy was bursting. Didn't work. And my IFE really wasn't working. I had to get drunk instead.
Oct 22, 2002, 3:25 pm
#49
Join Date: Oct 2002
Posts: 121
Young, handsome, and BAGold?? What a winning combination. I won't post my itineraries b/c you've got me beat!
Oct 25, 2002, 1:02 am
#50
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: I have embarrasingly little status but my wife thinks I am great
Posts: 968
Needs to be bumped
Nov 30, 2002, 10:54 am
#51
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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Kovich:
Needs to be bumped</font>
Needs to be bumped</font>
Nov 30, 2002, 6:51 pm
#52
Join Date: Sep 2002
Posts: 1,743
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by ScottC:
Gold Executive Club members in certain countries receive a free one class upgrade voucher when they reach 2400 tier points, the voucher can only be used by gold card members and will undoubtedly be used by the Gold member him or herself.</font>
Gold Executive Club members in certain countries receive a free one class upgrade voucher when they reach 2400 tier points, the voucher can only be used by gold card members and will undoubtedly be used by the Gold member him or herself.</font>
Nov 30, 2002, 6:53 pm
#53
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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by pdb:
ScottC, Do the two(2) one-class upgrade vouchers permit you to upgrade from any WT+ fare to CW? (e.g. the $20 WT+ fares recently obtained by some)...or must they be full-fare tickets?</font>
ScottC, Do the two(2) one-class upgrade vouchers permit you to upgrade from any WT+ fare to CW? (e.g. the $20 WT+ fares recently obtained by some)...or must they be full-fare tickets?</font>
ˇ Member calls their travel agent and quotes their membership number and the voucher number.
ˇ Travel agent checks upgrade availability.
ˇ Travel agent creates booking in the lowest applicable fare to meet Members needs by:
- booking R class for upgrades to Concorde
- booking A class for upgrades to FIRST
- booking D class for upgrades to Club World & Club Europe
- booking T class for upgrades to World Traveller Plus (where fitted),
Dec 2, 2002, 11:45 am
#54
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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Guy Betsy:
Sean, the purser on today's flight told me that BA is experimenting on a few things to generate higher revenue for itself effective about 2 weeks ago.
Passengers will be upgraded according to their fare paid as opposed to just relying on status. Which means, someone with no status and flying on a J coded ticket will be upgraded ahead of a BA GOLD member with a say, D class ticket to First. Similarly, people who bought a say, Y booking code with no status might be accorded the upgrade ahead of even a GOLD member with a V class ticket. He said that BA is trying to encourage people to buy higher fares.
</font>
Sean, the purser on today's flight told me that BA is experimenting on a few things to generate higher revenue for itself effective about 2 weeks ago.
Passengers will be upgraded according to their fare paid as opposed to just relying on status. Which means, someone with no status and flying on a J coded ticket will be upgraded ahead of a BA GOLD member with a say, D class ticket to First. Similarly, people who bought a say, Y booking code with no status might be accorded the upgrade ahead of even a GOLD member with a V class ticket. He said that BA is trying to encourage people to buy higher fares.
</font>
And anecdotally, this seems to be the case now. I work with about 10 other Golds, and all of us travel on ECCA tickets booked in D. Not one of us has had an upgrade, operational or otherwise in the last couple of months, having previously averaged 25 - 50% before.
Mind you, I guess the upgrade one way to F promotion is running and will have had an impact. Anyone (Scott maybe?) got an inside line on this?
And before anyone flames away, we are all still very happy in NCW, expeically with that lovely bed in comparison to the fairground slide that is CX's 'bed'.
Dec 2, 2002, 11:52 am
#55
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Last weekend, I was bumped to WT+ on a V class ticket. Not only a V, but apparently a consol fare with only a Sat night stay requirement, which I needed (all BA published fares seem to be 7 day minimum). I'm only QF Gold/Sapphire, and there must have been heaps of people ahead of me on a fare paid basis.
Very pleasant, though - I am definitely not complaining!
Very pleasant, though - I am definitely not complaining!
Dec 2, 2002, 12:24 pm
#56
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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Swanhunter:
And anecdotally, this seems to be the case now. I work with about 10 other Golds, and all of us travel on ECCA tickets booked in D. Not one of us has had an upgrade, operational or otherwise in the last couple of months, having previously averaged 25 - 50% before.
Mind you, I guess the upgrade one way to F promotion is running and will have had an impact. Anyone (Scott maybe?) got an inside line on this?
