Originally Posted by Benjh

PS: BTW, no, I don't think the upgrade flirt is wrong. Can't you tell? I'm only sorry it's not my 30th birthday already, it would have been even better!

Originally Posted by Benjh

I'm flying EWR-TLV departing this monday, december 21st, arriving december 22nd, i.e. on my 29th birthday. I will turn 29 somewhere over the atlantic, seating in coach.

Add to that: I'm a newly minted plat, the return leg is in biz, and the flight is almost (but not yet) sold out.

So... if I'm "very nice", tending on the "flirty", and discreetly mention the fact that "it's the first time I celebrate my birthday alone on a 12-hour flight", you guys think I raise the chances of it happening? Or is it close to null anyway, this being EWR?

PS: BTW, no, I don't think the upgrade flirt is wrong. Can't you tell? I'm only sorry it's not my 30th birthday already, it would have been even better!

Originally Posted by SS255

And if it were your 40th birthday, maybe you'd get the "mercy upgrade."

Good luck.

Originally Posted by elitefreak

1. Pray that coach is oversold.

2. Be Plat

3. Ask when you check in to confirm that coach is oversold. Ask if they are looking yet for Plat volunteers to be moved up to BF. Note to the agent that it is your birthday (and you do have proof, right?)

4. If (3) doesn't pan out immediately, find the concierge for your flight (not the easiest thing to do - usually at the gate and maybe an hour before departure) and politely let him/her know that you understand the flight is oversold, that you are Plat, THAT YOU WILL BE CELBREATING YOUR BIRTHDAY IN-FLIGHT, and that you would be available to move into BF "to help their oversold situation".

Good luck.

PS - My favorite op-up success story was on a 757 to somewhere in Europe (eew - a 757 in coach to Europe?!). Traveling with my colleague, I let the concierge know that I was available if needed (flight was supposedly oversold) and was traveling with one colleague. My colleage boards early; I wait to see if I will win the lottery. BINGO! Gate agent delivers my two BF boarding passes. I board the plane - my colleague is sitting in the first row of coach with a grimace on her face. I grimace back as if to say "sorry, not this time" . . . and then I wave our new BF boarding passes in her face. We were so happy - BF was never sweeter.

Originally Posted by Benjh

Thanks for the tip! I didn't think of finding the concierge before boarding, that's a great idea. Worth waiting by the gate instead of the PC.

How do I spot the concierge? Would he be wearing a special tag?

Originally Posted by sbm12

There is generally a Concierge on duty in the PC. They sit at the desk to the left immediately after you enter the C2/3 lounge. I'm not sure where in the other PCs. They are generally wearing a gray coat.

Happy Birthday!

Originally Posted by Benjh

Any advice on friendly check-in agents at EWR? Is there such a thing? ;-)

Originally Posted by sbm12

If they exist I haven't seen them in a long, long time. And they won't be the ones to OpUp you so I wouldn't bother trying.

Originally Posted by Benjh

The OP's story is about a check-in agent upgrading him (at cdg, granted), so why not?

Originally Posted by Benjh

Thanks sbm12, I'll be sure to look for him or her. Any advice on friendly check-in agents at EWR? Is there such a thing? ;-)

Originally Posted by sbm12

There is generally a Concierge on duty in the PC. They sit at the desk to the left immediately after you enter the C2/3 lounge. I'm not sure where in the other PCs. They are generally wearing a gray coat.

Happy Birthday!

Originally Posted by Bonehead

and beast.

Originally Posted by elitefreak

1. Pray that coach is oversold.

2. Be Plat

3. Ask when you check in to confirm that coach is oversold. Ask if they are looking yet for Plat volunteers to be moved up to BF. Note to the agent that it is your birthday (and you do have proof, right?)

4. If (3) doesn't pan out immediately, find the concierge for your flight (not the easiest thing to do - usually at the gate and maybe an hour before departure) and politely let him/her know that you understand the flight is oversold, that you are Plat, THAT YOU WILL BE CELBREATING YOUR BIRTHDAY IN-FLIGHT, and that you would be available to move into BF "to help their oversold situation".

Good luck.

PS - My favorite op-up success story was on a 757 to somewhere in Europe (eew - a 757 in coach to Europe?!). Traveling with my colleague, I let the concierge know that I was available if needed (flight was supposedly oversold) and was traveling with one colleague. My colleage boards early; I wait to see if I will win the lottery. BINGO! Gate agent delivers my two BF boarding passes. I board the plane - my colleague is sitting in the first row of coach with a grimace on her face. I grimace back as if to say "sorry, not this time" . . . and then I wave our new BF boarding passes in her face. We were so happy - BF was never sweeter.

