HawaiiTrvlr

Here is my experience this week. I was on the KIX-HNL flight on a 747-200. I had seat 23C...a decent seat according to Seatguru.com. The ticket agency who did the flight booked a V-class fare even though we should have been on B or Y. I tried to get the fare class changed but nothing I tried worked. I had hoped to use miles to upgrade but was unable to. So, I board and am soon joined by a young Japanese couple with a very focal 1-year old. Great...7 1/2 hours..what fun. I immediately pop some sominex and get ready for crew to close to close the doors. Pretty soon another traveller comes by and tells me that I am in her seat. Well, I had already been on the plane for 20 mins at this point. The purser comes over and asks to see both our boarding passes. Sure enough, both seats say 23C. Then a gate agent comes on board and hands me a new boarding pass. The coveted 85B upstairs. Could I ask for anything more? I thought I was in heaven. My first international op-up and to the upper deck no less. There were plenty of open seats downstairs in WBC. It sure made my day. I think it helped that I am PE.

ContinentalFan

NW op up'd me once on a Y fare in 1998--just before the union with CO was announced. I am not sure why I received the honor!

Yub

In our case, fare class was not a factor in receiving an op-up. Last year flying LAX-NRT, our entire family (two adults and two children) was op-up'ed to WBC. Two of us were on award tickets, and two were on heavily discounted K fares. The K fare tickets were each about $530 all-in ($460 base fare).

Tedeman

And get to the aiport early.