Hello all,

I am trying to find a way of upgrading my Business ticket on China Eastern to the front row, ‘business plus’ seats. Obviously, given the nature of the China Eastern website, it is not possible there, and customer services don’t understand what I am trying to do (replies range from ‘there is no business plus or first class’ to ‘you are already sitting in the front row (row 6)). I tried contacting the original travel agent, who quoted me over €4K to upgrade, which (especially given that the difference in cost of the tickets is now about €250) I wasn’t keen to do! And, because of the schedule, and the fact that Asia-Europe flights are heavily loaded at the moment, I would rather sort it in advance, as opposed to trying at the airport (although of course I will do that if I need to).

Does anyone have any experience with this, or wisdom to impart (beyond ‘book the class you want to travel ‘ - not possible in this case because of who is paying for the original ticket)?

Thank you for any help…

Since you're mentioning "Business Plus" Row 1 I'm assuming you're travelling on the 350/787 and not the 77W, as in the 77W that would be First Class. Not sure how the fare works for that but I know the seat is basically a "lite" version of the F seat.

I've had great experiences with the phone line so I'm not sure why they aren't able to help you. Have you tried their China phone line and ask for English?

Otherwise your best bet would be to try at the counter.

Thank you! I can’t remember which phone line it was, so will definitely try the China one. I guess I also was wondering if they had the ability to upgrade a Travel Agent booking, or whether they would just send me back to the travel agent (didn’t yet manage to get that far with them!)

Thanks for the help… worst case, I will have to try at the airport!

You can upgrade at the airport or onboard, about 1000USD.