Originally Posted by GIGFY

The thought (not even a prayer, nor even the need for steps 3 & 4) worked for me last night EWR-LHR!

I wandered from PC to the gate exactly 60 minutes before scheduled departure, knowing flight was sold out in coach, but with apparently 1 seat left in BF.

I could tell it was an VDB opportunity (which I did not really want, as needed to get home, and had my preferred exit row window seat), as I overheard agent saying "see you same time tomorrow" to pax. I was thinking about either the VDB or steps 3 & 4 above when I caught the eye of the BF concierge, who at that very moment announced my name (weird!), up I went, and she asked for my boarding pass so that she could exchange it for BF seat due to "operational reasons".

Great result - my second ever TATL op-up - and an excuse to re-open one of my favourite CO threads on FT! BTW, it was also a great flight - excellent service throughout.

And this after my first failure in many, many months not to get upgraded on a RSW-EWR flight (and was even as low as #6 on the list!).

Originally Posted by elitefreak

Congrats!

And was it better than sex? (I'll assume you are reading the other active thread on this topic).

Originally Posted by LawFlyer

Come on, admit it: we've all done it at least once, haven't we? In fact, I think we all do it to a greater or lesser extent in our everyday lives, subconsciously or overtly. Some call it "charm," others call it "cloying," but here we can call it:

The upgrade-flirt. For absolute clarity, the upgrade-flirt is the act (the art?) of making cheerful, playful, or even vaguely sexual banter with a check-in agent, a gate-agent, or a P-club flight-desk attendant for the purpose (sole purpose, secondary/tertiary purpose, whatever) of scoring an unpaid upgrade (no miles, no cash) to a higher class of service than ticketed. My question is: Is employing the upgrade-flirt wrong? But first, a few observations:

I am a happily married man, going on 14 years now. And yes, I employ the upgrade-flirt with no matrimonial guilt whatsoever. (For the record, I admit to working up an appetite in many places, but I always go home to eat.) I realize that many pax (married or unmarried, moral or immoral, Elite or non-Elite) will feel that the upgrade-flirt is shameful. And yet -- I'm willing to bet that there are just as many of you who feel that the upgrade-flirt is just fine under most circumstances.

Now, I am lucky that my lawfirm flies me in J/BusinessFirst back and forth between our Paris and Houston offices roughly 12 times per year. But for those occasions where the client disallows it, or when I am flying for personal business that my firm does not reimburse, I occasionally find myself booked in Y for a CO longhaul. And in those circumstances, I do find myself employing the upgrade-flirt with alarming regularity. Why? Because it works in many instances.

However, a major tenet must be expressed here: When checking in for a CO longhaul flight at IAH (or EWR) equipped with BizFirst, the chances of an upgrade-flirt succeeding are roughly ZERO. But my friends, I must tell you: I do NOT find that to be the case when checking in at EU airports, and particularly at Paris/CDG. To the contrary, the upgrade-flirt seems to work most often when departing the EU on CO flights back to the US. I have many theories on why this is so, but that's another post, I guess.

Moreover, when departing IAH (and EWR to a smaller degree) on CO flights to a domestic US destination, the upgrade-flirt is in full force and effect -- and it works. Of course, the reason that a domestic US upgrade-flirt works is totally different than the reason an EU - US BizFirst upgrade-flirt works, I think. Nonetheless, we're not talking about the reasons it works -- I'm just asking whether you think it is wrong ever to employ the upgrade-flirt.

I fully realize that scoring an F or J ticket, after booking and paying for a Y ticket, is a dubious enterprise. When you are upgraded because of Plat/Gold/Silver status, you EARNED it. If you are upgraded because your Y fare cost more than everyone else's, that seems fair -- even if it angers some petty Silver. If you are upgraded because CO is apologizing for a terrible earlier leg, you "earned" it another way. These, and others, are all legit upgrades.

But...

But what about this situation, which happened to me personally just days ago:

In late December, I had to fly from CDG to IAH to take care of a sudden emergency with a friend of mine in Houston. My firm would pay BizFirst for a family emergency, but this was a friend -- not blood family. Thus, I was "on my own," and no standard OnePass reward seats were available (at the 100,000 level) in BF. So, I booked a RT ticket in Q/coach, paying roughly $650. I am a Plat Elite, and a CO-Star.