And before anyone flames away, we are all still very happy in NCW, expeically with that lovely bed in comparison to the fairground slide that is CX's 'bed'.</font>
And anecdotally, this seems to be the case now. I work with about 10 other Golds, and all of us travel on ECCA tickets booked in D. Not one of us has had an upgrade, operational or otherwise in the last couple of months, having previously averaged 25 - 50% before.
Mind you, I guess the upgrade one way to F promotion is running and will have had an impact. Anyone (Scott maybe?) got an inside line on this?
And before anyone flames away, we are all still very happy in NCW, expeically with that lovely bed in comparison to the fairground slide that is CX's 'bed'.</font>
Feb 14, 2003, 10:05 am
#57
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: everywhere, BA Gold, LH, etc. etc.
Posts: 467
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by speedbird2018:
Ok here are the reasons why pax thought they should have an upgrade
[edited]
2) I have a medical condition which means I cannot sit in Economy but can sit in Club
</font>
Ok here are the reasons why pax thought they should have an upgrade
[edited]
2) I have a medical condition which means I cannot sit in Economy but can sit in Club
</font>
This one used to apply to me: in the days when smoking was still allowed on BA, I used to insist my company paid for business class in Europe, so that I could be sure of sitting IN FRONT of the smokers. Trouble was, in economy you could easily find yourself sitting directly behind a smoker, and even if you sat right at the back of the bus, the air flow still carried the smell back to you. This was of prime importance to me, because I suffer from asthma, and my doctor actually supported me in my discussions with my employer at the time. So, while I never actually asked for an upgrade because of this reason, I would have felt justified in asking for it, because in those days I simply could not afford to pay for business class myself.
Feb 15, 2003, 4:42 pm
#58
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: London, UK
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Posts: 6,070
Being a little old lady can help. Worked for my partners mum 
Feb 16, 2003, 4:49 am
#59
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I've at last managed to make one of these room things work, and am balancing thison my knee as I have some free time.
This thread has proved interesting, and full of wonderful annecdotes (the Daily Mail one I will relate on tonight's flight (actually I'd have put her in F just for sheer chutzpah)).
I was most interested in that the majority of those who posted treat an U/g as a privilege and not as a right. I read other places on this board and whilst it can entertain me as much as waiting for the second coat of nail varnish to dry (note to all you scientists why does it?), there always seems to be this "Why them not me" undertow to the posting. It has never occurred to them that some people may be far more important in actual terms rather than the ones that they imagine for themselves.
I read Speedbirds list and thought O God this man knows the whole dreary routine. I wish people would understand that we have all heard it so often, so regularly, and that one thing airline staff cannot bear and that is a cheapskate. If you matter to the airline, they usually look after you. What you also have to realise is that reputations do precede you and that some people matter more than others in reality as in life. What is more (and I would love the BA check-in people here to confirm, is that we can smell them a mile off. You can tell at once if someone is a real Road Warrior (almost as stupid an expression as Captain of Industry that one used to hear when we had industries and not service providers), or just a jumped nobody travelling at someone else's expense. If they are real decision makers - welcome aboard. I think that the world's worst, and I mean this wholeheartedly were a group that used to call themselves the Institute of Business Travel or some such. They had perfected the maltese back stroke, and I think gave degrees or diplomas in Freeloading. These people were in the main (and I'm going back to the eighties) booking clerks for the corporations that employed them, and they used to be taken on educationals and fly Business or First and get put up in First Class hotels. As far as I can gather, some of them actually determined business travel policy for their companies but the amount that I saw some of them in our premium cabins (all u'gs of course) I wonder that they got any work done. They were regarded as the lowest of the low, but they held purse strings - (or so they would have us believe. ). I am led to believe that this has now been totally altered and that they are now properly professional. I had the "pleasure" of working at one of their exhibitions with our Sales Staff from Victoria. you wanted to hear them on the subject, and those of British Airways' were practically unprintable.
I am afraid that as far as the honeynoon nonsense goes, my heart is made of stone. Send a couple of rounds of CW champagne back - end of story. If ground want to up them, fine, if not - sorry.
The person (sorry this thing is temperamental and will not back track easily) who thinks that young handsome men flirting with staff female or gay cuts any ice is either jealous, or living on planet Zarg. Either way, you have no idea how British Airways works. let us say that it cuts all the ice of the Titanic and with the same end result.
