KLM and upgrading
 

I always wondering why 'collegues' always tell stories about being upgraded from economy to WBC and me who also fly's a lot never get upgraded

I fly a lot and most day sectors I fly economy as I do not really mind as I normally have a decent chair anyways. If fly economy I normally fly the cheapest fare available so can that be a reason that I never get upgraded even if the flight is full. (I am platinum elite)

I actually have never ever seen somebody been upgraded after boarding..

So what are your experiences and what are tips to do? Do you need to ask?

I am always polite and never really complain as I think air travel in economy is the most unconfortable way of traveling anyway

Date a KL steward(ess).

Yeah ... you put your hand on her knee and she says "I'm sorry, that is not possible" ;)

I think it just depends on the number of frequent flyers on board and the booking class you have. If you travel between Europe and USA with lots of Skyteam Elites onboard (e.g. Worldperks, Skymiles, FB) chances for luck are smaller.

I was upgraded to WBC several times between Bangkok and Taipei. Plane is usually full of Asian tourists, who are less likely to be frequent flyers.
Once I was even upgraded on the flight from Amsterdam to Manila, even though I was only FB Silver in that time! Plane was full of Philippinos, I felt like I was more or less the only white guy onboard!

Sometimes I just ask it at check-in. "Is the plane full today?" If so, I tell the lady: "Well, if you need to upgrade someone..." A nice smile might help! :p
Booking class is also important. Once I flew on KLM's V-class and the lady at check-in said she couldn't upgrade me because of this cheap booking class.

I have quite regularly, including myself on a number of occasions.

Very variable. I'm also a LTPE, but don't travel on V fares. Usually, I'm booked in L, Q or T.

Back in the good old Flying Dutchman days, there was a year where I was upgraded on every single longhaul flight. 100%. Really!

Most OpUps have been the result of overbooking in M class, but there have been exceptions. JNB used to sometimes upgrade PE's on flights with very light WBC loads, irrespective of the load in M, but I can't imagine they do so any longer. Another time a Crown Lounge agent took pity on my then girlfriend, whose fear of flying was very obvious, and upgraded us both.

I don't, but when flying from AMS I check the loads in the lounge to assess my chances. Sometimes the agent will even tell me how many PEs are traveling in economy, and their fare classes.

On occasion I've asked to upgrade with miles, and been advised not to do so because I stood a good chance of an OpUp. However, I suspect that they usually are more than happy to say nothing and take the miles instead of giving away a WBC seat. I therefore always check what the actual loads are before requesting an award upgarde.

Johan

Dressing smart does not seem to decrease chances... I won't go as far as to claim it increases them :p

Another example of the KLM-way
 

Just read this trip report AMS-IST on airliners.net:http://www.airliners.net/aviation-fo...d.main/126452/

Great to see they keep up their standards in choosing the passenger with the lowest fare and no status! But they could have done better, shouldn't they have picked one without a ffp? :p

Me too. I seem to remember two golden years. Those were the days when one would give all your business to KLM no matter what, tell everyone what a great company they were and generally act as a brand ambassador.

I have a feeling the best way to get upgraded now is to be the last person at the gate on a full flight before the doors close. Oh, no more Y seats, let's put this sweaty, panting backpacker that just arrived at the gate into Biz; after all, it will be too difficult to extract one of the Plats from their middle seat in the back.

Ahh...yes ; two years on the trot my partner and I got upgraded on every KLM flight to and from SE Asia....sigh...

Although I also experienced a lot more upgrades in the past, and I did enjoy them, I still do not get this discussion. It seems that an upgrade is considered a product feature. I always buy my stuff at the same super market. Never received free product upgrades there. Ladies and gentlemen: I think its pretty normal that you get what you pay for.
If upgrades would be standard issue for frequent flyers, they'd sell a LOT less business class tickets. I reckon that they rather have one paying business class passanger than 4 cheap eco fare frequent flyers being upgraded. I don't blame them for managing that a bit more proportionally nowadays.

:D:D:D

Sad but true... :mad:


Just an advice here. Read "Klm is Dead - Long Live KLM" post one more time, and I think you'll see the "cause of complaint". No?

Cheers,
Joe

Of course. I used to be treated to lots upgrades in the past. Even to the point that I started to expect them. Guess thats when KLM changed course on that, when they found out that people started to expect upgrades.

Yes I see thte cause of complain and I used to do that as well when KLM started to change their upgrade policy. KLM created upgrade expectations at the time. And of course it is very disapointing when such expectations aren't fulfilled anymore. Certainly KLM's fault to have created such expectations. Not ours. But...is it fair to blame them for not giving us the upgrades anymore? Should we still get upgrades forever just because they made that commercial mistake at the time?

And the second part of KLM is Dead's etc... post. I consider that his excellent sarcasm ^ Add noisy non-revs with their children to the sweaty backpackers! Don't have much hopes that that will change.

I have had 17 return long-haul trips over the last 2 1/2 years, and have experienced an upgrade on 1 segment only. This happened from GRU going to AMS. The plane was full. On the day I was very late arriving at the airport (last one to check in - normally I arrive with plenty of time to spare), and I had not checked in on the internet (which I normally do).

What are other people's experiences here? Anyone else think that checking in online reduces upgrade chances? What about arriving late for check in?

When I bought Economy tickets some years ago, my upgrade ratio on long haul was over 50%. Their had been on board upgrades, too, but not very often.

Flying Eco I never did OLCI. However, when I checked loads in the morning and I saw everything zeroed out, I knew I'll fly WBC and I did :D

Was done every time by the system in advance.

However since some years I'm enjoying the very low Z fares ( sometimes I, but never higher ) and pay for my WBC seat.

What Mennix said: Z fares mean I don't sweat the upgrade anymore. (Actually, to be honest, LX J fares ex-BCN mean I don't sweat WBC anymore).

If I understand correctly the general complaint isn't that KL aren't upgrading people anymore, it's that they're just upgrading random people as opposed to plats. Valid gripe, I guess.

I was talking to an IB staff member the other day about this exact same situation and she said they're very pragmatic about upgrades: if there's time, and they know ahead of time, then they upgrade their elites automatically. If not, and it's close, flight is closing, etc., the last people in line get stuck up front. Remember the gate agent doesn't care if you sit up front or not; they're interested in getting the plane off on time.