Theres really no need to get into a debate on the correlation between dress code and wealth.

First, a distinction must be made between paid and op up. Whatever travel class you have paid for you have the right to dress as you wish. Pay for F wear a wifebeater and sandals, or pay for Y and wear a tuxedo. As long as you dont turn up naked (as that would be contrary to s.148 of the Crimes Ordinance for Indecency in Public) Honestly no one cares!

My point about upgrades is that if you are thinking of getting a free upgrade into F/J and wear a wifebeater and sandals, there is a possibility that CX will not upgrade you. This is because as an "upgradee", you must to some extent at least dress business casual.

At the end of the day, the point about upgrades is so that its not "noticeable". How would you like having paid for J only to find out everyone around you is upgraded for free? Agreed, what CX can do is limited. I was on a flight in F once and a passenger (will not disclose nationality as this may offend) who would not stop yabbering on to his partner so that the entire cabin could hear about how lucky he is to have been upgraded. Don't even get me started on the phototaking. Thank god for noise cancelling earphones.

In the end of the day, I really think this is a non issue. The threshold of decent dress code is pretty low. Wearing a t shirt with jeans will usually make the cut.

I wonder what George Clooney would have to say on this!

I see your point, but for the only time I got op-up on a long haul, i was wearing a tshirt and the biggest backpack possible... FWIW

Last summer, my family and I were travelling SFO-HKG-CNS. We had booked J tickets. We were going on vacation and were dressed very casually. I think I had on khakis and a t-shirt. I'm sure my son was wearing shorts. We arrived at SFO and were handed F boarding passes. I think the op-ups had been determined before we even arrived based on OneWorld status (that's the only status I have) so our clothes never came into it.

On board, we learned that the entire F cabin, except one, was filled by op-ups. The flight attendants and purser seemed particularly bothered by this. I would think the paid F passenger was also, but I don't know. All op-ups were given J rather than F service--meals, etc. Incidentally, that flight is the only time I've been disappointed with CX service. The crew seemed lackadaisical and the plane was not as clean as it should have been. My wife's seat was broken, and wouldn't recline properly and the crew did not seem to want to help. She fixed it herself. There was really a sharp contrast between this flight and our onward flight in J to CNS where the crew were wonderful--typical of CX. But, no complaints. I felt lucky to have the F seat transpac. I'm flying CX again this summer on my birthday and hoping against hope for another op-up.

Good points here in your whole post, but my experience with probably 15-20 op-ups this year both Y-J and J-F op-ups is that this isn't the case at all. I make a point of dressing as comfortably as possible, which means T-shirt and jeans and T-shirt or sweat pants if I can get away with it and can change after my meetings. Frequently wearing flip flops. Sometimes a baseball hat. And almost never looking like I "belong" there.

I actually had a strange situation with some guy in the F lounge last year, I was in paid F to LHR, and wearing a plain tee shirt, sweat pants, and sandals. I also lug a full-size pillow around with me on long hauls so I really look like a clown, and I had that with me then. Minding my own business. I had made eye contact with a middle aged male pax - dressed quite well - a few times, he stared at me a bit and I felt a little uncomfortable but didn't think anything. I moved to sit by one of the computers in the lounge above gate 2, whichever one that is. I noticed the guy get up and talk to the CX attendant who sits at the post near The Haven (where people from the J lounge could potentially enter the F lounge as well). Immediately after that conversation, the lounge attendant came over to me and checked my BP. I asked her why, she muttered something about just making sure. I guess the pax figured I was crashing the party or something, still surprised I was asked by the attendant. We ended up both being on the same flight - him in J, me in F.

Classic! :D

Cheers,
Joe

[QUOTE=baclubflyer;12986975]Theres really no need to get into a debate on the correlation between dress code and wealth.


At the end of the day, the point about upgrades is so that its not "noticeable". How would you like having paid for J only to find out everyone around you is upgraded for free? Agreed, what CX can do is limited. I was on a flight in F once and a passenger (will not disclose nationality as this may offend) who would not stop yabbering on to his partner so that the entire cabin could hear about how lucky he is to have been upgraded. Don't even get me started on the phototaking. Thank god for noise cancelling earphones.

I pay and fly F on almost all my flights and quite honestly I don't really care if everybody else in the cabin is upgraded. Ok I paid more than they did but I was sure to fly F and was able to pick up my seat rather than hope for an Opup. Also if somebody is upgraded he/she probably deserves it for being very loyal to CX.

How did he end up in the F lounge?

Maybe he is a DM, DM+ or AA EXE Plat.

The Wing F attendants have always been busy "directing" people back to the J side. The main entrance is so convenient located that many people going to the J lounge just come by. The rear entrance is even worse. There are people from the J side dropping by once every 5 minutes or less. I do not know why they do not put a door there.

FWIW, FAs have been adding distinction to pax who have been op-upped. I have noticed that from the seating chart that they have been adding an "up" arrow next to the names of op-upped pax.

I don't think this is new. I think FAs have had this information for many years now. Having said this, as an op-up to J, I've never had bad service.

I'm not op-upped too often (as compared to some of the regulars here...), but I definitely didn't see the arrows on my last op-upped flight. I do know the FAs have this info on the passenger manifest though.

All of us, me and my parents, got op-up J-F, FRA-HKG. None of us has an arrow. Though, definitely, the FAs know.

I think the service will be influence by many variables:

1) Personality: if your F/A is a great person you will get nice service regardless
2) FFP Status: if you are DM or GO you will more likely get good service

I've never been op-up but on my numerous mileage upgrades to J I have experience good, average, and bad services. So I don't really think there is a corporate policy to treat the op-up/award passengers differently.