E-First Upgrades
 

Good morning all, while flying to Tampa with a non-elite person Friday night I was upgraded and was hoping that the lady traveling with me would be offered an E-First upgrade at checkin for a fee. Nothing was offered. No big deal but when I asked the Elite line and the GA about what was a qualifying flight and fare class for the E-First they had no idea.

Does anyone know the specifics of this? She was traveling on a B fare so I would have thought it would have been offered had it been available. BTW, we took off with 3 opens seats in FC so I would have thought it was available.

I have searched high and low for details on the E-First program and the specifics at NWA.COM are about as clear as mud!

Thanks.

B-fares are not all equal. Some B-fares are B-UP, booking into F. Some B fares are also refundable, while some are not. Best to check the individual fare rules.

So it should be listed in the B fare rules if it's elgible? The NW people I spoke to had no earthly idea how to check if the flight was eligible or not.

You're talking about something different than an E-First upgrade. E-First upgrades are offered through the kiosks or sometimes OLCI for a fee. I don't know if there are fare class restrictions for E-First upgrades; but it's one of things that you should try asking the GA about next time, rather than the elite line.

There was a thread about this earlier. A search might bring up some useful information.