Mabuk dan gila

I'm a handsome white guy who dresses snappy, smells nice, behaves politely and has a gold card. But it has probably been at least 60 flights since I have received an op-up of any kind. To be honest I can no longer even remember when I got my last op-up from EVA. Up until a few years ago I used to get op-ups all the time. Not any more.

Sadly I probably have my last EVA flight ticketed at the end of June. I really like them as an airline but their FF program is not even remotely competitive with the benefits offered by others and with them 'almost' completely breaking off from Continental they effectively have no partners whatsoever. Vs CI who appear headed for Skyteam membership and are well connected with NW/DL. It's been a good run with EVA but it looks like I will soon be putting away my EVA gold card with almost a year left on it before it expires.

bizclassboy

I have a friend who is now working in central governmant and has to travel outside Taiwan a lot. He told me they only ever buy the cheapest economy class ticket and never get less than full treatment in business class everytime. He has never asked for an upgrade yet and is told that he will always be travelling in comfort as the travel agent who books all the tickets ( yes they use a travel agent ) has a system which guarantees this with both BR and CI, it even works for his family if they book the ticket.

coolfish1103

CI has a specific rule mentioning that all officials working for the government will be upgraded to Dynasty cabin if they buy full fare Economy.

jimbo99

Now come on bizclassboy... guaranteed comfort in BR business class?

Remind us what what it did to your back....

bizclassboy

Well you know some people can sleep on a fence post and being able to do this will see you right on BR !!!

jimbo99

A pity to hear that. I don't get many OP-UPs - probably 3 out of the last 10 flights, but only 1 long haul out of about 6. I suppose I'm often on flights that are fairly full. They did stop for a long time, which prompted this thread: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/other...-recently.html

I used to fly alot - especially in Europe, sometimes US and used a variety of airlines. Now I fly less and mostly in the UK-Vietnam-Taiwan triangle. EVA goes pretty much where I go. In this way it suits me that they don't have alot of partners whose status they would have to recognise. I'll stick with EVA for the time being - next time around I should get Diamond under the 8 year rule.

With the loss of First Class, the lack of new routes outside of Asia and their general marketing focus, I feel they've given up any ambitions at being a truly international airline. I can't see them wanting to join an alliance any time soon - assuming anyone would have them. As for partners - well they seem obsessed with endless deals Taiwan-issued credit cards etc and that says it all.

Bob7032

I fly 4-5 times per year to Asia from SFO, and used to use EVA and fly Premium Econ. I used to fly exclusively on EVA, until they botched their FF program. In the 3+ years I flew EVA, I learned the drill on op-ups. 40 minutes or so before departure, they would page a slew of Chinese names, and hand them new biz class boarding passes in exchange for their their PE boarding passes (or PE passes in exchange for econ passes). Not once did I ever hear them page a Caucasian name. It sorta became a game to me. I once asked a gate agent if they ever op-up's non-Chinese, and she just covered her face and blushed.

Maybe they have some deals with the local ethnic TA's? Maybe it Taiwanese gov't folks and their families? Maybe it is ethnic bias? Don't know, and don't care anymore.

robertk925

Well, I would assume most Diamond members are Taiwanese, so it stands to reason that they would get the majority of the Op-ups. I fly SFO-TPE about once per month, and don't see many people called up to the podium anymore, maybe 2 or 3 per flight.

Like jimbo mentioned, a few years ago Op-ups where much more common, especially when they flew the old 744 with First Class. I would probably get Op-up'd about 1 out of 5 flights, sometimes even 2 classes (Deluxe to First!)
I am Asian, but not Chinese, so I don't think it is a racism issue.

Nowadays, Op-ups don't happen very often for me, maybe 1 out of 20 flights. I usually ticket Elite, and Premium is typically not full, but Eva is much more careful with Op-ups, I assume to try to maximize revenue (i.e. force you to buy a more expensive ticket).

ak333

I'm still waiting for my first op-up as a Diamond member.

I had a couple as a Gold member and one as a green card member.

someone0000

As a green card member!? No way!
This would absolutely be looked down upon by Taipei today if they found out

bizclassboy

EVA many years ago had a system in place for Europeans that joing the FF rpogramme that would upgrade you on your 3rd flight and it worked every single person I knew who enrolled.

ak333

Not only was I a green card member, but it was my very first BR flight in 1996. And from C to F to boot.

Although when you come to think about it, maybe it wasn't such a bad idea; it did get me loyal to BR.

exwannabe

On the exact issue of SFO-TPE op-ups, I think they have become more common in the last year due to equipment swapping. I am 2/6 recently.

If you book ED and they switch, there will be less seats. And f they don't switch you have a better seat (ED beats EE by a lot for me).

I still suspect the entire "They upgrade chinks" is a bunch of racist crap by some posters.

bizclassboy

you have obviously never seen how favouritism works in Taiwan then ? and dont let the Taiwanese hear you calling them Chinks

tommy525

Flew on JAL from SFO to/from TPE recently and the SFO to/from Narita sector was by 777-300ER. Both times the first class was virtually empty and likewise the business class (only 2 or 3 people) and yet both the premium econ and the econ (where I was) was chock full, not one empty seat. Seems JAL and perhaps ANA who fly the same equipment on this route with perhaps the same mix of seats dont practice upgrading. They would prefer to sell their biz class for about 6000 roundtrip and first class for about 10,000 roundtrip and not dilute them with upgrades while it matters not that they are 90pct empty.

I think EVA takes what ANA does to heart in many ways. Could this no upgrading Japanese philosophy be permeating EVA's way of thinking?

EVA dropped first class because its not profitable. They do discount their biz class by quite a lot versus the likes of JAL, ANA, SQ i understand but they fill them.

I dont see how flying an empty seat versus selling that seat for less is in any way profitable. Especially when upgrading from the rear will increase business in the rear.

For the kind of traffic I saw on my two flights (if its generally like that usually) they should use a 777 thats mostly econ or premium econ with a few biz seats.