Before leaving my flat in Paris for the taxi ride to CDG, I checked the load on CO 11: BizFirst seemed about two thirds full, but coach was MAXED out, and turned out to be oversold. Upon arrival at CDG, I was wishing I had sprung the 200,000 miles for the "EasyPass" seats to IAH, given the 11-hour flight ahead. I had virtually no wait in the Elite Access lanes, and I chose to check in at "Jean-Luc's" (not his real name) line because (1) he is an excellent CO check-in agent at CDG and can fix any problem immediately, and (2) The woman running the 2nd Elite Access lane is a TERRIBLE check-in agent, and I can't stand her snobbish, customer-hating attitude.

So, after approaching his desk, Jean-Luc greeted me by name (I am there WAY too often!) and made a polite joke about "getting some food before boarding" because I would not be fed on this flight in Coach as I usually am in BizFirst. I laughed and said in French, "Yeah, I know, but no big deal." As check-in proceeded, I innocently commented on a beautiful Guerlain sweater he had over his shoulders, remarking that I would love to pick one up next month upon my return. Then he said, "It would look good on you," and then I realized: I seem to recall (from past conversations) that Jean-Luc is gay, and that could mean that an upgrade-flirt may make the next 11 hours much more enjoyable!!

So, after the "It would look good on you" comment from Jean-Luc, I responded, "Oh, thanks, but that's not really true. I don't really have the body you have to show it off with..." and kind of laughed. After a few more exchanges about beautiful clothes, gym-buff bodies to put inside those clothes, Parisian shopping, his saying that I was a terrific CO customer, and my saying that he was a terrific CO employee (which is totally sincere, he's great) -- I suddenly found myself holding a new carte d'embarquement (boarding pass) for 2D rather than 18D. You do the math.

And just for the record, I did not take advantage of him because he is gay (and I don't actually know that he is gay, really). I give this example only because it is recent and the details are clear. But 99% of my upgrade-flirt success stories are with female CO employees, so this merely makes me an equal-opportunity flirter. I was sincere in everything I said to him, and in all my responses. So -- doesn't that make a difference? I did love the sweater; I truly do plan on buying one next week upon returning, it did look particularly fetching on him with his coloring and build (and even as a straight man, I have no problem saying that he is physically a beautiful man and wears his clothes well, and I hope I can provide the same for my wife in her opinion). So, there were no lies or teases -- just a few honest and appreciative comments passed in both directions.

The bottom line is that BizFirst went out with several (perhaps 7 or 8) empty seats, yet I was upgraded for no official reason upon check-in. I did not ask for it, and I would have absolutely flown in coach as bought and ticketed. Although I am Plat and CO*, I only paid $650 roundtrip for the ticket, thus there must have been others in Coach more deserving than me of an operational-upgrade if Coach was oversold, so... I don't know.

Some of you may feel Jean-Luc should be fired for letting the precious BizFirst cabin be polluted with a pax who got there via upgrade-flirt. Was I flirt-upgraded to the detriment of another 7 or 8 pax who were willing to pay big cash or big OnePass miles for those empty BizFirst seats? Or, did Jean-Luc know that Coach was oversold and some eligible Coach pax would have to be op-up'd to BizFirst anyway, so he just gave it to me? If it's the latter, is it OK that my upgrade-flirt (even as a Plat CO*) trumped a higher-paying fare??

My wife and I have talked about the upgrade-flirt. She says that I am naturally very flirtatious, just all the time, and that it doesn't bother her. She too knows that I come home to eat, no matter where I get my appetite. And in the end, CO employees are flesh-and-blood people, just like CO's pax. So if a pax's spouse or significant other doesn't care about the pax doing an upgrade-flirt, and the pax is genuine and honest in his speech, is it wrong??

Please understand: I am NOT talking about badgering the agent, nor grotesquely speaking salaciously, nor trying to defeat another pax's earned or bought upgrade, nor demeaning someone for personal and temporary gain...none of that stuff! And, it goes without saying that offending anyone -- much less an airline employee -- is not acceptable. I am simply asking this:

Is it wrong, when checking in or visiting the gate-agent desk for legitimate reasons, to engage in polite and witty banter knowing that an upgrade-flirt could score you a seat up front?