TheHansTheDampf

Hi together,

I really just wonder if it is just me. I have been Senator for over 8 years, maybe over 10. I mostly fly Europe/Asia, business. Occasionally for private travel eco or premium eco. I have in 8 years not once been upgraded from either class to any other, be eco to prem, prem to business or business to first. That is true for overbooked flights as well as very empty ones.

I funnily have been upgraded on Thai with Thai Status twice within a year despite just having earned that status on a whim.

Anyone else having a similar experience?

Also, I am a normal person, neither obese, nor smelly, nor a raging drunk 😀

ISTFlyer

I was only upgraded once during my SEN period ( I was only SEN for 2 years ) and that was a few days after I received the €2000 offer to stay SEN by e-mail.
It was exactly a month before my SEN expired on 2/2015 on an LX flight from ZRH to IST.

No upgrades during my FTL period as well.

However, when I started using my TK*G on LH Group, I started getting upgrades, especially on the IST-FRA route.
Never been upgraded yet for operational reasons on a long-haul LH Group flight yet.

TheHansTheDampf

Good to hear im not the only one. I frankly find it really weird. I don't care sooo much about it, but equally- it never made me feel in any way loyal towards them. I really don't care for them and my feeling is they also really dont care about me as a customer. Totally neutral relationship.

Chiller3333

I'm not a SEN, just a measly A3*G, but based on what I've read/heard LH really only upgrades when there is absolutely no other option.
Was upgraded once on a full flight from MUC to EWR when the A359 was swapped for an A346. I was booked in PE which was now needed to accomodate the Y passengers (the A346 has fewer Y seats than the A359) and got bumped into C at the gate.
This is pretty consistent with what I've heard from friends that are SENs as well.
Unlike other airlines (especially the US ones obviously), LH rather flies with their premium cabins empty instead of upgrading their (or any) frequent flyers.
I guess that's what being a monopolist gives you...

ISTFlyer

Your assumptions that I have underlined are completely true.

LH wouldn't upgrade their own elites ( not sure about HON's ), or alliance elites on their flights just because there are empty seats in the higher cabin.

They only upgrade when they have no other choice. This is the common practice for European, African, and Middle Eastern carriers.

With the number of full-service or hybrid airlines in the EU decreasing year by year, I think that this wouldn't change in the near future.

Concerto

Oh, I've been upgraded plenty of times in the past, when I didn't have any status and was just a base member. Ever since I've been FTL, not a single upgrade. Somehow I felt from this point of view that it was never worth the effort to push for SEN and concentrated on status in the other alliances. Seems I was right.​

ermis177

Unfortunately this is a common practise in Europe. The vast majority of the airlines only upgrade due to overbooking or something similar. I have only been upgraded once with Austrian due to overbooking and it was a London to Vienna flight. Pretty much useless.

YuropFlyer

As SEN, I've had quite solid upgrade experience when flying long haul to/from Asia.

PEK on LX was THE route to haul those OpUp's, with my quote being way above 50%. I didn't kept statistics on it, but (both directions) I must have gotten OpUps 3 out of 4 times in average. Made you feel disappointed when NOT getting an upgrade. I flew the route quite heavily (cheapest gateway to Asia, and then there were those times when LX "forgot" the fuel surcharge, making the flights literally free when counting in the miles..)

Other destinations were less frequent (or none at all), but I'd say I've been upgraded at least once on each route I would fly at least 3 or 4 times.

European routes, sometimes an OpUp (never expected, since I don't really check that much on short haul routes), especially on ZRH-Spain routes (and Spain-ZRH too) quite frequently.

Ex-FRA, China is also pretty good for upgrades. Good old times when Y to C was possible, it happened quite often. SIN, less so, but also a few times (only 1 or 2 on LX)

Ex-SIN, upgrade quote was surprisingly better than Ex-Hubs on that route.

TLV is another of my favorites. 4 out of 6 segments upgraded (all on LX) Y to C.

C to F is MUCH more rare than Y / Y+ to C, only one upgrade, ever (Funnily on a route they apparently seldom happen, GRU-ZRH)

Thanks OP to bring back some memories.. haven't been inside an aircraft in over a year..

andywaw

As a SEN since 2018 I have received free upgrades to Business numerous times on European flights on LH and LO.
Not so many on long haul:
Premium Economy on LO WAW-ORD,
Business on LX ZRH-BKK
Yes my impression was that Economy class was overbooked which was the reason for upgrades.

IAN-UK

That really is quite bizarre - you were fortunate. Getting SENs (and HONs) accustomed to upgrades provides an incentive to those with an expected propensity to pay for premium classes to buy economy tickets. My understanding was Lufthansa started some time ago to actively avoid this: or maybe that's expecting too much sophistication from their systems

In getting on for two decades with TravelClub then Lufthansa I've enjoyed a fair number of "service recovery" upgrades, but very few purely operational ones. Out and return to Sao Paulo was the star, then a one-way to Mumbai, and another back from Johannesburg are the only long-hauls I remember: and a handful of short-hauls.

pmarrsouth

*A Gold thru Copa and was upgraded once on a KBP-FRA LH flight. Boarding pass beeped a couple of times as I went thru the gate. Agent said something along the lines of “its looks like you have been upgraded”. I asked what seat it was (from remembering it was into 4C from 5A). Super early flight and all I wanted was to sleep and have the window to do that easier.

Agent said that no window seats left in J, but I could get something in about row 20 if I wanted a window.

So it was my only free upgrade wIth LH group but definitely unwanted :/

Hopefully will get such an upgrade on a TA flight soon

BinSabai

welcome to the club!
SEN for close to 20 years and NEVER EVER got any free upgrade...(op or whatever); just when I paid, used miles or vouchers...
only free upgrades were on TG and UA and Swissair before it went bankrupt...
but I got once DOWNGRADED (however was compensated)

f4freeJunior

In 14 years as SEN I receiced numerous shorthaul upgrades Y to C until about 2015. Since then, never.
On longhaul flights I got a couple ones from Y to C (LX JNB, LH SIN, ADD) and one on LX from C to F (HKG, service recovery). 2014-2017 I flew mainly SQ and was PPS (and SEN) but never received an opup. Since 2017 almost all of my longhauls are in First and on the rare occasions where I had a C ticket I was never upgraded despite being SEN in sometimes highest business fare (J) on ex ZRH tickets. There were always HON ahead of me on the grading list which is fine.
but for sure I get the impression that the more I flew and spent, the less they opuped me.

Hydro88

Upgrades are not an advertised benefit and only given for operational reasons. Then, SEN are preferred over non-SEN in the same booking (!) class.

I've been upgraded a handful of times on long haul flights over the last 4 years but I put that mostly down to luck.

IAN-UK

On the very rarest occasions the depth of any relationship you have with a crew member can assist in elevation to a more comfortable seat in a quieter cabin .......