Scotty I love the burger/steak comparison, and actually agree with it. I know that you are toing and froing to a Very Cold City these days although you are being terribly shy about it! A little bird has been telling me stories, and all I can say is XXXXXXXX - Be Happy!!
This thread has proved interesting, and full of wonderful annecdotes (the Daily Mail one I will relate on tonight's flight (actually I'd have put her in F just for sheer chutzpah)).
I was most interested in that the majority of those who posted treat an U/g as a privilege and not as a right. I read other places on this board and whilst it can entertain me as much as waiting for the second coat of nail varnish to dry (note to all you scientists why does it?), there always seems to be this "Why them not me" undertow to the posting. It has never occurred to them that some people may be far more important in actual terms rather than the ones that they imagine for themselves.
I read Speedbirds list and thought O God this man knows the whole dreary routine. I wish people would understand that we have all heard it so often, so regularly, and that one thing airline staff cannot bear and that is a cheapskate. If you matter to the airline, they usually look after you. What you also have to realise is that reputations do precede you and that some people matter more than others in reality as in life. What is more (and I would love the BA check-in people here to confirm, is that we can smell them a mile off. You can tell at once if someone is a real Road Warrior (almost as stupid an expression as Captain of Industry that one used to hear when we had industries and not service providers), or just a jumped nobody travelling at someone else's expense. If they are real decision makers - welcome aboard. I think that the world's worst, and I mean this wholeheartedly were a group that used to call themselves the Institute of Business Travel or some such. They had perfected the maltese back stroke, and I think gave degrees or diplomas in Freeloading. These people were in the main (and I'm going back to the eighties) booking clerks for the corporations that employed them, and they used to be taken on educationals and fly Business or First and get put up in First Class hotels. As far as I can gather, some of them actually determined business travel policy for their companies but the amount that I saw some of them in our premium cabins (all u'gs of course) I wonder that they got any work done. They were regarded as the lowest of the low, but they held purse strings - (or so they would have us believe. ). I am led to believe that this has now been totally altered and that they are now properly professional. I had the "pleasure" of working at one of their exhibitions with our Sales Staff from Victoria. you wanted to hear them on the subject, and those of British Airways' were practically unprintable.
I am afraid that as far as the honeynoon nonsense goes, my heart is made of stone. Send a couple of rounds of CW champagne back - end of story. If ground want to up them, fine, if not - sorry.
The person (sorry this thing is temperamental and will not back track easily) who thinks that young handsome men flirting with staff female or gay cuts any ice is either jealous, or living on planet Zarg. Either way, you have no idea how British Airways works. let us say that it cuts all the ice of the Titanic and with the same end result.
Scotty I love the burger/steak comparison, and actually agree with it. I know that you are toing and froing to a Very Cold City these days although you are being terribly shy about it! A little bird has been telling me stories, and all I can say is XXXXXXXX - Be Happy!!
Feb 16, 2003, 9:14 am
#60
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: paris, france
Posts: 464
You can tell at once if someone is a real Road Warrior (almost as stupid an expression as Captain of Industry that one used to hear when we had industries and not service providers), or just a jumped nobody travelling at someone else's expense.
You're right : the real road warrior is not on Flyertalk ! Just (almost) kidding...
As far as I'm concerned, when I used to fly a lot more than today (over 2000 points a year on BA), I had absolutely NO TIME (and not much need : miles were just coming and coming in my account, I'd travel in C, etc.) to come on Flyertalk.
But since I travel a bit less, I come here to try to get the best deals for me etc. I'm not that much a frequent traveler anymore so I try to mak ethe most of it by coming to Flyertalk.
I wonder how many Flyertalk people are like me. It's always amazed me that people who actually spend their time in F or on planes find the time to come on that site ! Don't they ever work ? ... don't they have other things to do in their leisure times ?... do they enjoy being in a lounge for hours and writing posts ?...well, I guess some people love traveling in style so much, they spend their days on Flyertalk...
...anyway, to get back to the U word on BA, I ALWAYS ask to be upgraded, in a nice manner of course, avec élégance, and I'd say 50-70% of the time I go from Y to WT+ if available, esp on the JFK-LHR route. I never get a bad look from the staff of whatever, the worst that they can give me is a "I'm very sorry but we can try to give you a nice Y seat bla bla bla" which is a very nice answer.
