Birthday Upgrade Priority
 

Hello all,

This is my first post to Flyertalk. Nice to meet you all and thanks in advance for your comments/answers.

I understand that the following is a list of op-up priority, however, if I am a CX Gold member who is flying on the exact day of my birthday on business class (U-class) from HK to NYC with 2 other persons (Diamond and Gold), what priority does my “birthday-upgrade” have? From my understanding, flying on birthday has guaranteed upgrade as long as there is a free seat; and this “birthday-upgrade” superceeds any op-ups.

Furthermore, what priority for upgrade does my traveling-together persons have?

1. VIP (Heads of State, Government Bodies, or Canto Pop/Movie stars)
2. CX Diamond Plus
3. CX Diamond Invitation, Diamond
4. CX Gold
5. ....

If F class is pretty empty then you should be upgraded. But I've learned more than once not to anticipate or get too hyped up for an upgrade that might or might not happen. Just keep your fingers crossed.

You will probably be upgraded depending on F availability, but I have some feeling that your traveling companions may not get it unless J is overbooked. There are only six F seats.

Welone to FT

I wish you the best of luck!

(But.... don't get your hopes up too high - it is not ususual for F on this route to be full and you will get trumped by a mileage upgrade)

FWIW in Feb to CTO, Y full, J empty, I was offered Y-J op-up which I declined because they could not offer it to my companion. On the same flight, another friend who was CX SL and flying on his birthday, was bumped to J together with his gf who was CX GR. This was at check-in.

always better be surprised and not expecting it..

I was going through some old threads during a search and my first post on FT popped up on the screen. While I apologize for bring a 3-year-old thread back alive, I thought I'd share what actually happened on this flight in terms of the unpublished perk.

A family member (DM) and I (GO) was on an ex-HKG, JFK bound flight via YVR. The flight was scheduled to depart within the first 1-2 hour of my birthday. We were both booked in U-class. Sorry, I can't remember if we were under the same itinerary.

I was upgraded all the way to JKF to F, while my family member was upgraded to F only on the second part of the journey (i.e. YVR to JFK).

We were happy. Cheers.

nice...that's for the info! (albeit from 3 years ago!)

Thanks for reporting back hazehkg!

I wonder how an [exact] birthday + MPC GR/SL would have different OP's case.

Or how if my travel companion is a GR/SL/GO would result in different outcomes...

Agree. As a GOLD member, shall be travelling with 2 companion with no status soon on economy class on the exact date of birthday. Most likely I guess only one person can be entitled for the upgrade, while the others remain sitted at the fixed shell seats. :(

So a GO or even Silver will be ahead of DM in terms of upgrade priority for birthday upgrade?

What do u mean? Against what?

Did you not read the question / above posts / or the title of this thread?

Let me rephrase cy1978hk's question for you:

Do SL/GO members travelling on their date of birth have priority for a birthday upgrade, above DM's getting a "regular" op-op?

Do all passengers have a chance to be upgraded on their birthday or only the members with a status?

If they need to opup then they can't give a birthday upgrade

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that even a GO/SL traveling exactly on one's birthday would be ahead of op-ups.

On the other hand, I think I have confused some members here. What actually happened was that I think my family member (DM) was upgraded on the YVR to JFK leg because of my birthday. As in, two of us, sharing the same surname, were clearly travelling together to start. However, F class only had a seat left for me and not my companion. Upon landing YVR, F class opened up more so my companion was also upgraded to F. I can reasonably assume that if it wasn't my birthday, my DM companion would not been upgraded at all because J wasn't full from YVR to JFK.

I believe it is an unpublished perk for MPC members only. So my answer would be no, only members with a status have a chance.

Not necessarily, right? If they have room in the higher cabin to op-up into, they have room to do a birthday upgrade.

In answer to cy1978hk's question, Who knows? Op-ups are not a published benefit or a right for any status level. It's totally at CX's discretion, for operational reasons. If they're oversold in a cabin, they could decide it makes good commercial sense to offer a birthday upgrade to a SL instead of a "regular" op-up for a DM. The DM isn't in a position to complain, since he got the cabin he paid for and should have expected to fly in anyway.

I think this is very well said and agreed. The question that I would humbly lead members here to ponder goes back to the original post. Let's say Y was oversold by 2 seats, I was the only member traveling on a birthday. Okay, so I get upgraded. The question is, would my traveling companion (DM with BN300 for example) be ahead of another DM for an upgrade with a BN1 (for example)?

Thanks for the info

I think if they have to opup that means there is a capacity issue and I would say normal opup rules apply as birthday upgrades are not part of a formal offering? Also I think as SL birthday upgrades are not really a standard.

I think it's for MPC elites only. I flew on my birthday as a OW Ruby (AA) with BN1 and didn't get a UG. PEY had quite a few empty seats, as did J. Oh well, flew the cabin I paid for :rolleyes:

Although a rather extreme case, what do you think happens if Y is overbooked by 1 passenger only, and there is a regular DM and a birthday GO in Y. Who gets upgraded? Or both?

Again, this goes back to the original post's question, what is the priority of birthday upgrade?

Another point I find for birthday opups is that they generally find out ur birthday when they check ur passport but I also seen the system prompt the agent.
It is a difficult one but I thought the chance DM will get first for normal opup as they can predict oversell situation much earlier than whether a members birthday,