Air India Op-up
 

I just boarded flight AI 24 from Del to Bom. To my utter surprise, I was given an Op-up from Y to J - I asked if the flight is overbooked and was told that upgrade is due to my Silver status. I have recently switched all my travel from 9W to AI and received this pleasant surprise - anyone else who got Op up from AI?

Nope, travelled a lot of times with Silver, no such thing happened with me..

The FFP status is one of the methods to determine who get Op-Up when the lower classes are sold out.

The other methods include SEQ numbers, actual boarding sequence, booked fare class, etc.

Have benefited from this a few times on the domestic circuit..!

I have been op-up at least 6 times in last 6 months, all the time the flights have been sold out. A very helpful check in agent in delhi told me to drop my boarding number with the supervisor so that they can upgrade me. Have done that each time the check in agent confirms that economy is sold out.

I am quite surprised to know that AI flights are also sold out, and also that AI overbooks - I thought only 9W and Indigo do that.

Upgrade due to overbooking makes sense, which wasn't the case when I got upgraded. Or I guess the agent just made it up to promote AI :)

I got upgraded on the DEL-CCU service.. early morning Dreamliner flat bed :)

Not sure if it was opup for overbooking or anything else.. I had just landed from DXB-DEL sector (I purchased a last minute business seat on that flight at the DXB airport)..

Got the upgrade at the gate.. I was too tired to check why I got upgraded.. I have no status with AI whatsoever..

no op-up ever despite holding top status with the airline....

in fact, i had a pretty bad experience with them earlier this week....was flying del-bom & wanted to use an upgrade voucher....was told at checkin that no seats were available....i had arrived early at the airport so went over to the sales counter to check how many seats were available in business class & there were 5 seats available....i went back to the counter & was again told by the supervisor that no seats were available....turns out they upgraded some staff members at the gate but even then 2 seats went empty....

This is precisely why I was surprised. I had a similar experience while wanting to use a voucher, so an op-up for me really came out of the blue!

I had a different experience last month on a Del-Bom flight. I used my upgrade voucher to upgrade successfully from Y to J. At gate my boarding pass was changed from J to F as an op-up. I had my UA-FF number on the reservation and I am a 1K with United and also a gold on Air India.

See, this is the thing.. when they are good, they are great.. but other times the babudom starts showing through and this inconsistency is something that gets on the nerves of passengers..

Last month I was on BOM-BLR and used my vouchers to upgrade to Business. It was completely empty. The agent also upgrade my colleague although the new vouchers cannot be transferred. I have a few expired upgrade vouchers. Do these work? or they are too strict about the validity date? Haven't tried my luck with expired vouchers.

usually they are pretty good with the upgrade vouchers....but when they have staff or family of staff traveling then they tend to upgrade them even over paying members....i'm come across instances in the past where i wanted to pay for an upgrade but was told no seats available because they wanted to upgrade one of their own....

it all depends on the supervisor at the airport....in del i have managed to use expired vouchers twice but have been refused in hyd & bom....

Its India after all :)

But I guess sometimes the sun does shine.. a few year ago I was on a DEL-CCU and the flight got cancelled.. they accommodated the passengers in the next 2 flight and one lady (family on an AI staff) was the last to be accommodated.. infact I offered her my seat on the earlier flight and she said AI won't allow it as she is travelling on the family ticket/discounted ticket (whatever that was, don't remember the exact term)..

i guess it all depends....my aunt worked for ai her whole adult life before retiring 6-7 years ago....her son (my cousin) tells me that he got special favours like upgrades & lounge access & exit row seats while my aunt was still working but it started to die down after she retired....also, he said he got great upgrades when flying out from del but not so much anywhere else....