I don't get your point on criticising those who ask; yes, I give a lot of money to BA ( and I could fly any other airline with my company's policy), and I want BA to recognise that fact when I travel Y. NATURALLY, I FULLY UNDERSTAND that the Upgrade is only a PRIVILEGE that can be given to me sometimes,; not getting it is not a problem, I am intelligent and mature enough to understand that. But I expect, on the other hand, BA staff to understand that it is kind of "legimitate" that someone who is loyal to a company does ask for a special service. If not a BA Gold traveling with his wife, then who else can kindly ask? ?? The problem only lies in " how does the passenger react after the "no" from the agent" than "I'm tired of pax who continuously find excuses to be upgraded"; So what ? Yes, I always use the same line,i ALWAYS ask, i always have a "good" excuse, and it seems to work for me thank you very much ! What shall I say ? "Upgrade me because when I step into a plane I never turn right ??!!! "
I'm sorry but if any BA staff reads this and still thinks pax should NOT ask for an upgrade, then I only hope I'll never bump into them at LHR or elsewhere.
Once again, i want to stress the fact that when I'm being "refused" an upgrade I find it absolutely normal and I have absolutely NO PROBLEM with it.
I must add, I am young (30's), not wearing a suit when traveling long haul ( sneakers / casual wear) and my friends who travel with me are also under 30 and casually dressed, and we've never had big problems being upgraded when asked nicely ( once, JFK-LHR, I upgraded 2 friends in WT+ with me + a 3rd friend I met on board !! And 3 of us had reward tix) ( that was in Feb '02. ).
I've used some of the "excuses to be upgraded" that are cited above, and I must say they've almost always worked !
You're right : the real road warrior is not on Flyertalk ! Just (almost) kidding...
As far as I'm concerned, when I used to fly a lot more than today (over 2000 points a year on BA), I had absolutely NO TIME (and not much need : miles were just coming and coming in my account, I'd travel in C, etc.) to come on Flyertalk.
But since I travel a bit less, I come here to try to get the best deals for me etc. I'm not that much a frequent traveler anymore so I try to mak ethe most of it by coming to Flyertalk.
I wonder how many Flyertalk people are like me. It's always amazed me that people who actually spend their time in F or on planes find the time to come on that site ! Don't they ever work ? ... don't they have other things to do in their leisure times ?... do they enjoy being in a lounge for hours and writing posts ?...well, I guess some people love traveling in style so much, they spend their days on Flyertalk...
...anyway, to get back to the U word on BA, I ALWAYS ask to be upgraded, in a nice manner of course, avec élégance, and I'd say 50-70% of the time I go from Y to WT+ if available, esp on the JFK-LHR route. I never get a bad look from the staff of whatever, the worst that they can give me is a "I'm very sorry but we can try to give you a nice Y seat bla bla bla" which is a very nice answer.
I don't get your point on criticising those who ask; yes, I give a lot of money to BA ( and I could fly any other airline with my company's policy), and I want BA to recognise that fact when I travel Y. NATURALLY, I FULLY UNDERSTAND that the Upgrade is only a PRIVILEGE that can be given to me sometimes,; not getting it is not a problem, I am intelligent and mature enough to understand that. But I expect, on the other hand, BA staff to understand that it is kind of "legimitate" that someone who is loyal to a company does ask for a special service. If not a BA Gold traveling with his wife, then who else can kindly ask? ?? The problem only lies in " how does the passenger react after the "no" from the agent" than "I'm tired of pax who continuously find excuses to be upgraded"; So what ? Yes, I always use the same line,i ALWAYS ask, i always have a "good" excuse, and it seems to work for me thank you very much ! What shall I say ? "Upgrade me because when I step into a plane I never turn right ??!!! "
I'm sorry but if any BA staff reads this and still thinks pax should NOT ask for an upgrade, then I only hope I'll never bump into them at LHR or elsewhere.
Once again, i want to stress the fact that when I'm being "refused" an upgrade I find it absolutely normal and I have absolutely NO PROBLEM with it.
I must add, I am young (30's), not wearing a suit when traveling long haul ( sneakers / casual wear) and my friends who travel with me are also under 30 and casually dressed, and we've never had big problems being upgraded when asked nicely ( once, JFK-LHR, I upgraded 2 friends in WT+ with me + a 3rd friend I met on board !! And 3 of us had reward tix) ( that was in Feb '02. ).
I've used some of the "excuses to be upgraded" that are cited above, and I must say they've almost always worked !