OpUp - any difference in how you check-in?
 

I was wondering if anyone knows how opups work. Is there any difference if you check-in on-line or if you just turn up at the airport and check in 2 hours before the flight. does either way give you more chance for an opup?

I think that online is the best thing to do because it shows your intent to turn up and op ups can be done early. If you wait until t-2 you run the risk of being kicked off an oversold flight.

In reality it makes little difference as a lot of op ups are done after the flight is closed. Most go my op ups occur at the gate and I checked in online at t-24...

I usually request a mobile boarding pass and check that when in the lounge. Usually changes at about 45 mins before the flight. If it changes I then ask for a new bp from the lounge.

I don't think it makes a difference either way as op-ups are typically processed after checkin closes but checking in online is a good way to indicate your intent to travel, and to consider you for an op-up. Though I've also noticed sometimes that my seat is gone during OLCI which indicates that the op-up was actually processed a couple of hours before check-in actually opened.

ok, thanks for the reply! wanted to make sure that I was giving myself the best chance

It usually doesn't matter as the load controllers will know quite ahead of schedule (T-72 to 24) whether a flight is going to be overbooked and will start to flag people they want to move around. It is always assumed that Platinums and Golds will turn up, regardless of whether they have checked in or not, and they are last on the list for offloads. Sometimes if you want to be flexible and get a free return ticket, you can volunteer if the check-in staff/managers look especially stressed by numbers! I have just returned from a trip with quite a few op-ups and I never checked in online. On one sector I checked in 90 minutes before departure at a desk and still received it (at the gate).

There seems to be 3 op-up location possibilities in general. At check-in. At the lounge. At the gate.

I think the main thing that determines where you will be checked in is probably the anticipated load-factor. ex-JNB they often op-up at check in when Y is heavily overbooked and J is wide open.

ex-DXB is probably a different kettle of fish because the load factors are probaby highly variable up until t-75 (and possibly beyond) not only because of no-shows, but also different incoming flights with connecting pax. Hence upgrades are more likely in the lounge or at the gate.

There is a fourth possibilitiy though. JED. probably unique. you still have a chance of being op-uped once your on-board. I have seen musical chairs on the tarmac a good few times :-)

If you have any EK status I think your chances of being denied check-in are fairly slim unless you actually try to check-in late.

Actually, now that you mention it, I can't think that I have ever been upgraded on check-in at DXB... always in the lounge or at the gate.

At CPH, I get it when I check in on-line around T-6hrs (the time the incoming plane leaves DXB).

Just checked in on-line for the CPH-DXB flight tomorrow morning. ExpertFlyer shows 1 seat in J left... everything else is full. The EK check-in seat map shows no empty seats in Y. Fingers crossed for the morning!

The actual upgrade happens when a controller is confident they need to move you. All sorts of scenarios that means a flight is overbooked can include late group bookings, delayed flights and reschedules with some advance warning, planes needing to be substituted, that kind of thing, a lot of staff standby travel appearing etc. A lot of controllers leave it quite late to do the upgrades as they might be hoping for some additional no-shows, but sometimes they are forced to do it early e.g. you get 6 hours notice of a delay causing a load of rebookings on to your flight, or a flight with lots of status pax, so you can't offload them.

Where you find out is when the computer scans your boarding pass and checks to see whether the seat number on your pass corresponds with the seat number in the computer. This is check-in or the boarding gate. When you get scanned to enter a lounge, it doesn't actually check your seat status (but reception can check and print a new one if you ask) - however, a controller will usually telephone the lounge and tell reception there to print a new BP for you when you arrive, or if you are already in the lounge, call you to reception to collect the new one. But that's not always necessary because once you get checked at the gate, there is always a BP printer there for the final seat check.

As Joe_EK mentioned though, there is always the JED-style op-up! Actually I once had a Y-J op-up that turned into J-F on board due to pax drama. So, not always at JED!

I was wondering today if I miss out on some upgrades due to my surname starting with a W. Do you think that they pick the first to upgrade on the alphabetical list...? damn it if this is true... just like school!

Definitely not at DXB...

It's done on tier miles, status and ticket type. At dxb it's more consistent than at out stations but the manifests are printed in tier rank now not alpha order.

Golds are segmented by tiers as well so the more tier miles you have the better chance you have.

So, if I understand correctly, you mean that as my Plat status is reviewed in September, then I stand less chance for an opup in October than I do in August (when I have accrued tier miles for 11 months)...

That's a good question, as a plat though you have far less competition than us mere golds.

I'll ask next time how long you are marked as gold plus for - maybe a year after you hit 75k or 100k? No idea if they segregate plats the same way.

All i know is since I hit 75k the op ups have been much more frequent.

I have 60k accrued so far, will have 100k by the end of April. Will be interesting to see if it makes any difference!